BANGALORE: It is an all-out war at
engineering campuses and only outperformers are winners. While a grim global macro-economy has not prevented IT firms from
hiring record numbers from top engineering colleges, students at these institutions are vetting offers very carefully and picking firms with a strong growth track. On their part, top
IT recruiters are sharing first slots at campuses in their keenness to tap into the best talent.
Take the case of Amrita University which has campuses in Bangalore, Coimbatore and Kochi. India's second largest IT exporter
Infosys and Nasdaq-listed
Cognizant shared the first slot. While Cognizant picked up 1,263 students, Infosys went for 1,255. Around 970 students had common offers and finally, 83% of them opted for Cognizant while the remaining chose to go with Infosys.
A similar trend could be seen at Institute of Engineering and Management, Kolkata, Vellore Institute of Technology, BS Abdur Rahman University (formerly Crescent Engineering College), Chennai and many other tech campuses. The trend is expected to be reinforced even in Karnataka and the National Capital Region where campus placement is going to take place soon. Recruiting has kicked off in a big way in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and West Bengal last month. It's in full steam in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh now.
With a recession looming large, students are not taking any chances. They are watching every IT company closely as a brand and then choosing where to go very carefully. Around 15 students whom ET spoke to across campuses had one thing in common to say: what matters to them is being in a high growth company which offers job stability and has a good brand name. "I chose Cognizant as they survived reces-sion period two years back," says R Lakshmi of BS Abdur Rahman University.
While companies have started sharing day one slots and letting students make a choice, students are becoming more choosy. "It is good to have two firms in the first slot as it gives us the option to chose what we want rather than going with one offer," says Karthiga Raja, a student of Vellore Institute of Technology.
She goes on to explain: "Earlier a student was not permitted to sit for more than one interview. But now we have options. Our college explains to us in detail how these companies are performing in the market and where they stand. Even minute details like domains are explained. This helps us choose what we want," she added.
And the trend of sharing Slot 1 -- also called zero slot or first slots -- is picking up across colleges, All companies sharing the first slot complete their selection process and announce results in a sealed envelope. At the end of the recruitment process of all firms sharing the first slot, the results are declared and students having more than one job offer have to choose one employer who then rolls out the offer.
Reflecting the change in the Indian IT's pecking order, the Cognizant and
TCS are the hot favourites at campuses. At the Institute of Engineering and Management, Kolkata, Cognizant made 290 offers, Infosys made 219 and
Wipro made 126.
There were 216 common offers but when the final results came, there was 82% acceptance forCognizant, 18% for Infy and nil for Wipro. During 2011, over 4.3 lakh fresh engineering graduates are expected to pass out with 2.5 lakh will be graduates with an IT degree, says industry lobby Nasscom. However, not all of them are directly employable and hence the huge scramble for talent at top colleges. Companies know this and are making a beeline for the top-level talent.
Cognizant, for instance, had shortlisted one student from each campus to promote their company as a brand. These ambassadors study what the company is, the trends, the company's financial performance, study all the options and other facilities that the candidate can avail if she joins the firm.
R Ramkumar, vice president, corporate marketing and communications, Cognizant, says: "It's well acknowledged that faster the company growth, faster the career progression of an individual. This Cognizant brand promise of rapid career progression resonates well in premier engineering campuses."
The global economic uncertainty has so far not made any dent in hiring numbers. Headhonchos.com, which surveyed nearly 65 human resource heads in the IT sector, says the recession will have a limited, short term impact on hiring.
Nearly six out 10 HR heads said that they have no plans to reduce hiring as a result of global slowdown. However, nearly 30 % of respondents expect to scale down hiring plans by up to 20 over the next six month. "The impact is not much at the entry level.
Hiring is unaffected there. It is too early to tell how many have been hired from campuses as the cycle is yet to close. However, companies are going out there with an open mind. The impact will be more towards mid and senior levels," Uday Sodhi, CEO, HeadHonchos.com told ET.
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