Institutes clueless about campus hiring this year

Engineering and technology institutes across the country are faced with a problem this year. Major Information Technology (IT) companies that hire students in bulk are yet to confirm whether they would participate in these institutes' September-December placement session.

Companies which, institutes say, usually give their confirmation by July, are yet to get back with their hiring intentions.

"Major IT companies, especially the top 10 which hire large numbers during the placement session, have still not confirmed whether they will be coming in this year. Hence, the whole situation is slightly worrying," said.

S R Pullabhotla, director, placement and training, at Vellore Institute of Technology.

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Pullabhotla said there was uncertainty over whether the Nasscom Assessment of Competence Technology (NAC-Tech) would be applicable to students from this year.

NAC-Tech has been conceived as an industry- standard assessment and certification programme to ensure transformation of a 'trainable' workforce into an 'employable' workforce, thus creating a robust and continuous pipeline of talent for the IT/engineering industry.

It is targeted at final and pre-final year students who want to seek employment opportunities in the IT/engineering sector. Companies that have helped develop the assessment programme are Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Infosys, Accenture, Cognizant and HCL.

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Officials say this situation might mean a stark placement season this year. "We have already been hearing a lot of negative statements about companies' hiring in the market. Based on the response, or the lack of it from major firms, especially in the IT sector, we believe it will be a difficult period for students," said the placement chairperson of an engineering institute in West Bengal.

IT Companies begin to collectively hire from September, in line with a mandate by the industry body, Nasscom. Students hired during September-December would be asked to join in financial year 2014.

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IT firms have played down the concerns of the institutions. "Our requirements for campus hiring will be determined by business needs, and at the moment, we have not finalised on our plans or the numbers. As per the Nasscom directive, we will not commence campus placements before September," said an Infosys spokesperson.

A spokesperson of Cognizant said the firm would abide by Nasscom guidelines and start hiring from premier engineering campuses during the fall.

"We are currently in the planning phase for our hiring needs for 2013. As we do every year, we will do a combination of in-campus and off-campus hiring this year, too, based on how our business plays out. With our brand equity being the highest in our history, we are confident of continuing to attract the best talent, both in-campus and off-campus, and help our clients build stronger businesses," the spokesperson said.

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Human resource consultants believe companies are playing it safe. Surabhi Mathur-Gandhi, senior vice president of HR firm TeamLease Services, said IT companies are conservative in their approach due to continued apprehension about their market.

The companies are preferring 'just-in-time hiring', and do not want to commit any numbers, according to her.

"There is some degree of uncertainty in the market which has led to this decision by the firms. Companies also want to build and maintain their brand identity among institutions and students through this measure. They have learnt from earlier mistakes, wherein they had rolled out job offers and later withdrew these. We expect a clearer picture to emerge by next year," she said.

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A recent report by US banking giant Morgan Stanley had said Infosys might not hire freshers from engineering colleges this year.

"Strategically, we believe this move could help the company rationalise its rising bench of unbilled employees, which has increased from an average of 20,000-22,000 people over the last two years to almost 38,000 unbilled employees in F1Q (April-June quarter)," said the report.