Bangalore: 34 percent students surveyed from those graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) this year preferred ‘non-core jobs’ as per reports from the institute’s latest student newsletter, Insight. 39 percent students said they were ‘just about satisfied’ with the job offers they had got. It was also noted that this year the average salaries rose by 10 to 15 percent at the institute.

The newsletter which surveyed 200 students of the 1,400-odd eligible for placements this year found that 39 percent said they were “just about satisfied”, while 37 percent said they were “extremely happy.”  16 percent said jobs “fell short of aspirations”, while only 8 percent fell into the “deeply unhappy” segment of the “happiness index”.

The survey suggests that 34 percent students preferred ‘non-core jobs’ such as marketing, finance or consulting while 66 percent of students said they preferred ‘core jobs’ that are jobs related to their department. The newsletter recorded this was “an overwhelmingly positive trend that would make our tax-payers happy”. About 20 percent of the candidates said they had to settle for non-core jobs because they decided to hedge their options or because of rewarding pay-packages or because core jobs were unavailable.

The placement process in IIT-B began in December last year and it is one among the first campuses that recruiters visit. The institute still has its placement process going on and the unhappy students still stand a chance to get better opportunities, with about 80 companies yet to visit.

Ravi Sinha, professor in charge of placements at IIT-B said “Every year we have been noticing an incremental increase in the number of students opting for core jobs,” as reported by Hindustan Times. He added that “Maybe people are getting to understand that what they study at IIT will give them a competitive edge.”