IIFM conducted its final placement process between Jan 9^th-16^th 2006. A total of 43 students of the Batch of 2004-2006 were placed across 7 days of recruiting. The process this year was extended in terms of duration to accommodate a number of pre-processes, and to give both interviewers and candidates more time for selection. This year also IIFM continued its unbroken trend of 100% placements of its Post Graduate Diploma in Forest Management (PGDFM) students.

More companies, more diversity, more jobs

According to Prof. D.K. Bandyopadhyay, Director, IIFM, Placement 2006 at IIFM got an overwhelming response from 35 organisations out of which 15 were subsequently invited to the campus giving due consideration for the job profile and compensation packages offered. This year the placements witnessed an increase of 7.5% in job offers made from last year.

Among the foreign recruiters, Olam International, Singapore, came this year as well to its favorite hunting ground. In addition, a number of Indian finance, marketing and marketing research companies also visited campus for the first time along with regular visitors from development and environment sector giving a wider range of opportunity to students.

These additions to the list of recruiters enabled an increase of Day Zero jobs from 20 last year to 36 this year. The total number of foreign jobs remained the same as last year at 3. The foreign jobs were divided across Africa and Indian sub-continent.

Sectors represented

Prof. P.K. Biswas, Chairperson, Placement, informed that 2006 saw the emergence of Rural Banking and Micro Finance as a dominant recruiting sector, in addition to Natural Resource Management & Development Marketing. This is in contrast to 2005 where the dominant recruiting sectors were Natural Resource Management and Corporate Marketing.

The main recruiters in each sector were as follows:

· Rural & Micro Finance: ICICI, FWWB, SKS, Grameen Koota.

· Environment and Climate Change: Economic Securities.

· Development Sector: Chattisgarh Rural Development, Govt. of Chattisgarh; Andhra Pradesh Forest Department, Aide-et-Action, NIF.

· Corporate Sector: Olam International & Olam India, CMFR, ITC.

Compensation

The highest domestic salary was Rs 8 lakh offered by Olam India, and the highest foreign salary was USD 45,000 per annum offered by Olam International. The average salary witnessed the hike of about 40% from last year. It was Rs 3.03 lakh in 2005, and has shown a respectable increase this year to Rs 4.2 lakh. The median domestic salary has also shown an increase from Rs 2.8 lakh last year to Rs 4.03 lakh, an increase of about 44% on last year.

Overall

Mr. Santosh Singh, Student Placement Coordinator emphasized that 2006 kept up the reputation that IIFM has built up for itself, both internationally and in India. Traditionally the big B-School like IIMs and IITs get lot of media attention regarding its placement where as a sectoral management institute like IIFM, an institution of its own kind in the world is silently doing its duty towards natural resources, development sector and others for the upliftment of the society, gets hardly any place in the media regarding its placement. The key differentiating factors for the future are:

· Sharpening focus on present requirements – through syllabus revision, campus activities.

· Enhancing interaction with the development as well as corporate world – through guest lectures of foreign and national experts and other academic event.

· Leveraging the IIFM alumni network – in bringing new companies to campus, and in solidifying relationships with existing recruiters.

About the Institute
The Institute started in 1982 as a sectoral management Institute under the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India. This is one of its kinds in endeavoring to produce young managers equipped with the knowledge and experience to mange natural resources successfully blending very well the management inputs with inputs from Social Sciences and Technical subjects. Apart from education, the Institute is engaged in research, training and consulting in collaboration with several national and international organisations like Ford Foundation, FAO, World Bank, IDRC, ITTO, Asian Development Bank, IIED, DFID, SIDA, UNESCO, and others.