Guess what: B-school grads need to start panicking about jobs

It’s a tough job market out there. And, sometimes, even being the best isn’t good enough.

At least that’s what students graduating from the Indian Institutes of Management and the Indian School of Business – the country’s top management institutes – are learning the hard way.

The Economic Times reported that this year, these management grads – among the most sought after in the country and globally – will have to deal with fewer recruiters, fewer jobs and lower salaries as a result of the economic slowdown occurring both locally and overseas.

[caption id=“attachment_170932” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“Students at an IIM convocation. Reuters”] [/caption]

Institute directors and other officials told the newspaper that they are bracing for the worst, and ‘gently lowering the expectations’ of students anxious to find their dream jobs.

That probably applies to all job seekers in India this year: temper your expectations.

While various surveys showed that some sectors continue to maintain robust hiring plans, the fact is that an uncertain local and global outlook is likely to keep companies in cautious hiring mode.

Yes, there will be hiring, but it, most likely, will be incremental, not large-scale, this year. Still, that’s better than a lot of countries around the world, where companies are busy axing hundreds of employees.

According to a recent survey by the Manpower group, Indian companies remain the most optimistic about hiring among 41 countries.

Indeed, pay hikes could also be possible this year, although don’t expect too much of a jump from last year’s average hike of about 11 percent. The expectation is that this year also, hikes could be 11-12 percent. Again, that’s better than no hike at all.

Going by various surveys by recruitment consultants, hiring is expected to remain robust in at least two sectors: infrastructure and information technology (IT)/information technology-enabled sectors (ITES). One estimate suggests that the IT/ITES sector could recruit up to three lakh job-seekers this year.

Other sectors expected to hire this year are automobile, manufacturing, healthcare and consumer durables companies.

However, if you’re looking for in banking or broking or other financial services, you could be in for a disappointment. Ditto for those hunting for jobs in telecoms. With consumers shutting their wallets over high interest rates and high prices, sales and service-oriented job opportunities are also coming down.

According to TeamLease Services, a recruitment company, new job creation over the past six months declined by about 15 percent from a year ago, led by drops in sales and customer service jobs.

In 2012, given that the economy is expected to grow by around 7 percent (which is much lower than previous years), there is reasonable scope for jobs growth. Indeed, some experts believe hiring activity could grow by 7-8 percent from 2011 levels. However, job seekers will almost certainly have to cope with more conservative salaries.

Even those seeking jobs abroad will need to have more realistic expectations. Jobs in foreign countries, especially in Europe and the US, might be difficult to find, given the economic sluggishness in both regions. Job opportunities in the Middle East might also be tougher to come by given the political turbulence in most parts of the region.

Nevertheless, we’re not in a ’no-job-creation’ scenario yet and that’s something. Time to be cautiously optimistic.