Placements season has been thrown into doubt due to the spread of the Coronavirus across the country.

As markets are witnessing a downward trend due to the COVID-19 crisis, it has impacted employment prospects for millions of youth. With employers rescinding offers and postponing joining dates owing to the Coronavirus pandemic, the graduating batch of students from several Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are facing an unprecedented situation. 

Students of IIT Madras are among the worst-affected, as almost eight companies withdrew more than 2 dozen job offers during the lockdown. 

“Several companies also ended up postponing the joining date for many students,” said Professor CS Shankar Ram, Advisor, Training and Placement, IIT Madras.  

IIT Madras placement cell is reaching out to IIT Madras Alumnus to explore opportunities for students who are yet to get placed. The institute is looking forward to the situation to improve so that more students are recruited this year. 

Above 20 students lost the job offers made to them during the placement drives at IIT Bombay. BV Ravi Shankar, Training and Placement Officer, IIT Bombay, informed, “Some of these students have secured employment elsewhere and steps are being taken to reemploy them in other companies.”  

At IIT Roorkee and IIT Mandi, only one company each pulled back the job offers provided. But at IIT Guwahati, job offers from three students were revoked during the lockdown. 

IIT Delhi has seen the best placement record for the past few years with 4 per cent more offers than the previous year. But this year, the situation is worrisome there too. Without divulging the exact statistics, a senior official from IIT-Delhi confirmed that the number of job offers being revoked by companies this year was in two-digit numbers. While some other IITs denied to reveal the exact figure about the job offers being revoked, they informed that their respective placement cells are actively working on ensuring that affected students are assisted with other job offers in the second phase of placements. 

However, deferred joining dates by recruiters have also added to the woes of the students. 

Dr Sunny Zafar, Advisor, Career and Placement Cell, IIT Mandi, said, “The pandemic has affected the joining date of various students. Normally, the graduating students from IIT Mandi join firms in July. But this year, with a slight delay in the completion of the final semester, the joining date was postponed to August for most offers. Some firms also deferred the joining date to January 2021. We are in touch with the companies and are positive that students will join them by January.” 

Considering the COVID-19 situation, almost all IITs are planning to conduct the placement drives through virtual mode this year.