‘On-campus placements are cut-throat’: IITians explain why PPOs are gaining popularity

The internships that students unafraid tin beryllium attained on-campus oregon off-campus, depending connected students’ exploration and the institute’s partnerships. Pre-Placement Offer (PPO) is progressively gaining popularity among IIT students. For example, IIT Madras (in the 2022-23 placement season) stated that the institute received a record-breaking 350 PPOs aft the 2022 summertime internships.

Even successful IIT Delhi, the PPOs received accrued from astir 150 successful 2020-21 to astir 230 successful 2021-22. In IIT Bombay’s latest placement season, 300 PPOs were received and 258 were accepted, retired of a full of 1267 internship offers.

Similarly, full fig of PPOs offered successful the latest placement play was 227, of which 189 were accepted.

“Taking a PPO is recommended for students truthful that they consciousness little unit during their last year. This is much applicable astatine contiguous arsenic the occupation marketplace is undergoing a large translation owing to the redundancy of low-level IT jobs. Moreover, since the world load, successful the signifier of courses and credits, is little successful the last year, a PPO facilitates capable intelligence state to ponder implicit different vocation trajectories, specified arsenic higher acquisition oregon entrepreneurship,” Lakshmi Narayan Ramasubramanian, an adjunct prof astatine IIT Delhi told indianexpress.com.

Why are students preferring PPO implicit on-campus placement

There was a clip erstwhile students were hesitant astir accepting a PPO arsenic they believed that an connection made during the on-campus placement thrust would connection amended remuneration and opportunities. “Imagine an on-campus placement thrust arsenic an unfastened and free, but constricted clip period, buffet wherever we had a prime of respective dishes but we had to guarantee that we cease the accidental earlier the crockery runs out. I earlier had a PPO which I kept arsenic a backup option, and inactive sat for on-campus placement drive. It was stressful for definite but I managed to people a amended connection successful the archetypal signifier itself,” says a erstwhile IIT student.

The inclination seems to beryllium changing present arsenic IITians are present preferring to settee down with the PPOs arsenic it helps them unbend successful their last year, alternatively of surviving nether the changeless unit of securing a occupation offer. Umar Sayed, a 23-year-old from IIT Goa, accepted a PPO from Google aft interning astatine the MNC’s Indian office successful Bengaluru betwixt May and July. “A fewer months aft I finished my internship astatine Google, the institution reached retired to maine with a full-time offer. I was blessed to judge it and my joining day is successful July 2025. I preferred accepting the PPO arsenic the on-campus placement thrust would person mode much grinding, but present I got to bask my last twelvemonth of assemblage without the hostility of bagging a occupation offer,” Umar said.

Another crushed wherefore students are preferring a PPO implicit on-campus placement thrust is the market’s existent vulnerability, fearing that ongoing instability and layoffs mightiness jeopardize their chances of securing a occupation done the on-campus placements. “…it could person happened. There was a anticipation of maine not securing a bully occupation connection arsenic this year’s placement forecast was atrocious owed to the susceptible marketplace conditions — which cipher tin control. So, I accepted a PPO arsenic it acts arsenic a information nett and provides maine the state to absorption connected my different passion, interests and the last twelvemonth of my assemblage life. Also, on-campus placements are not easy, they person cut-throat competition,” said an IIT Bombay pupil who interned astatine a Hyderabad-based bundle institution betwixt May and July 2024 and has already started moving arsenic an entry-level bundle engineer, arsenic per the presumption of his PPO.

Why should you take PPO?

While the PPOs are present starting to lucifer the CTC offered during the on-campus placements, experts are cautioning students to lone judge a PPO based connected the acceptability of the enactment illustration successful the institution they interned in.

“While the magnitude of the CTC bundle remains a emblematic yardstick for measuring the esteem of a PPO, this is simply a short-sighted constituent of view. The quality of enactment varies successful companies and the wide thumb regularisation is that higher wage packages travel with a hazard of agelong moving hours and aggravated show pressure. Although each idiosyncratic thinks they tin negociate amended than the ones suffering from these occupational hazards, they are perfectly mistaken. Work unit related accent silently accumulates implicit clip and delivers a captious stroke to intelligence and carnal health.

“The champion metric to measure a PPO is the occupation engagement, wide morale of the employees successful the company, institution incentives and behaviour with employees. Of the above-mentioned factors, occupation engagement is astir hard to gauge and tin beryllium done lone astatine a qualitative level. For instance, the pupil indispensable deliberation of however overmuch they privation to larn successful a peculiar tract and measure the grade to which they bask working. If they lone similar 50% of the enactment they are doing, they indispensable not take the PPO. This is wherefore students indispensable absorption connected really exploring the implicit scope of the job, the benignant of enactment done astatine higher levels and the agelong word viability of their employment successful a tract during their internship, alternatively of posting LinkedIn essays astir however they got a accidental to enactment successful a ‘prestigious’ company,” Lakshmi Narayan Ramasubramanian explained.