IT companies plan to recruit over 2 lakh students for the year 2011-12, according to NASSCOM sources. The slowdown will not affect campus recruitment next year, officials of major IT firms have said.
Campus placements will go on as usual because there is much demand for IT services and market situation will not affect hiring scenarios. This year, however, companies will start visiting campuses only in September instead of July. Last year, the companies had started their campus placements in the beginning of the academic year.
While in 2010, they waited till December to launch the placement season. “The delay has nothing to do with the market situation. This is mainly because we want the students to settle in the final year of the college before recruiting them. It is difficult phase for the industry but everything is in control. This will not affect the hiring,” said an official of an IT firm. The decision, say industry sources, was taken at a NASSCOM meeting, where in all IT majors were consulted.
TCS and Cognizant, the two largest recruiters in the State have also said that the season will see usual hiring. “Despite the volatility in the environment, Cognizant has guided to grow its revenues by at least 20 per cent in 2012. To meet the dual mandates from clients, we will continue to hire both from campuses and the lateral market,” a Cognizant spokesperson said. TCS plans to hire 60,000 employees at a gross level in 2011-12. They say the numbers will increase depending on the demand, like it happens every year.
While many students of engineering colleges recruited last year by Cognizant and TCS have already received their offer letters and access to online training modules, and those recruited by Wipro have already joined offices.
But apprehensions are quite evident in campus placement cells. “We are concerned for the next batch. Students from core branches have already been asked to focus on Gate and other aptitude tests,” said a placement director of a self-financing college.
This year, with over 30,000 recruits across colleges, Tamil Nadu, among all states, according to NASSCOM sources recorded the highest placements by IT companies. NASSCOM regional director K. Purushottaman said, “Over 60 per cent of the IT and the ITES industry is though fresh graduates and the industry owes a lot to them. There is no need for students to panic because the hiring will go on as usual.”
