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For over one year, the dark cloud of the R-word has been looming large over
the horizons of almost all verticals and geographies. At times, it rained job
cuts and thunderbolts of salary cuts became the order of the day. However, now
the IT industry is starting to heave a sigh of relief, as the flood of recession
is reportedly receding in a slow but steady pace.
This month is bringing lost fortunes back to a number of technology
professionals who were badly hit by the cost cutting measures across the
industry. Effective from October 1, 2009, IT major Infosys is reportedly
starting compensation review for need-based promotion; while Mahindra Satyam is
reinstating variable pay across employee levels. Also, technology bigwigs are on
the forefront of turning things back to shape, with TCS, Infosys, Wipro BPO, HCL
and others announcing their plans for hiring in big numbers, though not as big
as the numbers during the good old times.
While TCS announced hiring of 25,000 employees, HCL announced a plan to add
around 20,000 more employees, apart from considering pay hikes for top honchos.
In the beginning of this year, Infosys had announced that it would add 25,000
employees this year.
It is not just big guns who are on the prowl, a recent study by New
York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners had said that almost 10%
of small and medium businesses (SMBS) in India were planning to hire additional
staff. The new trend is subtly being reflected on the placement front of
engineering colleges also.
According to Prof NS Narahari, director, placement and training, RV College
of Engineering, Bangalore, the market is showing signs of revival.
The placement scenario will definitely look up as the industry moves forward
in this placement season. However, the parameters of operation will be
different. There will be more emphasis on quality and skill dimensions. Hiring
for talent prospects may not happen. The focus will be on transfer of skills and
knowledge of job situations, he says. Though the recruitment pace in RV College
is not that strong as it was during the IT boom, companies have started visiting
the campus and have already made around fifty offers. The companies that visited
the campus include HP and ThoughtWorks. Narahari said that more companies have
confirmed their visits. This will happen before the final examinations.
Bangalore Institute of Technology also expects more recruitment to happen in
coming months. Dr Aswath MU, placement officer at the institute said that some
companies were coming to the campus, looking out for talent. The current senior
batch is in the seventh semester. Companies have already started issuing offer
letters, he says. Some skill assessment companies are giving testimony to what
they are witnessing as signs of revival. Bangalore-based online skill assessment
firm, MeritTrac says that the situation has almost reversed in last three
months. Those companies who froze their expansions and hiring till three months
ago are now talking about hiring and expansions. Many are coming to us with new
proposals for tapping talent. That means they are now seeing growth and
business. However, Dr Aswath points out an interesting twist in the placement
scenario, prompted by the recession. The most interesting result of the
recession is that Public Sector Companies (PSUs) started getting more job
applications due to the uncertainties in the private sector. More importantly,
PSUs started resorting to online skill assessment by outsourcing their
increasing recruitment related works like skill assessment to companies like
MeritTrac, he says. Now that the cloud of uncertainties in the private sector
is giving way to rays of hope, will PSUs face talent crunch again?
Saheer Karimbayil/ CIOL
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in
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