Placement season timeline: a month-by-month calendar for placement cells

The placement season timeline in India has no single national calendar. At the IITs, full-time placements start on 1 December, and IIT Kanpur scheduled a second phase from mid-January. Most other colleges typically start earlier, with pre-placement talks and drives from about August through December, then remaining and off-campus hiring until spring. Placement cells should set their dates by June.

That last line is the one that matters for a training and placement officer. Your season is decided in June and July, long before the first company arrives. This calendar shows what the cell should have done by the end of each month, with a line on what employers are doing at the same time.

Key Takeaways

Our position: the placement season is won in June and July. Publish the policy, clean the roster and fix your dates before any drive is posted.
There's no national placement calendar. IITs start full-time placements on 1 December; most other colleges start earlier and run longer.
Treat every month below as typical. Your college's dates will differ, so set your own and hold them.
Track readiness weekly from the start of the season. Left to the last month, it can't be fixed.
Record offers, joining, reneges and revocations as they happen, not in March.

Placement season timeline: when the season starts in India

So, when does placement season start? It depends on the college. The IITs share a December start for full-time placements, and the rest of the sector doesn't follow it.

The facts that anchor the calendar:

IIT Delhi: "The start of December coincides with the start of the placement season at all IITs," from its news item on the 2024-25 season.
IIT Kanpur closed Phase I for its 2025-26 batch in December 2025, with 1,202 offers extended (1,079 accepted, including pre-placement offers), and said Phase II was "scheduled to commence from mid-January 2026".
India's NIRF engineering framework scores graduation outcomes partly on placement and higher studies over the previous three years, and on median salary. Each season's records feed a three-year number.

AICTE's 2026-27 academic calendar pages weren't available when we checked, so this guide doesn't quote AICTE dates.

Outside the IITs, the placement season in India usually starts earlier. Many engineering colleges hold pre-placement talks and mass-recruiter drives from about August, peak in September to November, and continue into spring. That's common practice, not a rule, which is why your own placement calendar matters more than anyone else's.

May-June: policy, roster and recruiter list before the season

This is the most important stretch of the placement season calendar, and the one most cells rush.

Write and publish the placement policy. Offer cap, upgrade rule, dream and super-dream drives, and how PPOs are treated. Expert Hire's guide to setting up a placement season puts it bluntly: "Decide the policy before you post anything."
Clean the student roster. One spelling per branch, correct batch years, and verified CGPA.
Build the recruiter list with owners. Last season's recruiters, new targets, and one named person per company.

Our guide on how a placement cell runs a campus placement drive covers how to write the policy and run each drive. This calendar only tells you when.

Employers this month: confirm headcount by role family and the list of campuses to approach.

Done by 30 June: policy published, roster clean, recruiter list with owners.

July-August: invitations, readiness baseline, profile freeze and the first PPTs

July is for invitations. Send the recruiter brochure and batch profile, and follow up with every company on your list. Start tracking PPOs from summer internships now, so you know who's already placed.

Set a readiness baseline in the same month. Run practice interviews and tests for the whole batch and record where each branch stands. Expert Hire's own readiness guide lists "starting readiness work in the month before the drive" as a common mistake, because the numbers only move with repeated practice.

August is for profiles. Push students to complete them, then freeze them before the first drive. Freezing stops students editing their CGPA after eligibility has been checked against it, which the placement-season setup guide calls "the most common source of a placement dispute."

Many colleges hold their first pre-placement talks and early drives in August too.

Employers this month: request slots and send the JD, CTC and round format to the cell. If you're choosing a campus hiring solution, do it before the slots open.

Done by 31 August: invitations out, readiness baseline recorded, profiles frozen.

September-November: peak drives and the weekly review

At many colleges outside the IITs, this is the busiest stretch of the campus placement timeline. Drives run back to back, and the cell's job shifts from planning to keeping pace.

Review readiness and drive results every week, branch by branch. Look for students who keep missing shortlists and get them extra practice now, while it can still help.

