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The forgotten pandemic batch: How shadow placement institutes exploit jobless graduates
The forgotten pandemic batch: How shadow placement institutes exploit jobless graduates Premium
(Names of everyone quoted in this story have been changed to protect their identity)
For some who graduated or lost their jobs during the COVID-19 years, careers still haven't taken off. Campus placements were scrapped, offer letters revoked, and industries hit pause. Now, years later, while others have seemingly moved on, a silent generation of job seekers remains stuck, still chasing their first break or, worse, trapped in survival mode.
That's exactly what some private training and placement institutes, a new breed operating in legal grey zones, are capitalising on. They promise high-paying tech jobs in exchange for hefty fees, original academic certificates, and unquestioning trust. They are rarely publicly promoted and instead spread covertly through Telegram groups, WhatsApp forwards, and word-of-mouth among job seekers who have tried everything else. They seem like the last resort for desperate graduates. However, more often than not, they prove to be traps.
Rohan, a B.Tech graduate from Jamshedpur, had completed industrial training with Tata Motors and dreamed of a core engineering job. But after COVID struck, the offer he was banking on vanished. As months turned into years, he found himself 29 and unemployed, feeling out of time and options.
In 2023, he moved to Chennai and approached five private placement institutes. All promised backend developer jobs in reputed tech firms, offering salary packages of ₹15–16 lakh per annum, for an upfront payment of ₹75,000 to ₹1.2 lakh. “But before anything else, they asked for my original certificates,” Rohan said. “One manager told me, ‘You'll get them back after placement.' Another said, ‘Companies only care that you can talk tech. Paperwork is HR's headache.”
Today, Rohan's documents are still locked away in one institute's office drawer. He continues to attend mock interviews and unpaid internships, living in constant fear. “If there's even one HR audit, I'm finished.”
Pooja, a BCA graduate from Hyderabad, had to delay her career due to marriage and motherhood. When she finally attempted to return, she was faced with a two-year career gap and a complete collapse in confidence.
“A friend suggested an institute that ‘helps women restart careers,'” she recalled. “They erased my gap on paper, rebuilt my CV, and trained me to answer tricky questions.” With the help of the institute, Pooja secured a job interview. During the interview, though, the institute provided a proxy to answer on Pooja's behalf, and she lip-synced. Today, she works as an automation tester—but her real employment timeline remains hidden from her employer.
A 31-year-old Electrical Engineering graduate from northern India recalls being told he was too old for entry-level roles. He moved to Chennai, looking for a career transition from B. Tech Mechanical Engineering to IT. “I wasn't prepared for such a drastic life shift,” he said. “I was depressed. For the first time, I was out of my house alone, and I had dengue. It felt like life was testing me at every step. I was shattered at an emotional level, still am.”
When he questioned the concerned institute over repeated delays in placements, he was met with silence. “They told me, ‘We're not a recruiting agency, we just make you employable.' But I was sinking.”
Some of these institutes lure candidates with promises of mid-level IT salaries. But once enrolled, the narrative shifts. “Your communication is weak,” they say. “Your academics don't meet our hiring partners' expectations.” Or “You do not meet the required skillset”. By then, however, the candidates have paid and handed over their original degrees and certificates. They have nothing to do but wait.
This writer posed as Rohan's parent to the institute's help desk to understand the placement process; the response was vague yet revealing. “Placements depend on the candidate,” the executive said, sidestepping any clear commitment. The cost structure, however, was precise: ₹20,000 for admission, ₹50,000 per interview, which is payable only after receiving an offer letter. They charge a total of ₹1 lakh for an experience certificate with complete background verification. They further informed that a recruitment-specific set of documents, like Form 16, would be generated on behalf of the candidate to validate the new documents that will be generated. They would charge another ₹1 lakh after the campus placement was completed, marking the final fee for securing the job.
These institutes do not give out anything in writing. Without the stricter regulation, monitoring, and watchfulness, these shadow networks will continue to take advantage of the loopholes of the forgotten pandemic batch, the graduates who needed assistance, but were provided with survival kits shrouded in the form of placements. What they have gone through is not an isolated incident, but a warning.
Sarabjeet Sachar, Founder and CEO, Aspiration, says, “These kinds of things are only going to harm the candidate later. How much will a candidate perform after getting hired? They can focus on upgrading their strategy and helping their students with SWOT analysis, and holistically present their transferable skills to their employer. A person will genuinely end up in a win-win situation via these institutions only if the student presents themselves well and comes back to business.”
Published - August 26, 2025 08:41 pm IST
education / job layoffs / careers / employment
Source: The Hindu
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