Nasscom says: Companies should start hiring students only during final year

The engineering college students have entered into the seventh semester and most of them expect to get hired during this semester but a large debate is going on when is the right time to hire students. According to Nasscom the IT companies should start hiring only during the final semester or at the end of the seventh semester. However some universities are approaching to Nasscom requesting for them to ask companies to start campus recruitment process.

Recently Thanjavur-based Sastra University wrote a letter to Nasscom in which it has requested them to ask companies to conduct their recruitment during the seventh semester. Sastra says in the seventh semester the university encourages doing internships in various universities, companies and premier research labs, inside and outside India.

The letter from Dr S Vaidhyasubramaniam, Dean (Planning and Development), Sastra reads, "Such students miss the opportunity of attending campus recruitment, as an internship of high quality is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity... Students are forced to travel repeatedly in the event of not being selected by the first few companies. This will dilute the quality of internship and strain the relationship between the university and internship partners, who feel such frequent interruptions, upset the internship schedule."

But Nasscom is not ready to change its decision. K Purushottaman, regional director of Nasscom says, "It is in the interest of the industry to hire students in as finished' a state as possible. The end of the seventh semester is the best time, since most of the academic curriculum is completed, with just the project in the final semester to go. So companies can make a better assessment of the candidate at that stage."

Some of the IT majors support Nasscom’s stand. Pradeep Bahirwani, VP of Talent Acquisition at Wipro Technologies says, "We hire from the eighth semester onwards from engineering colleges. We feel this is most appropriate as students are fully groomed around that time. Additionally, hiring around the eighth semester matches our demand forecasting schedules." During the current fiscal Wipro will be hiring about 11,000 freshers with 65% of them being from engineering colleges.

T V Mohandas Pai, head of HR at Infosys said, "Early hiring destroys the spirit of education. Students who get jobs in the sixth semester typically show a drop in interest in academics and this is not good for the student, the university or the industry." According to IT industry only about 25% of the students are employable.

Vaidhyasubramaniam argues that a sudden behavioral change in a student who was just involved in studies for seven semesters is an issue concerning his/her fundamental values. "Such students will behave the same way even if the recruitment happens in the eighth semester," he says. But not many agree with his argument.

Sastra says in the eighth semester curriculum, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) integrates its Initial Learning Program, while in the final semester there is an orientation program conducted by Infosys as part of course work at its Mysore office. Therefore early hiring will be helpful.

Pai says such programs can be conducted even if students are hired at the end of the seventh semester. He says, "Besides, we prefer to hire students as close to the joining dates as possible."

Before economic slowdown, IT companies used to hire students at the end of the sixth semester one year before they graduated but during the financial crisis all over the world many companies were unable to give jobs to the all the students who were given offer letters during campus recruitment. Then most of the companies were also concerned that students are far from industry ready. Thus Nasscom issued instructions that companies should start campus recruitment only at the end of the seventh semester.

The companies also find this right as they have a clearer idea of their recruitment needs. Shankar Srinivasan, chief people officer of Cognizant points out, "We believe it is a win-win situation for all concerned: students, academia and the industry."