Top 18 companies that will provide jobs this year

The placement season would be on in the next few weeks. Careers360 analyses the recruitment processes of companies and placement scenario in a few top schools...

Barring a few honourable exceptions, none of the b-schools in the country give you the details of the profiles of their graduates and the type of companies that visit campuses.

Placements remain a mystery as far as aspirants are concerned.

Students are forced to rely on comments posted on social media and unverified newspaper reports to decide on the kind of jobs that awaits them when they enrol for an MBA programme.

Careers360, for the first time in the country published the alumni details of different b-schools in the country and came up with an alumni ranking based on publically available profiles in LinkedIn in the last edition. In this edition we decode the profiles of alumni a little further.

We present a detailed analysis of the recruitment process of 18 big recruiters in the first part of this story and a detailed listing of profiles and companies for 10 schools in the second part.

In the coming days we intend to present such detailed profiles for others as well.

The focus is on informing the reader as to the kind of profiles they could expect to get, the nature of jobs and designations offered.

Based on an aggregate analysis of reviews of these companies posted on different websites, we have also attempted to present a bird's eye view of the work culture of the companies, the pros and cons of working environment as well.

The findings have been quite exciting. Companies have offered different designations to schools that belong to different levels. Even a designation like Management Trainee would have Marketing orientation in a Tier 1 school and Sales in a Tier 3 school.

So do examine the profile as well as the company before you decide to take that preferred MBA/PGDM programme.

Please click NEXT to continue reading...

An erstwhile partner of Arthur Anderson group, the company focuses on consulting and technology services.

Fast Facts
Name: Accenture
Founded: 1989
Industry: IT services, IT consulting
Area served: Worldwide
No. of Employees: 257,000 (2012) Worldwide
Turnover/Revenue: US$ 29.77 billion (2012)
CEO: Pierre Nanterme
HR Head: Manoj Biswas
(India) subsidiary: NA
Website: www.accenture.com

This management consulting behemoth recruits mostly from Top and Tier 1 schools especially for the management consulting division. It usually gets it people from FMS, IIM, A, B, and C.

For its technology division it also looks at places like SIBM, NIITE amongst others. There were few entrants into the company from institutions like KIIT, SIOM, especially on staff functions like Human Resources, Operations etc.

Reviews on sites like Glassdoor informs us that the place is fun to work with, has an open culture, and merit is rewarded.

People do warn that it is not possible for you to select a domain in the initial years, work could be too demanding at times and the pet peeve of north Indian software developers in the company is that most work sites are in south India.

It was a commodity major, with old school Birla values. But the company has now moved on to diverse fields and is truly an Indian conglomerate.

Fast Facts
Name: Aditya Birla Group
Founded: 1857 (Birla group)
Industry: Conglomerate
Area served: Worldwide
No. of Employees:136,000 (2012)
Turnover/Revenue: US$ 40 billion (2012)
Chairman/CEO: Kumar Mangalam Birla
HR Head: Dr. Santrup T Misra
Select Subsidiaries: Aditya Birla Minacs Worldwide Ltd, Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company, Aditya Birla Money Ltd, Idea Cellular Ltd, Ultratech Cements Ltd
Website: www.adityabirla.com

A conglomerate with interests in metals, fibre, fabric, telecom and cement, this group recruits heavily across the board.

The most prestigious programmes within the group is the Leadership Associate Programme (LEAP) which are for freshers with 0-18 months of work experience and for this it primarily recruits from IIMs and select Top tier b-schools.

But since it operates over 19-odd verticals, campus placements for trade managers, operations executives, executives in functional domains like HR, finance are done at both tier 1 and tier 2 colleges.

Considering the fact that it is a large group, the levels of employee satisfaction varies according to the work culture of individual companies.

So while the LEAP programme gets full marks, working in retail or money or minacs are found slightly wanting.

This online retailer was named so, since the founder wanted a name that comes first in any listings. It is indeed a pioneer.

Fast Facts
Name: Amazon.com
Founded: 1994
Industry: Internet, online retailing
Area served: Worldwide
No. of Employees: 69,100 (2012 Q2)
Turnover/ Revenue: US$ 48.07 billion (2011)
CEO: Jeff Bezos
HR Head: Deepa Manojkumar
Subsidiary: NA
Website: http://india.amazon.com

This online retail giant began operations in India in 2012 as Junglee.com.

