IT firms to come calling in December for campus selections

The recruitment season in engineering colleges has seen a shift. Usually, August-September is when IT firms queue up to tap the best talent on campus. This year, however, is different with companies deciding to keep away until the eighth semester as per a Nasscom directive.

Hiring season will now start only from December while some firms such as Wipro have opted for a February 2010 timeframe.

“The number of IT companies going to campuses now is almost negligible. We have been told by our clients that they are looking to hire only from December since they are still absorbing the 2009 batch,” said Madan Padaki, MD of MeritTrac, a firm which works with IT companies for student assessments.
In March this year, Nasscom sent out an email to IT companies requesting them to visit engineering colleges only in the last semester.

It was felt that such a move would benefit companies who were struggling from the economic meltdown, burdened with excess bench strength and deferred campus offers.

Top tech firms including Infosys, Wipro and TCS are still in the process of taking in students they had offered jobs to from the 2008 and 2009 batches. For instance, about 7,000 students are yet to be accommodated in Wipro.
Wipro’s VP – Talent Acquisition, Pradeep Bahirwani said, “We plan to visit campuses only in the final year unlike previous years. Our hiring is based on business need and training plans.” He added that depending on the colleges, Wipro would begin campus recruitment from February-March 2010 onwards.

Many colleges are happy with the delay saying that it will allow students to concentrate more on study and research, an aspect they tend to go easy on once they get their job.

N Vijayadev, head of placement and training department of M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology said, “Earlier, with placements happening during the sixth semester and students bagging jobs, there was a drastic decline in the number of students taking up research and higher studies.”

DY Patil College of Engineering’s placement head S V Dravid said that the extra two semesters will give students
time to be better prepared for the interviews.