Rivigo is a technology-enabled logistics company that had visited IIT Kanpur on Day 1 and 2 of the 2018-19 placement season offering roles in Algorithms, Business Analysis and Software Development. In a sudden incident on 13th June, Rivigo revoked the placement offers of all their incoming fresh hires, out of which 11 were from IIT Kanpur. In the mail, Rivigo mentioned “slowdown in the economy and the related market pressures and dynamics of the industry” as one of the main reasons they were forced to review the offers they had made.
While the incident has been rather unfortunate, Rivigo, as conveyed to us by one of the 11 students, is putting in the best of their efforts to make sure these students get placed in equivalent if not better positions. Rivigo has personally contacted companies like NoBroker, Shuttl, Cleartax, etc., and has shared the details of the on-campus interviews conducted, and has been scheduling telephonic interviews for the students with them as well. The HR team of Rivigo is in constant touch with the students, keeping track of the scheduled interviews. In case, these companies don’t shortlist these students, another set of companies will be approached as well.
This was about the efforts from the side of the external party in question, but what about the steps from the internal organization, that is the Students’ Placement Office. A former Overall Placement Coordinator, in conversation with Vox, remarked, “This is actually a rare case and hence every further procedure which needs to be followed is still under discussion. As of now, we are working on casualties by finding opportunities for those students. The procedure is nothing less than blacklisting, but finding relevant opportunities precedes everything as of now.”
Economic pressure and market dynamics are some factors that often lead to harsh corporate decisions. Although Rivigo took the responsibility of offering equivalent interviews in other companies, this still raises questions about how slots are allocated during the placements by the Students’ Placement Office and the overall process of jobs being offered by the companies.
Moreover, the factors used in calling and assigning slots to companies during placements also fall under scrutiny and whether or not rigorous background checks should be even more prioritized over other criteria like the number of offers, CTC and the placement percentage, is a big question that the SPO would have to answer. Long delays in communication of offer letters is also an auxiliary problem that aggravates instances like these and can affect students negatively. We can only hope that the efforts of these students don’t go in vain and that they are given placements they deserve.
A student from the graduating batch, who was closely associated with the placement season said- “SPO invests fewer resources for contacting companies sooner. If the efforts start a bit earlier, not only will they have enough time to consult other colleges where the company has hired in the past, have a good background check and avoid such situations but also have a greater chance to convert bigger and well established companies to get hold of the prime hiring slots instead of growing startups, which depend highly on market dynamics and economy.”
While we laud the continuous efforts of the SPO, evident by the fact that IITK has had the best placement percentage amongst all IITs for the last two years, this certainly is not their brightest hour.