So, most of its initial recruitments were on the managerial side. The focus is on technology and operations, as it is a fresh entrant in the Indian market.

The company's most preferred designations appear to be Programme Management and at the Tier 2 schools, Process Associate appears to be the hot shot offering.

The firm recruits across functional areas, but no distinct trend could be gleaned out of the sample available with us.

The company gets most of its management talent from IIMs and NITIE and designates them as Program Managers or Manager–Operations.

For its frontline requirements, it targets Tier 2/3 schools across the country. Being an MNC, Amazon appears to be a great place to work, with most employees terming the work environment as fun.

But motivational differences do seem to be visible across locations and functional teams.

Slow decision making and heavy reliance on processes also appear to be pet peeves for the recruits to the company. But many freshers do consider it to be a good training ground especially for those interested in e-commerce.

It began as an audacious experiment by four friends who were willing to take over the largest MNC paint operations in the country in 1942.

Fast Facts
Name: Asian Paints
Founded: 1942
Industry: Chemicals
Area served: 17 countries
No. of Employees: 4,640 (2011)
Turnover/ Revenue: Rs 7,964 crore (US$1.45 billion in 2012)
CEO: KBS Anand
HR Head: Ernest Louis
Subsidiary: NA
Website: www.asianpaints.com

The paints player behaves almost like an FMCG and is known for its marketing prowess.

Since it is very sales driven, it recruits on all the three levels, namely managers, executives as well as deputies. It is also geographically very spread out and hence recruits heavily from regional schools.

The distinction amongst Top and Tier 1 schools visa-vis Tier 2/3 schools is quite clear in this company.

While recruits from Top b-schools are placed as Managers or Management Trainees, those from the lower pecking order are placed either as an executive trainee or commercial trainee.

'Sales officer' too appears to be a common designation in the company.

It is the on the job training, especially in moffusal towns offerd by the company that is prized by fresh recruits.

Its parent body brought the culture of mutual fund investments in the country. The bank now aspires to be a financial services one-stop shop.

Fast Facts
Name: Axis Bank
Founded: 1994 (As UTI Bank)
Industry: Banking, Financial services
Area served: Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi, Colombo (International Branches)
No. of Employees: 21,640 (2010)
Turnover/ Revenue: Rs. 198.26 billion (US$3.61 billion in 2011)
CEO: Shikha Sharma
HR Head: Snehomoy Bhattacharya
Subsidiary: NA
Website: http://www.axisbank.com

A young bank, which was initially set as a joint venture (JV) by Unit Trust of India and three other public companies,
later became a private entity after the split of UTI and was renamed Axis Bank in 2007.

It grew exponentially post the split, and has been on a recruitment spree in the last few years.

The company recruits widely and most of the profiles we could access were in the Asst Manager/Personal Banker category with primarily frontline responsibilities.

Relationship associate is another front office profile that the bank offers to Tier 2/3 institutions. Most reviews about the
work culture say that it is less competitive, and more humane, while lack of transparent performance appraisal
systems appear to be a pet peeve.

Worklife balance is another issue of concern.

What began as a spare parts manufacturer who moved into telephone instruments, Bharti is now the predominant mobile services company in the country

Fast Facts
Name: Bharti Airtel
Founded: July, 1995
Industry: Telecommunications
Area served: South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands
No. of Employees: 21,299 (2012)
Turnover/ Revenue: US$ 14.49 billion (2012)
Chairman: Sunil Bharti Mittal
HR Head: Krish Shankar
Subsidiary: Airtel Africa, Airtel Digital TV, Airtel Sri Lanka, Airtel Bangla
Website: www.airtel.com

While Airtel continues to be the biggest and the flagship companyof the group and accounts for most of its campus recruitments, the company also recruits for Bharti Axa, Infratel and Learning Systems.

Young Leader Programme is the most prestigious entry level recruitment scheme of the group.

An interesting aspect of this programme is the 'Reverse Mentoring concept', wherein the young recruit takes on the role of guides helping senior leaders understand the demands of the young and the restless.

