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."

Banks offering great opportunities to talented youth, hiring professionals

Indian banks are offering great opportunities to the talented youth who have plans to make career in banking sector. Many banks are visiting campus for hiring and many of the students have been offered good jobs in the banks, both in public and private sector banks.

In last couple of years jobs in banking sector have increased as many private and global banks have opened their branches in India. Also public sector banks have expanded their operational areas and increasing their strength manifolds.

The banks have created new posts and will hire professionals for the same. Recently, Oriental Bank of Commerce released the recruitment results for the vacancies of clerks in OBC bank recruitment procedure. Canara bank is holding exam for posts of clerks on coming Sunday. The candidates who will be giving Canara bank exam and have not received admit card can download from the official website of the bank.

Although people working in private sector and multinational companies are earning handsome salaries but still in India government jobs are being preferred more, especially after recession. The government jobs in India offer life long security which is not offered in private sector.

LIC will hire 10,000 employees across various cadres

LIC, country’s largest insurance company will be recruiting around 10,000 employees across the various cadres in the current fiscal.

LIC Managing Director A K Dasgupta said, "We are planning to hire a good number of people this year as well. We intend to hire 10,000 people this year across the various cadres."

Last year also LIC had hired same number of people across various cadres but it had also hired lateral for the first time.

He told, out of the total number of people to be hired, around 5,000 development officers will be recruited in line with the growth plan.

He added, the corporation will also hire people in class I cadre, specialized cadre like legal etc.

At present there are about 1,15,000 employees including about 21,000 class-I officers.

LIC is also planning to open its subsidiary in Singapore as a part of its overseas expansion plans.