The placement situation on engineering campuses, say college heads, is worrying this year, with the recruitment statistics likely to remain on the lower side.
Most of the top-notch colleges, which generally receive campus placement schedules of recruiting companies by August, are yet to hear from them.
“Campus hiring this year is likely to be lower than that in 2012, just as 2012 trailed 2011 in terms of recruitments,” said the placement director of a deemed university.
“Recruitments begin in September; hence the details of schedules arrive much before that. This year, companies have not committed on any numbers. When contacted, they told us the numbers will at least be 30 per cent less than last year,” he added.
Many college heads felt that with big companies such as Infosys deferring joining dates of recruits and HCL not taking many of its recruits on board last year, firms want to play it safe, and not over-hire from campuses.
The crisis comes at the worst time possible for colleges. Many reputed colleges increased their intake four-five years ago in allied branches of computer science and electronics anticipating a high demand. Every batch in these institutions has at least 300 more students this year.
Many colleges such as RMK group of institutions, Sai Ram Colleges and SSN are investing effort in making their students ‘job ready’ this year.
“Being industry ready is not enough, as companies want their new recruits to be deployable. We are focussing on getting them skilled in technologies used in companies and also in skills companies seek in experienced candidates, so that they get jobs,” said the placement director of a reputed engineering college.
Most of these colleges, this year, have spent more than Rs. 20 lakh on training their students in various technologies.
NASSCOM regional director K. Purushottam said that though recruitment numbers may not be very high this year, there would be a clear emphasis on quality. “This is the best time for companies to focus on quality, and each one will try to hire the best students.” Campus placements, he added, would begin in September.
