Selection of Management Graduates through Campus Recruitment-A Case of Employers Selection Criteria

universities imparting professional ma- nagesnent education organise campus recruitment programmes every year for the placement of their graduating students by bringing together prospective employers and graduating students on their campus. An analysis of the selection criteria applied (or desirable attributes sought) by the organisations offering employment to young management graduates through the campus recruitment programme is important for various reasons. It would help in understanding the objective function of the employing organisations for recruiting prospective managers. It would help the management education institutions and universities in drawing up the criteria for selection of students for admission to their programme keeping in view the needs of the employers. And most directly, it would help the graduating management students them- selves by providing a clearer understanding of the selection criteria and' better preparation for interviews and other tests to be faced by them at the time of meeting prospective employers under the campus recruitment programme. This would also help in strengthening the process of smoother adjustment of the management graduates in their actual job situation. This last aspect of such analysis acquires a great deal of significance in view of the gap which seems to exist between the expectations and experiences of the employer as well as the management graduate in job situations,1 Considering the importance of the subject of selection criteria used by the prospective employing organisations at campus recruitment programmes for management graduates, I conducted a case study on this subject. This was undertaken through a survey of the Views of the executives of most of the organisations participating in the 1976 Campus Recruitment Programme of the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad (ILMA) regarding selection criteria used by them for offering various jobs to the management graduates of this Institute. This paper presents the major findings of this survey.