When Rohini Taneja, a final year software engineering student from Bangalore, received offer letters from Infosys, TCS and Cognizant, it was difficult for her to make a choice.
"I was keeping my fingers crossed about placement. So, I was happy as well as confused when I got these letters. The salary was almost similar. So, I finally opted for TCS as the profile was good," Rohini said.
With most IT companies on an aggressive recruitment drive Rohini's batchmates, too, are spoilt for choice this year.
With huge order books under their belts, Indian IT firms are turning to college campuses to hire fresh graduates as wage inflation, attrition and manpower shortage continue to hit them.
The three IT biggies - Infosys, Wipro and TCS - together are hiring about 60,000 freshers from various college campuses. With the positive outlook for the sector, the hiring trend is expected to only improve in the future.
According to Kamal Karanth, Kelly Services, "The kind of large scale projects these companies are getting, they require more hands. And to complete these projects taking experienced people will not be commercially viable for them. So, it makes sense for them to take freshers, who come cheap, can be trained for specific jobs and can stick for longer periods."
"More than wage inflation and attrition, for the huge vacancies they have, it is easier to go to campuses than to wait for experienced hands as they have pressure to complete the projects on time," Karanth added.
Karanth said manpower crunch is forcing industry players to turn to campuses. "There is a talent crunch and it will continue to plague the industry. I do not see any immediate solution to this. So, companies are ready to scale down," he said.
That is why most IT companies, which earlier used to take three to four rounds of tests and interviews, are simplifying the recruitment process. They have also marginally upgraded the salaries offered to Rs 3.5- 4 lakh.
Staff at the campuses, too, share their students' happiness at the large-scale recruitment.
"We have never seen such large scale recruitment numbers. We are receiving offers from so many top listed companies. It is the going to be the best recruitment season," a senior teaching staff at Vellore Institute of Technology told Mail Today. With no dearth of offers, students are now focusing on the job profile rather than on just the brand name. Moreover, these new entrants are not upset at the service clause of two to three years that most firms include in the contract. They say an experience with a good company and desired profile would go a long way in building up their resumes.
"We require at least six months for on- the- job training. If the company is good and give us scope to learn I don't mind spending my initial years with them. After all, my experience and profile will count when I am going to (move)," Anirban Ghosh, a final year engineering student, said.
In an attempt to lap up young talent IT firms are also resorting to recruiting through online job portals. According to online job portal Monster. com, "Opportunities in the IT sector were up by eight per cent in December 2010 compared to November, especially in BPO and ITeS sector."
Courtesy: Mail Today
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