Plan around semester exams. Exams often fall in this window, so agree drive dates with the academic office early and don't stack drives into exam weeks.

Employers this month: run tests and first rounds, and decide quickly. In NACE's 2025 US benchmarks, employers averaged 27.3 days from a student's first interview to an offer or rejection. That's US data, but a slow decision costs you students anywhere.

Done by 30 November: weekly reviews running, drive dates clear of exams.

December: IIT Phase I, offers and verification

At the IITs, December is the start. Full-time placements open on 1 December, and IIT cells run an intense few weeks of interviews and offers.

At most other colleges, December is about offers and paperwork. Verify documents, record each offer's status, and confirm joining dates in writing. Keep offer statuses current as they change, so you aren't rebuilding them at the end of the season.

Employers this month: send offers in writing and agree joining dates with each student.

Done by 31 December: every offer recorded with a status and a joining date.

January-March: the second phase, upgrades and unplaced students

At IIT Kanpur, Phase II for the 2025-26 batch was scheduled from mid-January 2026. Elsewhere, this is the time for remaining drives, upgrade drives under your dream-drive rule, and focused help for students still unplaced.

Don't let unplaced students drift. Give them a list of off-campus openings, extra practice rounds, and a named contact in the cell. Keep the upgrade rule exactly as you published it, because changing it mid-season changes who is eligible for drives already posted.

Employers this month: keep a ranked reserve list from your final rounds, and stay in touch with students who've accepted. Our campus recruitment process guide covers the offer-to-joining stretch from the employer's side.

Done by 31 March: every unplaced student has a contact and a plan.

April-June: joining, reneges and the season report

The season isn't over at the offer. Record each joining date as it happens, and track reneged and revoked offers separately, because they have different causes.

Then write the season report. Report placement rate and joining rate as two numbers, not one, along with median CTC by branch. Those records feed the next three years of your NIRF return, so get them right now.

Employers this month: onboard the joiners and review the season by campus.

Done by 30 June: joining recorded, reneges and revocations tracked, season report written. Then the next season's policy starts.

Frequently asked questions

When does placement season start in India?

There's no single date. At the IITs, full-time placements start on 1 December. Most other engineering colleges typically start earlier, with pre-placement talks and drives from about August, a peak from September to November, and remaining drives until spring.

When do IIT placements start?

Full-time placements start on 1 December at the IITs, according to IIT Delhi. At IIT Kanpur, a second phase for the 2025-26 batch was scheduled from mid-January 2026. Its 1,079 accepted Phase I offers included pre-placement offers.

Which year is the placement year?

The final year of the degree. Placements for full-time jobs happen during the final year, and students join after they graduate. Internships, and the pre-placement offers that come from them, usually happen in the pre-final year.

How early should a placement cell start preparing for placements?

By May or June for a season that starts in August. That's when the policy should be written and published, the roster cleaned and the recruiter list built. Readiness practice should start at the top of the season, not in the month before drives.

When should companies approach colleges for campus hiring?

Before the slots open, usually in June or July for colleges whose drives start in August. Confirm headcount and your campus list first, then send the cell your JD, CTC and round format. For the IITs, plan around the 1 December start.

The bottom line: a one-page placement calendar checklist

Your placement calendar is yours to set. Set it by June, publish it, and hold the dates. Here's the whole season on one page, all dates typical.

By 30 June: policy published, roster clean, recruiter list with owners.
By 31 August: invitations out, readiness baseline recorded, profiles frozen.
By 30 November: weekly reviews running, drives clear of exam weeks.
By 31 December: every offer recorded with a status and a joining date.
By 31 March: every unplaced student has a contact and a plan.
By 30 June: joining recorded, reneges tracked, season report written.

Expert Hire is an AI interview platform. For colleges, it offers a free placement management ERP for drives, applicants, offers and joining, plus paid practice interviews and tests that track each student's readiness. See how the free placement ERP works.

By TK, Growth at Expert Hire. Last updated October 27, 2026. Reviewed by Anand Suresh, CPO at Expert Hire.