Majority of the positions offered by the company is in the sales domains.

Designations vary from sales officer to territory sales manager and is uniform across schools.

The company seems to have a very employee- friendly culture, wherein fun, loving, caring, innovative, growth are the terms that get reiterated in most of the reviews of the company.

What began as an IT services company set up by Serge Kampf, the firm is now high up on the technology consulting totem pole.

Fast Facts
Name: Capgemini
Founded: 1967
Industry: IT services, IT consulting
Area served: Worldwide
No. of Employees: 123,229 (2011)
Turnover/Revenue: $9.693 billion (2011)
CEO: Aruna Jayanthi (India)
HR Head: Rajesh Padmanabhan
Subsidiary: NA
Website: www.in.capgemini.com/

A consulting and outsourcing bigwig, the French multinational has over 40,000 or 1/3 of its worldwide employee strength in India.

So, annual fresh recruitment from the country is also very high. The company recruits both from Top and middle-level b-schools.

While most consulting assignments go to the top schools, the frontline functions are open to Tier 2/3 schools.

On the outsourcing side, Trainee Associates and SW Associates appear to be the preferred designation offered to freshers.

The company has predominantly neutral rating on employee response websites.

A small section of Indian recruitments are for the consulting divisions, and nearly 76 per cent of the sample size is back-end functions endorsing the fact that the company has large back office operations in the country, which services its other global arms.

Though the opinion on pay and perks appears to be even between those satisfied and those who are not, most uniformly complain about lack of work-life balance. While many appreciate the open culture and learning possibilities, issues of performance appraisal, retention strategies and growth issues plague the work environment of the company.

It began as the city bank of the New York city about 200 years ago and is now one of the largest full-function financial services player

Financial services giant Citigroup has a substantial presence in India, but in the banking sector, the company's recruitment is primarily restricted to the Top and the Tier 1 institutions.

A known MNC, Citi has the pick of the students from Tier 1 institutions. However, in our sample, very few IIM graduates especially from A, B, C have opted for Citi.

Just about two per cent of the sample profiles came from Tier 2 or below institutions, and most of the profiles in that case were restricted to back office or logistics.

Research function appears to be a popular domain in Citi's offering to freshers.

From the posted user reviews, compensation, cumbersome business processes, work pressure, undue pressure to take higher levels of risk are some of the issues that make Citi a not so attractive employer.

On the other hand, diversity and depth of expertise and opportunity that a group like Citi could provide, as well as the prospects of working for an MNC makes Citi an interesting place to work.

Twenty five years ago, ICICI, a public finance institution, set it up. With such illustrious roots, the firm is now a wide spectrum rating agency.

Fast Facts
Name: Crisil
Founded:1987
Industry: Research, Risk and Policy Advisory
Area served: Globally diversified client base
No. of Employees: NA
Turnover/Revenue: Rs. 538.994 crore (US$98.1 million) (as of March 2010)
CEO: Roopa Kudva
HR Head:G Ravishankar
Subsidiaries:NA
Website: http://crisil.com/

Rating both financial firms and others has been its speciality. A research intensive organisation, CRISIL has been predominantly recruiting from Tier 2/3institutions in bulk.

About 63 per cent of our sample came from such institutions and the designations have been predominantly Management Trainee.

Research Analyst is another profile that the company has been offering. IFMR, Chennai, BIM Trichy, and Sydenham, Mumbai are institutions from where CRISIL appears to recruit in good numbers.

The company, if reviews are to be believed, is very knowledge-intensive and challenges professionals quite often, and people would be happier if the management pays slightly more, and makes constant efforts to improve work-life balance.

With a two-in-a-box client engagement model, this company offers the best of both worlds to the client.

Fast Facts
Name: Cognizant
Founded:1994
Industry: IT services, IT consulting
Area served: Worldwide
No. of Employees: 50,400 (as of 2012)
Turnover/Revenue: US$ 6.12 billion (2011)
CEO: Francisco D'Souza
HR Head: NA
Subsidiaries: NA
Website: http://www.cognizant.com/

A big recruiter, Cognizant has been on the prowl in the top and Tier 1 schools during the last year.

