B-school students choose Google India as preferred employer

Attracting talent is a challenge for multinationals, lucrative pay packages and the work environment are big draws. In a poll conducted by Nielsen, 860 students graduating next year from 30 universities chose Google India as their preferred company to work for. The same poll in 2009, placed Google as number two behind McKinsey.
The annual Nielsen Campus Track B-School Survey found 54% of the polled students eyed the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) segment followed by investment banks, management consulting for their careers. Talent incubator from the Tata group – Tata Administrative Services (TAS) moved from eight to the second most preferred employer. According to the Nielson report, the top 10 preferred recruiters for 2010 are:

• Google
• TAS
• Hindustan Lever
• Procter & Gamble
• McKinsey
• BCG
• Bain & Company
• Goldman Sachs
• Accenture
• Aditya Birla Group

The first five are in order of preference.
Regarding pay packages, the students expect:

• 16 lacs (~$36000) for a placement within India.
• 29 lacs (~$65000) for an overseas placement.

One of the concerns raised by the survey is that most students plan on leaving the first job within 4 years. Google recently offered a $6 Million counter offer to an engineer for not moving to Facebook. Some of the reasons for choosing employers mentioned are:

• Salary
• Market standing of the company
• Job content
• Perceived opportunity to learn from top talent
• Growth prospects
• Degree of independence

Shailesh Rao, MD of Google India talking about the survey said,“We have worked hard to ensure that people enjoy what they do when working for us. We have a collaborative culture and are purpose-driven.”
Google’s famous policy of allowing employees spend time on pet project has helped their image. Management Development Institute, Gurgaon’s Dean NR Bhusnurmath acknowledged this and said, “Google is being seen as a company that allows youngsters to come up with new ideas, where they are free to experiment.”