IT industry still attracts students

Despite the economic slowdown, students are still being lured by the IT sector for its MNC culture, opportunities to work with technically sound professionals and cutting edge technology, and growth opportunities. This is furthered by the fact that many of the top companies with huge turnovers hail from the IT sector.

The latest Nielsen Campus Track T-Schools study revealed that 43 per cent of India's engineering graduates of the class of 2010 find IT the most desirable sector for a career, followed by automobile/automobile ancillary, telecom, energy-oil & gas, infrastructure/real estate and power sectors.

The meltdown has decreased overall students' preference for management consultancies, financial sector and the IT sector, which has experienced a seven per cent drop compared to last year. Students perceive Nanotechnology, IT services andpower, energy-oil & gas and telecom as the top five 'industries of the future'.

IIT students consider energy-oil & gas as the industry of future, followed by Nanotechnology and the finance sector.

"Though Management Consultancies and the Financial sector figured on the list of 'industry of future' last year, the economic crisis has changed the preference and new industries have taken their place. Graduates today are looking at honing their skills in their first job. They want to practice what they learnt theoretically in their course," said Vatsala Pant, associate director, Consumer Research, The Nielsen Company.

Moreover, salary is the most attractive option to stub attrition rates, provided the employee is satisfied with his/her job profile and gets a conducive work environment. The study also noted that people are willing to stay on a job if the employer pays for their higher education, a fall out of the primary reason for them leaving their first job.

On the companies front, Accenture, Bosch, Google, Infosys Technologies, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Larsen & Toubro, Microsoft India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, and Wipro are some of the leading companies that engineering students would consider applying, says the study.