Campus hiring for IT sector to undergo change

Chennai: NASSCOM on Tuesday said that the campus hiring for IT graduates in the country is set to undergo a change and it will be based more on soft skills and domain based specialisation.

Addressing a press conference here, NASSCOM president Som Mittal and senior vice president Sangeeta Gupta, said, “The campus hiring would not be the same as earlier, due to uncertainty in the IT sector.”

Mittal said that currently the hiring will happen in two phases -- September to October and in May to July. “In the first phase, it will happen in the seventh semester and the other will happen once the student graduates from the institute, he said.

His statement comes in the wake of a drop in campus hiring in the IT sector, which is reeling due to economic downturn. Sangeeta said that the campus hiring by major companies has come down substantially. “In 2011, top IT companies were hiring 60 to 70 per cent from the campuses. This has substantially dropped to 40 per cent,” she said.

Mittal said that the industry will continue to hire but at a slower rate. He said that 2013 is expected to see just in-time hiring, with more focus on domain specialists as well as those possessing soft skills.

“This will also pose a bigger challenge to nearly 13 lakh students who are graduating from colleges this year," he said.

He said that the future demands for skills would include mobile application, cloud virtualisation, platform engineering besides the need for data scientists.

He said that the colleges to attract IT firms have to create students with industry-ready skills, besides strengthen foundation skills and define occupational standards for entry-level jobs.

He also said that the 60 per cent of the present day workforce are Gen Y, who prefer easy going work environment, rapid job promotion and work-life balance, mobility and social media device usage.

Mittal also highlighted the growing the growing gender inclusivity.    Of the 3.1 million workforce of the industry, 30 per cent comprise of women, of which 15 to 20 per cent are at managerial level and above, he said.

IT sector is set to grow 12 to 14 per cent presently, he said, adding that the growth would be reviewed after October this year.

Commenting on the US new immigration bill, he said, "There is a shortage in the US corporations and we are filling in those. If the bill is passed, US corporations would stand to lose more than the Indian companies. And this would also impact the US economy."

He also said that NASSCOM has also set a target of providing one to 1.5 per cent jobs for differently-abled individuals.