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If you are entering final year of a B.Tech or similar degree, placement season is run by your college's training and placement cell. The two official policies we read, from IIT Kanpur's Students' Placement Office and IIT BHU's Training and Placement Cell, both open with the same warning: the cell facilitates placements but does not guarantee a job. Rules differ between colleges, so read your own cell's policy.
How do campus placements work, step by step?
This sequence follows the IIT Kanpur 2025-26 policy and the IIT BHU 2026-27 rules.
Register. At IIT Kanpur, registration for 2025-26 cost Rs 2,500, and students signed a contract to contribute 2% of their first year's take-home salary if placed.
Get your resume verified. IIT BHU uses a fixed resume format and checks every field, except career objectives and interests; data not backed by a document is deleted.
Apply on the portal. Check each company's eligibility criteria first. Both colleges cap early applications at 50 companies: IIT Kanpur until 10 November 2025, IIT BHU until the end of December 2026.
Attend the pre-placement talk (PPT). At IIT Kanpur, attending is mandatory once you apply, and more than two unexcused absences de-register you.
Sit the selection rounds. Companies may use resume screening, written tests or group discussions. Phones are banned.
Interview. Shortlisted students interview in slots. IIT BHU lets a student appear for at most 4 companies in a single slot.
Get the result. At IIT BHU, results are due by the end of each slot, and companies are asked to keep a waitlist.
Our guide to preparing for placement aptitude tests covers the test stage in detail.
What is the one-student-one-job rule?
Under a one-student-one-job policy, once you are selected by one company, you leave the placement pool so that other students get a chance. IIT Kanpur's policy states that a student with an offer is de-registered and cannot take part further. It also says you must accept an offer if it is the only one you receive in a slot, and choose one at the end of the slot if you get several.
Some cells allow exceptions. IIT BHU's 2026-27 rules do not apply the rule to low-paid jobs from IT companies hiring 30 or more students at a CTC of up to 4.5 lakh a year, or to jobs with government organisations such as ISRO or DRDO, if you are not already placed in one or in a PSU.
Can a placed student try for a better offer?
IIT BHU lets a placed student sit for a second company only if all four conditions hold, per its 2026-27 policy: the new CTC is more than 1.5 times the old one, the company recruits after December 2026, your CPI is at least 7.5, and at least 60% of registered students in your branch and course are placed. Even then, the coordinator has the final say.
Say Riya holds a 6 lakh offer from Company X, with a CPI of 7.8. Company Y arrives in January offering 10 lakh. Since 1.5 times 6 lakh is 9 lakh, Y qualifies, and so do the timing and her CPI. If 62% of her branch is placed, she can apply to the coordinator. If Y selects her, that counts as rejecting her X offer.
What happens to pre-placement offers from internships?
A pre-placement offer (PPO) is a job offer from the company where you interned. At IIT BHU, a PPO counts as your job unless you reject it within 2 working days of the cell's notification, and a student who does not tell the cell about a PPO is debarred, according to the same policy. Read how to turn an internship into a PPO.
Which placement rules get students debarred?
These come from the IIT BHU rules unless marked as IIT Kanpur's:
Contacting a recruiter directly. Debarment from the next three companies.
Skipping a process without notice. The cell cuts your willingness count by 5 for each unannounced absence; withdraw at least 48 hours ahead instead.
Arriving late. Report 15 minutes early, or you are marked absent; IIT Kanpur closes the gate 5 minutes after the start.
Padding your resume. Debarment for the whole session; IIT Kanpur revokes the offer.
Unfair means in a test. Debarment for the next 15 companies that shortlist you.
Backing out silently. If you will not join, tell the company and the cell before 15 April.
Your pre-season checklist
Download this year's placement policy and mark the sections on offers, PPOs and penalties.
List the companies you would genuinely join, before the portal opens.
Back every resume claim with a certificate.
Revise core subjects. If a second-year concept is shaky, the Fermi Concept Library gives each concept in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and computing its own lesson.
Practise timed aptitude sets, and check your method on any you miss. The Fermi Problem Library has a step-by-step solver that explains the reasoning rather than printing an answer.
Report any problem to the cell fast: IIT BHU's limit is 24 hours.
If an interview goes badly, here is what to do after a placement rejection.