Nearly 41 per cent of the sample profiles came from the IIMs,ISBs and select IITs and almost all of them were for the consulting division of the company.

The firm also has recruited from Tier 2 institutions selectively, but only 4 per cent of the sample size came from such schools.

The designations of recruits also change as one moves down the pecking order. While IITs/IIMS gets consultant/or even Senior Consultant, the lower level schools are offered Process Associate, Executive-Recruitments or HR Executive.

Just about 10 per cent of the people polled in the review sites were unhappy about the company.

Lack of effective mentoring, especially on site, is also a factor that has brought adverse comments.

The company has been growing at a scorching pace and only recently the growth rate has slowed down a bit.

Since client engagement has always been a function predominantly handled by the overseas division, a general complaint is that consulting opportunities are relatively hard to come by for many newrecruits.

A healthy 30 per cent were very satisfied.

The only complaint one comes across on the sites were less pay for freshers, and the confusion that a fast but slightly unstructured work process that the company follows.

In this interview, Shankar Srinivasan, Chief People Officer, Cognizant offers insights into their recruiting trends.

What are the upcoming areas where Cognizant will recruit in large numbers in the future?

We see continued demand in business consulting and domain-intensive roles, apart from niche and new technologies. Also skills in IT Infrastructure Management and BPO/KPO, and emerging technology architectures
like social computing, mobility, analytics, and cloud computing.

What are the opportunities for management graduates?

Cognizant, as part of its KPO practice, works on a wide range of higher-end activities like alternative fund accounting; clinical data management, credentialing, pharmacovigilance and business analytics in healthcare.
This has necessitated us to recruit doctors, pharmacists, pharmacologists, lawyers, CAs, statisticians, supply chain specialists and management graduates who bring in the required subject matter expertise.

What began as an one-man initiative, set up by William Welch Deloitte, the firm went through a series of mergers to its current pre-eminent position

Fast Facts
Name: Deloitte
Founded: 1845
Industry: Professional services
Area served: Worldwide
No. of Employees: 193,000 (as of 2012)
Turnover/Revenue: US$ 31.3 billion (2012)
CEO: Barry Salzberg
HR Head: Ashutosh Sinha
Subsidiary: NA
Website: http://www.deloitte.com

One of the Big 4 accounting firms, Deloitte focuses both on auditing and consulting with equal vigour, which partly explains its appetite for huge manpower across the country and large requirements along the entire spectrum of b-schools.

In terms of diversity of colleges, from top to Tier 4, Delottie is represented everywhere.

Consulting positions obviously go to top players, but positions like Tax consultant, Executive –Tax, ERP Analysit, Associate-Technology designations would greet a fresher from Tier 2/3 colleges.

The company is considered a great place to work, and opportunities to grow appear aplenty.

Long work hours, which are characteristic of consulting firms applies here and lack of work-life balance do come as a complaint quite often.

From the reviews, it is also clear that due to integration with European/US markets late night sittings that synchronises with their timings is also a problem people suggest.

Friendly and motivating leadership appears to be a plus for the company.

What began as a leveraging operation of cheap human resources has now evolved as a full-fledged back office to the world.

The BPO major is a heavy recruiter. It mostly recruits from Tier 2 and Tier 3 colleges while for some Business Analyst and managerial level positions in quality it looks at Tier 1 colleges.

From the sample it appears that it has a slight bias towards south and west-bound colleges when recruiting analysts.

Process Associate, Process Developer and Business Analyst are the three major entry level positions in the firm.

The firm rarely recruits from the Top schools and the nature of business too dictates such choices.

In the sample we examined the few top level positions are primarily VP level ones and are offered to individuals with over 7-10 years work experience. They are more lateral rather than fresh placements.

Company reviews on websites appreciate the firm for giving relatively more opportunities for growth and ease of movement amongst different divisions.

Long work hours and less than transparent appraisal systems and bias in promotions are the pet peeves of many employees. One can also glean from the sites that the general lack of fast growth opportunities also trouble the aspirants.

Here, Piyush Senior Vice President-HR, Genpact tells us what qualities they look for in new recruits.

What qualities does Genpact look for during hiring?

