The Hindu Business Line : `Students looking beyond IT jobs this year'

Revival
`Core engineering' careers make comeback.
Average non-IT salary goes up (Rs 7-9 lakh per annum).
Greater acceptance of old-economy cos as they have upped salaries.

Advertisement

Bangalore Feb. 13 Are IT companies losing ground on engineering campuses? If this year's recruitment pattern is anything to go by, then it looks like IT companies will have to face the heat from two unexpected quarters next year: One, the return of the `core engineering companies' and two, the entry of financial services and banking firms on tech campuses.

This year, at campus placement time (December-January), the top nine engineering campuses (the six IITs, BITS-Pilani, VHU and IISc) saw a lot of action from global investment banks and consulting firms. Global biggies like Goldman Sachs, Deloitte Consulting and D E Shaw picked up talent for risk management jobs from premier tech schools.

IT services companies, though present, are no longer high on the students' preferred list, says Mr Rishi Das, CEO, Campus Connect, a Bangalore-based firm that helps companies develop a formal relationship with campuses in the area of brand building and recruitment. Campus Connect works with 100 tech schools and over 60 companies in the country.

Mr Das attributes this new trend to the changing scenario in the country, "Business activity in the country is so high that students want to start on jobs that give them business orientation." This year also saw the revival of the `core engineering' careers, he says.

Average salary also went up (Rs 7-9 lakh per annum) across campuses with one investment bank offering close to $93,000 per annum to an IIT student.

Companies like Tata Motors, Maruti Udyog, L&T, HLL have found better acceptance among students. "This is also because the old economy companies too have upped their salaries. Apart from this, civil and mechanical engineers are also looking at KPO jobs," observes Mr Das.

But it's not as if the entire IT sector has been left out in the `cold'. High-end IT work offered by global majors such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon are still getting `good responses' from students.

But these new trends should be seen as warning signals, says Mr Das, "Because there's just a year's lag between what is seen happening on premier campuses and other tech schools in the country." So 2007-08 could see some winds of change blowing across all engineering campuses in the country.

More Stories on : Human Resources | Employment

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page