The Hindu : National : It’s raining jobs at Asian College of Journalism

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It’s raining jobs at Asian College of Journalism

Special Correspondent

We have become the preferred first destination for any media organisation, says chairman

— Photo: K. V. Srinivasan

Seller’s market: Students waiting for their turn to attend an interview session at the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai.

CHENNAI: Proof of the Indian media boom is never more obvious than at placement time. At the Asian College of Journalism, one of the country’s premier training institutions, April is a busy month in the placements game — and students are confident they hold most of the aces.

“There is a huge qualitative difference in the placement process this year. From the time you say ‘go’, there is big competition to grab the best students…We have become the preferred first destination for any media organisation,” said Sashi Kumar Menon, chairman of the Media Development Foundation that runs the college. Recruiters agree that the college is in the top echelon of media training institutions, and put their money where their mouths are, racing to make the first offers to the 115 students who will graduate on May 3 this year.

ACJ’s campus placements take place in the first two weeks of April. Barely four days into the process, all broadcast students have received at least one job offer. Several are already juggling more than two offers, using their advantageous negotiating position to argue for higher pay packages, better job profiles or preferred city postings. While recruitment for the print stream has just started, newspapers seem to be offering even higher salaries than their television rivals. So far as online trainees are concerned, they may well have the best position — apart from news portals, most newspapers and TV channels are recruiting for their online editions as well, say students.

Major news media recruiters this time around include The Hindu, The Times of India, The Economic Times, Times Now, UTV, CNN-IBN, CNBC TV18 and TV18’s online offerings, NDTV Metro Nation, Hindustan Times, HT Mint and their prospective business news channel, The Indian Express, The New Indian Express, DNA, TV9, and Reuters.

This year several publishing firms, NGOs, and information technology giants seeking content writers have also joined the placement queue.

Rs. 5.04 lakh per annum

While many offers are fluid and still seem to be negotiable, the highest so far seems to be Rs. 5.04 lakh per annum, with the average offer hovering around Rs. 2.4 lakh per annum.

Recruiter schedules have been allotted on a “first-come, first-serve” basis by the placement committee, which comprises student and faculty members. “The students are fully involved in the whole process for the first time,” said Sampath Kumar, the faculty member heading the placement process. “We have ensured a transparent process and the students themselves have decided that once a candidate accepts an offer, he cannot sit for any more interviews,” he noted, adding that offers must be accepted or declined within a “reasonable time frame” of two to three days.

Shaoli Rudra and her fellow student representatives find themselves discussing the fine print in offer letters with HR personnel and even holding telephone conversations with an Editor-in-Chief. “Especially in TV, it’s so cut-throat, and at the end of the day, channels have more or less the same content and style, so then the money becomes important,” explains Ms. Rudra. “A lot of investments are expected in the media sector…We know it is a seller’s market,” says her classmate Shruthi Krishnan.

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