We have two types of requirements from skills' perspective -- people with domain knowledge and people with commercial skills.

For example, if we are hiring anyone for analytics, then we need people who know analytics, statistical methods, research methods, and modelling skills, among others.

On a broader level, we look for a certain level of integrity in candidates, people who have the right attitude from learning perspective and who are able to work in a team.

Later, it is performance and potential of the individual that decides how that individual grows. We have many people who joined us 10 years back as graduates, who are now Vice Presidents.

Future recruitments and quality of workforce...

We produce hundreds of graduates but there are talent supply issues. We train recruits on basic commercial skills, tell them how to run operations.

Ideally, if we could get people who are trained in these areas and get them at the rate that we want, it would be great.

We could then focus on growth and deliver value to our customers and do work we are good at.

This single-room operation set up by six friends is today one of the largest wealth creators.

Fast Facts
Name: Infosys
Founded: 1981
Industry: IT services, IT consulting
Area served: Worldwide
No. of Employees: 153,761 (as of 2012)
Turnover/Revenue: US$ 7.00 billion (2012)
CEO: SD Shibulal
HR Head: Nandita Gurjar
Subsidiary: Infosys Lodestone, Infosys Technologies (Australia) Pty. Limited, Infosys BPO Limited, Infosys Tecnologia do Brasil Ltda, Infosys Technologies (China) Co. Limited, Infosys Technologies (Shanghai) Co. Limited, Infosys Public Services Inc
Website:www.infosys.com

Since it recruits in such large numbers, the company's recruitments are spread across almost all the geographies. The designations too vary.

Most MBAs are placed as functional Consultants and the preferred verticals appear to be Finance and HR.

In recruitment, staffing specialists are the most often offered designations. Though freshers complain about the tough job conditions, many do agree on review sites that considering the volume of recruitment, the company remains the best place to learn the trade.

Many freshers do agree that the company's training systems are quite good, and in terms of learning it is the best place to be in. Supportive peer group also finds positive mention here.

There are also positive comments about the all-round exposure that the company provides. Lack of empowerment, mentoring and expectations to complete the work within unreasonable deadlines are some of the other pet peeves of the freshers.

The overall ratings for the company on review sites like Glassdoor is predominantly one of indifference. For a firm that used to be ranked consistently as one of the top 10 best places to work, this is slightly disappointing.

Here Nandita Gurjar Senior Vice President and Group Head, HR, Infosys Technologies tells us more about how they judge candidates.

More than a million apply and you only take one per cent from that pool...

We have to pick the finest in the country and so the examination has to be of a level that takes only the best.

What we are looking for is consistency. We are not looking for  harpshooters.

For us those who have consistently performed through their lives, right from class 10 up until their college education are the people we want to invest in because these would be the people we could rely on.

Your interviews are as rigorous as the tests, why?

It is a very narrow funnel and there are quite a few parameters we judge candidates on. It is important to know whether these students know their stuff, know what they claim.

Then, of course, we look for generic knowledge, that is their awareness on social and political issues outside the IT industry.

Communications skills are important as our customer is a global customer. So people with poor communication skills are often rejected.

Another aspect that we consider very seriously is the student's value system and whether that matches with that of Infosys. We value honesty, simplicity, integrity and confidence and expect the same from students we recruit.

What began as a large public sector financial institution, ICICI over the years has evolved into a full-service nimble banking corporation.

Fast Facts
Name: ICICI Bank
Founded: 1955
Industry: Banking, Financial services
Area served: Worldwide
No. of Employees: 81,254 (as of 2012)
Turnover/Revenue: US$ 13.52 billion (2012)
CEO: Chanda Kochhar
HR Head: K Ramkumar
Subsidiary: ICICI Lombard, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited, ICICI Securities Limited, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company Ltd, ICICI Venture, ICICI Home Finance, ICICI direct.com, ICICI fund (Domestic) and ICICI Bank UK PLC, ICICI Bank Canada, ICICI Bank Eurasia LLC (International); Website:http://www.icicibank.com/

A training ground for finance professionals, ICICI is famed for being the grooming centre for future CEOs. The firm offers both managerial and executive positions to freshers.

