Class of 2009

As the hope of bagging that dream job grows fainter, students in non-elite campuses are living out their worst nightmare

THE ANTI-CLIMAX in India’s growth story has been told and retold from the hallowed precincts of our top engineering and business schools. Somehow, the non-elite campuses never quite made it into the narrative. But therein lies the heart of the tragedy. For, that is where the spillover effects of India’s fairy tale economic surge had finally begun to reach. But as the hope of bagging that dream job grows fainter, these students, in campus after campus, city after city, are living out their worst nightmare. The dazzle of opportunities in sectors like media, aviation, IT and the corporate world has faded. Worse, there are loans to repay. Enter India’s Class of 2009 and listen to four young aspirants and how they are dealing with it.

Computer Science, Hindu Engineering College, Haryana

Information Technology Gaurav Gupta’s final months at Sonepat’s Hindu Engineering College should have been his best. After all, he has an appointment letter from Larsen & Toubro. But he does not know when, if at all, he will be asked to join duty. His seniors, who graduated last year with similar appointment letters, are still waiting to be called. Companies like Infosys, he says, have given letters with joining dates in 2010.

Gaurav’s vulnerability to the fortunes of the global economy seems even more stark against the remoteness of his engineering college campus, situated in a dilapidated Haryana town, off the national highway. He and his best friend (whose insecurity stems from an appointment letter with a letterhead that reads Satyam) are frantically scouting for jobs—applying online, doing off campus interviews, taking entrance tests, making trips to Delhi.

Gaurav has wanted to be a software engineer for as long as he can remember. “Right from my school days, when I was in the seventh standard, it has been my dream. I wanted to be a computer engineer even before I knew the meaning of what a software engineer was.”

Not having a job after graduation is simply not an option for Gaurav. “I will have to take a loan if I want to continue studying. It is to avoid that burden that I need to get a job at any cost.” Gaurav’s father has retired from his job with Atlas Cycles in Sonepat. His mother is a housewife.

Big companies mean more than just better packages for Gaurav and many of his classmates. “Their year-long training programmes help us polish our communication skills and develop our personality. Smaller companies, on the other hand, don’t have the time or the resources for such training programmes,” says Gaurav, who has lived all his life in Sonepat.

Gaurav has now started scouting for government jobs, hoping to find some suitable openings in PSUs (public sector undertakings). Every lead that can be pursued is being pursued. Gaurav will do all he can not to wind up at a call centre, like some of his seniors have.

Asia Pacific Institute of Management, Jasola, New Delhi

Management Relief bordering on disappointment was not the emotion Kriti Zaidu expected to feel when her campus placement finally came through. Excitement, a sense of accomplishment, an eagerness to finally put theory into practice, she hoped, would be part of the experience.

The 23-year-old student of finance from the Asia Pacific Institute of Management is moving to Chandigarh for her first assignment. She had always assumed her first job would be in a metro. But Kriti didn’t think twice about settling for this one. She knows there are not nearly as many jobs as there are freshers in the market this year.

The compensation (Rs 2.5 lakh) is not even close to last year’s lowest package (around Rs 3.5 lakh). It is a marketing job; her priority was finance. But it could have been worse.

“At least, the mental trauma of waking up everyday and wondering how to get past the day is over now. Sure, this is not what I wanted to do. But I have an educational loan to repay. This job means everything to me right now,” says the recently recruited relationship officer of a life insurance company.

Kriti is the only one among her nine flat mates—all MBA freshers—to hold a job offer. “MBA freshers are now sitting for jobs that are offered to graduates. We simply have no room for negotiation with companies on matters of pay or job profile or city,” she says.

Daughter of a retired CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) officer and a former school teacher, Kriti’s hometown is Lucknow. “As in every family, there is the expectation that I will contribute financially,” says Kriti, whose education loan will cost her over Rs 8,000 a month.

So even as Kriti prepares for a new life in a new city, she knows this was not the beginning she had in mind.

Delhi Film Institure, New Delhi

Media Jaya Raman will work for free, if it means gaining experience. But he was told by a leading television news channel last month that even free interns were not welcome any more. Jaya Raman will graduate from the Delhi Film Institute with a degree in mass communication, advertising and journalism this year. Twelve months ago, he would have been spoilt for choice and money. Now, he has appeared for 16 job interviews
and is still looking.

His CV is a long list of stints he managed alongside his media course. From working on Extreme Makeover, a reality show on Sony Entertainment Television, as production manager for an awards night organised by SAP Media, to working as a research analyst for artist Jatin Das, Jaya has tried his hand at many things.

But his timing couldn’t have been worse. Just when a career in event management was beginning to look promising, the Mumbai terror attacks led to massive cancellations of year-end events and functions that eventually moved to safer destinations like Dubai.

Two years ago, it was the urgency of getting a job that prompted Jaya to drop out of a political science degree at the Delhi University and pursue a career in the media. After all, a course in TV anchoring and radio jockeying had landed his friend a job with a TV news channel. With a salary of no less than Rs 28,000.

Jaya’s father retired last year and he feels the pressure of having to fend for himself. “Unlike my classmates who are 18 and 19, I am not in a position to continue studying. I need a job. In these times, I cannot predict what will happen. I can only say I am very confused and insecure about my future,” says the 23-year-old. “I might just have to get into a call centre,” he adds.

Air Hostess Academy, New Delhi

Aviation Given the certainty with which aeroplanes were taking off the runway until a year ago, no one could have faulted 19-year-old Sitanshi Malhotra for believing in her dream of joining an international airline. She didn’t think twice before paying Rs 1.47 lakh for a year-long training programme at the Air Hostess Academy in Delhi. Uncertainty was certainly not part of the plan. Neither was the probability of air hostesses taking to the streets, placards in hand, fighting to keep their jobs.

Dressed in her uniform and seated in her classroom designed to look like the inside of an aeroplane, Sitanshi has started to look the part. It is difficult to imagine her flustered, with her perfectly made-up face and hair, and her practised calm. But she does allow herself a few moments of straightforwardness. “There is a feeling of insecurity. The salaries are getting lower and the interviews tougher. Earlier, a good personality and good looks were enough. Now, subject knowledge and added qualifications like knowing how to swim have begun to matter,” she says.

Today, international airlines are insisting on graduation degrees. Domestic airlines are not hiring enough, or not at all, or just not paying well enough.

As her training programme draws to a close, Sitanshi is considering a career change. “The hospitality sector promises more security and better growth prospects,” she says. But getting a break there is no cakewalk either. At a recent interview with a hotel chain, she was asked to read aloud to check her language skills, quizzed on the hotel’s history and even put through a mock telephone call to test her presence of mind.

But her childhood ambition of flying is still alive. She did an interview for a low-cost airline last week. “They have to call me for a second round.” She waits.

About The Author

Pallavi Polanki