Coronavirus pandemic | Nearly 50,000 engineering, MBA graduates struggling to find jobs

The COVID-19 outbreak that has forced practically the entire country into a lockdown has dashed the hopes, of landing a plush job, of thousands of students graduating this year.

A final-year engineering student from Pune, Akhila Karunakaran, for example, had been unable to secure a pre-placement offer and was eagerly eyeing the campus placement process to get a job when she graduates in 2020. But, right around the time of placements, her campus has been shut down to contain the spread of coronavirus.

“My internship at a retail firm did not go very well and so I did not get any (pre-placement) offer from them. I was expecting that the campus jobs drive would help me, but now I don’t know what to do,” she said.

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Karunakaran is one of at least 50,000 engineering and management students who might have to hunt hard for a job as the coronavirus crisis deepens.

With over 400 positive reported COVID-19 cases in India, both the central and state governments have strictly enforced shutdowns to contain the pandemic. Educational institutions have been shut down and classes, as well as placement, activities suspended.

Every year, about 300,000 students graduate from management schools, while 1.5 million engineers pass. Industry sources said about 50,000 such students across India are yet to be placed.

For both engineering and management schools, while a majority of their graduating batch students have been placed under the first few phases of placement, several others were waiting for their chance in the third and fourth phases of placement that usually is held in March and April.

While several students have now independently approached human resource consultants, these firms have also expressed an inability to help them find employment citing COVID-19.

“These are freshers with no work experience. Companies are barely hiring due to the uncertainty created by the coronavirus situation. A few lateral hires are still being done but it is going to be tough for fresh graduates to find jobs,” said the India chief of a staffing firm.

Timing is critical

Once students miss out on the placement sessions at the campus, it is difficult to find employment. While the help of recruitment consultants can be taken, their services are chargeable and hence, it is not an economically viable option.

S Tamizharasan, a final year MBA student at a Tamil Nadu-based technology institute has tried his luck with all past alumni to help find a job. Since he missed the first phase of the placement at his college due to a family emergency, he is now unable to find any help.

“Companies who had confirmed their presence in phase two of placements are no longer responding to our messages. For me, the biggest worry is that I may end up with no job despite a degree,” he added.

Though there have been talks of institutes tying up with technology providers to provide e-placement opportunities to students, no concrete plans have been finalised.

The director of placement at a Mumbai-based engineering college said companies are also expressing reluctance to hire students through video interviews. He added that students could be given some opportunity in the second half of the year to appear for interviews.

Considering the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, it is unlikely that placements would be allowed to resume in April 2020. For graduating students, this is going to be tough time.