Dare2Compete Awards 2021 Rankings & D2C Campus Employer Branding Report goes live

Dare2Compete recently marked a glorious end to its annual extravaganza - the Dare2Compete Awards 2021 on April 7, with an aim of recognising excellence and accomplishments of every stakeholder in the ecosystem. Recognised globally, the awards not only span its celebration across the student community for its persistent performance, but also honours the B-Schools, Engineering Colleges, and the Recruiting organizations for giving students the chance, guidance, and support to shine on national and international stages.

Following a stringent set of guidelines, the students first nominated themselves for competitions that they have excelled in, during this academic year. Post rigorous selection process, nominated students were awarded stars basis which D2C Competitive Leaders 2021 & D2C Top 10 College Champions 2021 were decided. These stars also went on to contribute to the overall ranking of their respective colleges giving us  D2C Competitive B-Schools & E-Schools 2021. While nominating themselves, each student was also asked to vote for the two categories of awards - D2C Prestigious Competitions 2021 and D2C Popular College Festivals 2021 to recognize the remarkable competitions & festivals organized in the past one year.

Amidst prestigious competitions, HUL L.I.M.E. reclaimed its place as the D2C most prestigious B-School competition 2021 across B-Schools followed by Flipkart WiRED & Amazon Customer Excellence Challenge. Whereas, students of Premier 10 B-Schools crowned Amazon Customer Excellence Challenge as the D2C most prestigious B-School competition 2021. HUL L.I.M.E & Asian Paints Canvas took the second & third places respectively.

Under the D2C Prestigious E-School Competitions 2021 category, Code Jam won the winning title followed by Hash Code, both of which were from the house of Google. Microsoft Imagine Cup secured the third place followed by Flipkart GRiD and IBM Hack Challenge.

Another category that got the limelight was D2C Prestigious B-Schools and E-Schools 2021. IIFT was crowned as the Dare2Compete most Competitive B-School 2021. IIM Ahmedabad skipped four places this year from 2020 to take the second place, while IIM Bangalore, the B-School that lifted the trophy last year, settled at the third place. In the E-School category, IIT Madras emerged victorious, taking home the tag of Dare2Compete most Competitive E-School 2021.

The grandeur of the Dare2Compete Awards 2021 extends beyond the rankings. The D2C Campus Employer Branding Report (CEBR) 2021 was also released at the Dare2Compete Awards 2021 in order to connect talent with the right opportunity in a meaningful, deep, and efficient manner. D2C CEBR 2021 amplifies the voice of students in terms of their preference in job roles, salaries, dream companies across sectors. With 7,200 survey respondents (2.5x YoY), the report sheds light on some of the most critical questions that govern the decision of students.

As a part of the D2C Campus Employer Branding Report 2021, winning titles were awarded in the category of “Dream Companies to work for 2021”:

●  In the premier 10 B-Schools, HUL remains the dream employer, leading it from the front with Amazon and McKinsey. While across all B-Schools, Google grabs the dream employer’s position, followed by Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and Amazon.

●  In the Engineering space, Google wins first place and Microsoft takes a close second with Amazon as third.

●  BCG pips Mckinsey to grab first place as the desirable consulting company, followed by Bain in premier 10 B-Schools. However, the famous MBB trio - McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain & Company grab the first three places as usual across premier 30 B-Schools.

●  In the Banking and Finance sector, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Co. shine this year as well, as No.1 and No.2 respectively, across segments.

●  ITC gains 2nd spot while HUL shines at No.1 in the desirable FMCG/Beverage companies space, followed by P&G, Nestle, and Coca-Cola in that order across segments.

●  Tata Sons wins first place under the General Management domain, followed by Aditya Birla Group (ABG), Mahindra, and Reliance across Premier 10 B-Schools. Interestingly in premier 30 B-Schools, the order changes as TATA, Reliance, ABG, and then Mahindra.

●  In line with last year’s report, Amazon, Flipkart, and Google shine as the top 3 desirable Start-Ups/Online-Services/E-Commerce/Technology Companies where students would like to work across segments. Microsoft and Udaan took the 4th and 5th position respectively in the premier 10 B-School segment.

D2C CEBR 2021 has also given us the much-needed insight into the thought process of students. Here are some key findings from the D2C Employer Branding Report 2021:

●  72% of B-School students are concerned about having lesser companies on campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas another issue that emerged as a major concern amongst students was reduced salaries.

●  Marketing and General Management are the preferred domains that B-School students would like to work in followed by Finance, Analytics, and Operations.

●  E-Schoolers want to work as a Software Engineer/Developer followed by Product Manager roles and then Data Scientist & Analytics.

●  Consulting and FMCG/FMCD are the most sought-after sectors by B-Schoolers, closely followed by E-Commerce and BFSI.

●  Engineering students aspire to work in ITeS or their Core engineering sector, followed by Analytics and Consulting.

●  81% of B-Schoolers & 74% of Engineering students would like to have only one to two interactions with the company to understand it better before deciding to build a career in that company.

●  In-hand Salary (Amount hitting their account) is what both E-School and B-School students value the most when accepting company offers.

●  56% of B-School students expect and are happy with at least INR 100,001- INR 150,000 minimum monthly in-hand salary after graduation. In E-Schools, expectations are rather spread out with a minimum starting at INR 50,000.

●  67% of students are willing to give 6 months to 2 years to a company to understand it better before switching to a different organization.

To get a thorough understanding of this generation’s mindset and view all rankings visit https://dare2compete.com/awards/2021. You can check out all the details and a blow by blow account of Dare2Compete Awards in the Forbes April 2021 issue. Click here to view the complete magazine.

Dare2Compete Awards is not only a celebration of persistence and talent, but also a beacon of hope to aspirants. When the ecosystem flourishes, every stakeholder reaps the benefits.

About Dare2Compete

Dare2Compete is a global platform connecting students, professionals, colleges, and companies through innovative challenges, engaging events, and gamified hiring assessments.

The pages slugged ‘Brand Connect’ are equivalent to advertisements and are not written and produced by Forbes India journalists.