Despite the recession in Europe and political uncertainty in the U.S. due to elections, IT majors are ready to recruit but are looking for specific set of skills in students and expect the graduates to be ‘industry-ready,’ according to Unnikrishnan K. Raghavan, Vice President and Head (National Placements), NIIT.
Delivering an address on ‘employability trends and opportunities,’ he said that industry was spending US $ 1 billion in training recruits and this was fast becoming unfeasible with the pressure on the companies’ bottom-line.
He was addressing the fifth edition of the annual ‘Industry-Academia Meet 2012’ organised at K.L.N. College of Engineering at Pottapalayam near here on Monday, where a new ‘GNIIT Cloud Campus’ was also launched.
Beyond software development
“The industry is looking for people they can put to work from day one or even within one month…
Students are fixated on software development and think it’s the only thing in IT sector whereas the companies require large number of people in testing, business intelligence, data analysis, networking, cloud computing and infrastructure.”
He, however, also informed the students that companies had indeed become cautious in placements and were now recruiting based on the projects at hand rather than projections. While there was a slowdown, enough opportunities were available for students with the right skills.
Further, Mr. Raghavan also told the students that start-up companies established by youngsters with five to ten years of experience were also making waves in the industry and were being funded by venture capitals.
Productive early
Speaking earlier, Dinesh Srinivasan, Project Manager of Wipro Technologies, said that the industry expected the graduates to be productive as early as possible.
Delivering an address on ‘Industry expectations and students’ readiness,’ he said that the clients wanted the IT companies to reduce the costs on training, which necessitated recruitment of students with ‘industry-ready’ skills.
He also urged the educational institutions to imbibe entrepreneurial thoughts in students not only to motivate them to start companies but also to let them know how a business functioned.
Senthil Muthu Kumaran, Regional Head, NIIT, said that along with their technological skills and subject knowledge, students must also spruce up on their soft skills especially communication skills.
K. N. K. Ganesh, President of K.L.N. College of Engineering, informed that the institution had signed Memoranda of Understanding with several IT majors including Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services besides the State–run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and trade bodies like Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association (MADITSSIA).