It is slightly liberal in offering managerial positions even to freshers from Tier 2/3 schools, but insiders do say the pay and perks vary.

The most common position on offer is Relationship Manager. About 40 per cent of the sample had the same position. Website reviews do give thumbs up to the opportunities available to freshers.

But long work hours, almost nonexistent leaves as well as a slightly haphazard assessment system and reward schemes have come for complaints from the current and former employees.

N S Kannan ED & CFO, ICICI Bank gives us some clarity on the recruitment process.

Word of advice for aspirants

While aptitude may remain one of the key determinants, it is the positive attitude that enables young graduates to build a career in the long run.

On the type of individuals ICICI recruits...

We are quite up-front about the opportunities and present a clear picture of what is in store. Banking is not exactly a
glamorous job. It demands meticulousness and demands in depth knowledge. So the company seeks out students who show the hunger for performance and are team players.

On the recruitment process...

The recruitment process comprises an aptitude test, group discussion, psychometric tests and invariably several rounds of interviews.

When we are selecting fresh talent passion should be there, customerorientation, conscience should be there.
Dynamism, and passion comes first, compliance is second.

The father of the computing hardware industry is now a software giant with both consulting and services playing a crucial role in the firm's growth.

Fast Facts
Name: IBM
Founded: Endicott, New York, US (June 16, 1911)
Industry: Computer hardware, Computer software, IT services, IT consulting
Area served: Worldwide
No.of Employees: 433,362 (as of 2012)
Turnover/Revenue: US$ 106.91 billion (2011)
CEO: Shanker Annaswamy
HR Head: Chandrasekhar Sripada
Subsidiaries: IBM India, IBM-Daksh and many others
Website: http://www.ibm.com/in/en/

Work in a firm as diverse as IBM could be quite an experience.

While an employee in the premier IBM Research Lab could work on wearable technology, a process associate at IBM Daksh might be stuck with delinquent credit card cases. So it is important to understand which arm of the company one gets a job with.

Website reviews too vouch for this dichotomy. While some say they'd work in a new technology every few years, some others complain about stagnant work culture.

Flexible work culture and well laid out policy frame comes for praise from many employees. But the rigidity of regulations that invariably happens in a large corporation comes for criticism.

The BPO operations too come under flak for being monotonous and repetitive.

Most jobs in our sample is primarily offered by IBM India and hence only Top and Tier 1 institutions are predominantly represented.

VA Rangarajan IBM India/South Asia explains what aspirants can anticipate from the IT major:

Why do you think IBM is an inspiring firm to work for both students and experienced people?

IBM's position as an employer is unique in the sense that few places offer as many opportunities as IBM to gain knowledge in a preferred field of expertise, work in a stimulating environment, and be rewarded for outstanding performance.

From research to consulting, services, solutions and products -- the breadth and global spread of our business offers career opportunities that straddle all facets of global business is an extremely attractive proposition.

Which are the areas of future recruitment? What qualifications are required for such positions?

Growth markets, Cloud and smarter computing and Business analytics Industrialised recruitment, flexible employment models, a globally mobile and agile workforce, great leadership development, clear roadmaps, these are all attributes that are required.

Home-grown hardware major HCL is the only player who still has sizeable presence in both hardware and software.

Fast Facts
Name: HCL Technologies Limited
Founded: November 12, 1991
Industry: IT services, IT consulting
Area served: Worldwide
No. of Employees: 85,335 (Sep 2012)
Turnover/Revenue: US$ 4.3 billion (Sep 2012)
CEO: Vineet Nayar
HR Head: Prithvi Shergill
Subsidiary: NA
Website: http://www.hcltech.com/

The two divisions of HCL cater to distinctly different markets.

While HCL Tech caters to the global market HCL Infosystems focuses on domestic markets and hardware sales in APSC markets.

The recruitments at the strategic level across the two companies are almost similar. But HCL Tech recruits heavily from Greatlakes, XIMB, and IIT Roorke.

HCL Infosystem on the other hand focuses on Nirma, Kalinga, BIIM, SIMM, and IBS, Mumbai. The dominant position offered by Infosystems is one of sales and different verticals too are specified in the offer.

