The placement season is around the corner, and students are preparing to give their best to grab the best of the opportunities available. Generally, during this season, ‘pay package’ and ‘CTC (Cost to Company)’ become commonly-used terms among students, as they tend to emphasise this aspect of the job and try to get the highest possible package.
Recently, a prominent investor and businessman in social media, criticised that even youngsters, who have relatively less work experience, demand exorbitant salaries. While some replied to the post that there is nothing wrong in demanding a high salary, a few others supported the businessman. We talk to a few students from various colleges across the state to get their point of view, and to know if there is an obsession to get fat salaries, even as freshers.
Says Narendher Selvan, a final year student from Bharathidasan Institute of Management (BIM), Tiruchy, “I paid Rs 11 lakh to get into the college — and I had to take an educational loan for it. So, it is natural that I would expect a pay package that would be sufficient to repay the loan and manage my living expenses.” He goes on to say that when it comes to pursuing management studies, they tend to demand more, as many of them already have work experience. “Though I don’t have corporate work experience, many of my friends have work experience of two years. So they expect at least Rs 11 lakh per annum,” he adds, “Apart from this, I think that there is a lot of societal pressure to get the so called ‘highest package’. I feel that is wrong.”
On the other hand, R. Paventhan, a fourth year manufacturing engineering student from Anna University, Chennai, feels, “For us, as engineers, we always try to get placed in whatever company that comes first, rather than looking at the pay package.” The recruitment process has already been kick started in his college, and the student says, “We are not in a position to demand a pay package like MBA students. Ours is decided by what stream we are in, rather than our talent.”
For architecture students, it is a completely different scenario, as there is no conventional placement process in most institutions. However, Ashika Amarnath, a final year student from MEASI Academy of Architecture, Chennai, feels that one should not shy away from demanding a salary that they deserve. “We don’t have companies coming in to recruit freshers, as MBA and engineering colleges do. Our management helps us to get in touch with firms and clients, but the rest is up to us. Many individuals start their own firms, while some do freelance work, and the rest work fulltime for firms,” she muses. Ashika further adds, “Ours is a creative field and it is difficult to quantify our product. But, if we think our work deserves a handsome sum, we shouldn’t shy away from demanding it.”
Reethi Monika, a third year BCA student from PSG College of Arts & Science, Coimbatore, opines, “We have often heard that one doesn’t have a span of more than two years in IT companies and consultancy firms. So, it is only natural that we would like to make as much money as possible during that period of time!”
