Section of JBIMS grads without jobs, say placement team ‘not taking responsibility’; B-school blames students

Some of the recent management graduates from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), a top B-school in Mumbai, who didn’t find jobs during campus placements are upset with the institute and its placement team.

As many as 11 out of 150 graduates from the 2024-26 batch of master of management studies (MMS) – a course equivalent to the master of business administration (MBA) – recently wrote to the institute’s authorities complaining about inadequate support in finding employment opportunities. The institute, however, blamed the students’ poor academic record and lack of communication and other skills for failing to land offers in an otherwise “excellent” placement drive.

In their e-mail to the institute, the management grads said that they are still looking for work opportunities months after finishing their programme and sought more active assistance through company connections, alumni references and information about openings.

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JBIMS Placements 2026: MMS students seek support

“We sincerely appreciate the efforts made by the institute and the placement team throughout the placement process. However, over the past few months, there has been limited communication and very few placement opportunities shared with the remaining unplaced students. Although a WhatsApp group was recently created for us, we have not received significant placement-related updates or opportunities through it so far,” reads the mail.

The graduates, who hail from different parts of the country, said that the faculty-led but student-run placement team didn’t make enough efforts after April, when most of the students got placed and the academic year came to an end.

“Once the campus placements got over in April, only a handful of companies came. After August, the placement team would simply forward the job listings from LinkedIn. There has been no response to our e-mail,” said one of the unplaced graduates. “No professor from the college is supporting us. We are your students, not outsiders. JBIMS is a tier-one institute after all,” he lamented.

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The unplaced graduates said that they did appear for a bunch of group discussions and interviews but didn’t get any offer. They said that they didn’t get proper feedback either from recruiters or the placement team about possible shortcomings. “That's the problem of B-schools. Even if feedback comes, it’s through the placement committee. But they don’t communicate properly,” said one of the graduates. “Requirement not matched is their usual refrain,” added another.

No job, steeped in debt

The grim situation stands in contrast to the "successful completion” of MMS placements claimed by JBIMS in its 2024-26 report. The institute reported a median package of Rs 26.15 lakh per annum (cost to company) and the highest salary of Rs 80 lakh in the last hiring cycle. The report mentions that more than 70 recruiters participated in the placements, 21 of them being new firms. As many as 93 students got pre-placement offers (PPOs) and pre-placement interviews (PPIs).

With no campus placement on the horizon, the students are forced to look for employment opportunities on their own. But they are struggling to find comparable offers. One of the graduates, who hails from a village in interior Maharashtra and had taken Rs 11 lakh education loan, said that he is facing immense pressure from his farming family to start working. Despite two years of experience as an agri-salesperson, he is unable to find a job paying more than Rs 6 lakh.

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“I was hoping to get a Rs 20 lakh package based on the institute’s past reports,” he said, adding, “There’s a lot of pressure from the family. I also need to repay my debt. But it seems that the placement team isn’t ready to take any responsibility.”

Jamnalal Bajaj placements ‘excellent’

However, Sudhakar Gaonkar, the institute’s placement officer, put the onus on the students. “It was an excellent placement season for eligible students – the ones without any academic backlog. We not only had the regular recruiters visit the campus, but also saw 15-20 new companies last year. If the students are unable to find a job in 160 companies, it means they either failed their exams, or lack communications skills or are incapable of solving case studies. It’s like the pot calling the kettle black (chorachya ultya bomba). Those who attended the college regularly and did their presentations got the opportunity,” he said.

He said that the proportion of unplaced students is similar to the previous years. “We kept providing them assistance till July and August, but we had to shift focus on the current placement season. We have completed our summer placements and 40 students have already landed PPOs. Finance and marketing continue to be our strong suit. We recorded 100% placements for MSc Finance and near 100% in the newly introduced Masters in Human Resource Development (MHRD) programme last year,” he said.