Technologies offers a few management Trainer positions too. A combination of Technology and Business skills is what the firm looks for especially for consulting positions.

But more often presented profiles appear to be Analyst, keeping in mind the nature of operations. The company invariably gets very high marks for being street smart and most reviews comment upon the tremendous learning opportunities for a fresher.

Sales orientation and the skill to close a deal keeps appearing in most of the comments as essential learning from working with HCL.

Vineet Nayar CEO, HCL Technologies has an inspiring advice for young graduates:

Your advice to those who did not get admission in the right b-school

You must first understand that the education is just limited to the first opportunity. The number of people who come through the branded B-School at HCL is pretty high. It gives them a platform.

But after entry, you have to dive and swim and most people do not succeed. Those who do not get into branded schools must look for the right platform. They should demonstrate patience.

You could attempt to get into a good organisation -- work there for a couple of years and simultaneously do your MBA. Or switch over to another course.

In life, if you keep doing what others do then you continue to be one more egg amongst multiple eggs in a poultry farm. If you want to stand out as a company or individual, you must launch a series of experiments.

You should open up your eyes and ears. Instead of being trapped to the history of what has succeeded and not succeeded, you take up your own experiment. Every single person in this world is fairly unique.

If you try and copy me then you would not be able to do it. And even if you partially succeed it is an incomplete process. It holds true for corporations that attempt to do so. Only the original thinkers succeed.

It began as a commercial vehicle manufacturer and is currently a market leader in passenger vehicles too.

Fast Facts
Name: Mahindra & Mahindra
Founded: 1945 (Ludhiana)
Industry: Automotive
Area served: Worldwide
No. of Employees: 15,147 (as of 2012)
Turnover/Revenue: Rs 598.53 billion (US$10.89
billion) (2012)
CEO: Anand G Mahindra
HR Head: Rajeev Dubey
Subsidiary: Mahindra Two Wheelers limited Website: http://www.mahindra.com/

We have collectively looked at M&M, Mahindra Satyam and Mahindra Navistar here.

M&M primarily recruits from Top institutions for strategic management functions, while it offers Management Trainee positions to both Tier 1 and Tier 2 institutions. In terms of designation, there is very little differentiation by the company between these two Tiers.

But most MT positions are primarily focused on sales. Mahindra Satyam is much more spread out in its catchment area.

While it recruits heavily from Great Lakes for strategy and business functions, it moves to Tier 2 and 3 schools for frontline sales and back office domains.

While Mahindra Satyam still gets lots of comments regarding its pay offerings, M&M is praised for its innovation, research-led work environment and motivation levels. Interestingly the offers are either at Tier 1 school or move towards Tier 3 schools concentrating on frontline positions like Sales and Customer Care.

The consumer durable corporation has been an old India hand and operates on both personal care and hygiene verticals.

Fast Facts
Name: Procter & Gamble
Founded: 1837
Industry: Consumer goods
Area served: Worldwide
No. of Employees: 129,000 (as of 2012)
Turnover/Revenue: $83 billion
CEO: Shantanu Khosla
HR Head: Sonali Roychowdhury
Subsidiary:NA
Website: http://www.pg.com/en_IN/

Considered the FMCG nursery, many a marketing wizard has gone through its training programme and fabulous work environment and come out smelling roses.

A prestigious Day recruiter in the early 90s, P&G lost a little sheen during the IT boom years and its rigour and opportunities only came up again for consideration in recent years.

The company's brand management function is much coveted and only top level school products are considered for the position.

The firm also looks at Tier 2 and 3 schools for Sales Officers positions. Training opportunities and potential to work in a global environment with opportunities to work in P&G Global are some of the attractive elements for freshers.

On the review sites, in its catchment area. While it recruits heavily from Great lakes for strategy and business functions, it moves to Tier
2 and 3 schools for frontline sales and back office domains.

While Mahindra Satyam still gets lots of comments regarding its pay offerings, M&M is praised for its innovation, research-led work environment and motivation levels.

Interestingly, the offers are either at Tier 1 school or move towards Tier 3 schools concentrating on frontline positions like Sales and Customer Care.

P&G normally gets very high marks for flexibility in work culture, self-motivated teams and open and transparent work environment.