IT outsourcing firms are likely to hire less during on-campus placement this year, according to industry body Nasscom, as companies shift towards greater off-campus or ‘just-in-time’ hiring instead.
This comes in the wake of several software services exporters having issues in on-boarding freshers - a side-effect of the economic slowdown taking its toll.
Several companies are expected to reduce the number of people they hire from colleges to 40 per cent of total annual recruitment compared with 60 – 70 per cent earlier.
“This does not mean anybody should panic. It’s merely a hedge against uncertainty, as businesses do not want to give job offers and then take a long period of time before taking them into the company,” said Som Mittal, President, Nasscom, while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday.
According to Mr. Mittal, companies will now split their hiring cycles into two periods-on-campus hiring starting in September, and then later ‘just-in-time’ hiring in the May-June period.
“This is a trend we started seeing last year…57 per cent of companies that we surveyed said that they would see higher just-in-time hiring.
“This does not mean overall hiring will be reduced though, it is just a slower hiring process because attrition is coming down ,” he added.
Nasscom also maintained its growth forecast for the industry at 12 – 14 per cent though the industry body will review it after October.
“There is no need to review it right now. The first quarter results [of Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys] are encouraging… even some of the mid-tier companies have announced better results. Let’s wait till next quarter,” Mr. Mittal said.
Talking about the domestic IT market, Mr. Mittal pointed out that it would touch nearly $50 billion by 2020.
“Currently, the domestic market is $16 billion. We’re also seeing greater demand for domain and soft skills. From 2011, we’ve seen hiring based on technical skills come down to 40 per cent from nearly 85 per cent in 2000,” he said.
