Move over Google, Oracle; start-ups pick up most IIT grads this time

It seems neither money nor big brands are the priorities of IITians and other engineering college graduates.

According to a report in The__Times of India , a new pecking order appears to have emerged at engineering colleges with several new start-ups finding way into the top of the placements queue.

Besides Housing.com, ahouse-hunting portal thathired 45 IIT graduates during top slots at campuses in Delhi, Mumbai, Kharagpur and Guwahati, other start-ups such asonline restaurant discovery guide Zomato, Quickr,multi-screen gaming platform Snapstick,Myntra and job site Naukri have also joined the race to hire from IIT-B.

Dozens of other, lesser-known start-ups including Unbxd, Wooqer, Edudigm, ZeMoSo Labs are also making a significant number of hires, getting the better of many established companies in the war for talent, reports TheEconomic Times.

“Never have so many start-ups made it to the first few slots, “Avijit Chatterjee, placement head at IIT-Bombay, told ToI.

Meanwhile, with 118 offers so far to the class of 2014,Flipkart has emerged as the largest recruiter in the first three-and-half days of this placement season. The company picked up the most number of students–36–at IIT Kanpur.

So, why are more IITians chhosing startups over big names? Well, the companies are not only paying a salary of at least 12-18 lakh (gross), but are also offering some interesting profiles.

Sachin Bansal, co-founder, Flipkart makes it clear.“Those who join us get the opportunity to build a company and its business from the ground up, grow along with it and learn at a pace and flexibility that is unmatched in the industry. "

And that’s precisely what most graduates are looking for.