Xavier Institute of Social Service. Picture by Manik Bose

Ranchi, Nov. 24: The Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS) seems less fortunate than its close cousin, the XLRI. While the premier B-school has bagged cool summer jobs to mock the market meltdown, the season of campus placement hasn’t brought good news for the management cradle.

Only 13 of the 75 personnel management students have been lucky enough to get jobs in the past couple of weeks. Several companies, which offered fat pay packets last year, were missing in action this time. So far, only six companies have visited the campus. These are Taj Group of Hotels, Tata Steel, Calcutta Electric Supply Company, TNT Logistics, Tata Indicom and Vedanta.

The pay scale has also plummeted. What touched a 12-lakh high last year was only 7.2 lakh this time. The highest annual package has been offered by Vedanta to Kaifi Shamim, a student of personnel management. The second highest offer is Rs 6 lakh, promised by Taj Group of Hotels.

“It goes without saying that the global slump has had an impact on XISS. We want the phase to end soon so that the recruitment drive can gain momentum,” said S.R. Shauq, the head of the personnel management department.

Last year, the likes of Tata Motors, TCS, SAB Miller, JSW Steel, Lehman Brothers and Reliance Telecom had swamped the campus and handpicked students of their choice. XISS officials said these companies are yet to arrive this time. The average pay package has gone down relatively. What was Rs 6-7 lakh last time is around Rs 5 lakh this year, they complained.

As the future looks bleak for XISS, the 13 lucky students who have bagged jobs, too, cannot stop worrying. “I may have been offered a job, but as long as the appointment letter doesn’t arrive I cannot rest assured. I am praying to god and earnestly hoping that the company doesn’t change its decision all of a sudden,” said a student, requesting anonymity.

The campus recruitment drive for personnel management, which began a fortnight ago, will continue till February. The same for other departments — rural development, information management and marketing and finance management — are yet to begin.

The campus recruitment of students of personnel management is co-ordinated by a placement committee. The committee headed by a placement representative works in unison with the placement co-ordinator and senior faculty members.

The XISS was started as an extension department of St Xavier’s College, Ranchi, in 1955. The objective was to train young graduates for social work, personnel management, business management and rural management. In 1973, the institute was registered as a separate educational society under the Society Act and, in 1978, it moved to its own campus.