The Hindu Business Line : That’s IT! Freshers look at careers beyond software

Chennai, Oct. 5 Garima Purohit, Monisha Dhanabal, Ganesh Karthik, Kulvir Singh, Prashant Venkataramana and Gnanaveerarajan, six young fresh-faced trainee engineers at Saint-Gobain Glass India Ltd in Chennai, have a lot in common.

All of 21 years old, these mechanical engineers are from a variety of colleges ranging from Karaikudi and Tirunelveli in the deep south to Jodhpur and Baddal in Punjab.

While four of them had confirmed job offers in hand from some of the top Indian IT firms as well as a couple of consulting firms such as Accenture and IBM, two of them chose not to appear for an interview.

Spurning plum offers from the software industry, all of them plumped for jobs in core engineering and were part of a batch of 26 young engineer-trainees that the floatglass maker absorbed this year.

Emphatic decision

Seated around a table, eagerly articulating their aspirations, all of them are emphatic that despite attractive compensation packages, software was not for them, even though the industry was recruiting in droves from their colleges.

The reasons they proffer are quite varied: “don’t wan’t to get benched;” “you don’t get to see the larger picture, you only do your module and that’s it;” “don’t want to be a faceless entity among the thousands the IT industry recruits;” “we don’t want to be treated on par with science graduates.”

Talking to alumni of their colleges and their peer groups proved to be a powerful influence, they say, on their decision to join a manufacturing company.

“It’s good to put into practice what we learnt and we would rather be in healthy competition with 20 people than with 20,000,” says Kulvir Singh, speaking on behalf of the group.

Reassessment under way

The group of six could well be a microcosm of young engineers coming afresh into the job market and their way of thinking. While it’s too early to call it a huge shift away from the software industry, which was pretty much the employer of choice right through the ’90s and early part of this decade, recruiters say that a reassessment is, indeed, taking place.

Mr E. Balaji, CEO of Ma Foi Management Consultants, avers that it is too early to call it a trend, but says freshers are increasingly aware of the options and value the quality of job content, satisfaction and career growth.

Says he: “IT has its own charm and the industry was the preferred choice for engineers, thanks to the higher salaries, fast-track careers, world-class facilities and overseas postings.”

“The last 18-24 months have been a challenging phase for the IT industry — it started last year with the rupee appreciation, and this year the industry was hit by the US slowdown, sub-prime lending issues and the BFSI sector globally going through a challenging phase. All these led to a bit of disenchantment among job seekers, but I am not sure whether this disillusion is a passing phase or here to stay."

The slowdown in IT could be a gain for other sectors, says Mr Balaji, provided these sectors have competitive salary packages and good HR practices. “The IT industry has generally been known for its strong HR processes which have given it a strategic edge in attracting talent,” he adds.

Mr P. Padmakumar, Team Leader, HR, Saint-Gobain, says a trend which saw freshers veering away from IT became discernible around three years ago.

Huge negative

“Getting benched became a huge negative factor for freshers,” he says. Saint-Gobain offers a fresher a package of Rs 2.75 lakh per annum plus an incentive while in IT, it could be Rs 3 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh, he adds.

Mr B. Santhanam, Managing Director, Saint Gobain Glass India Ltd, takes a “big picture” view of the current trends. He sees many themes emerging. While long term prospects for the IT industry are good, the present slowdown is causing a reappraisal of jobs in the IT sector by students and their families, which have a huge role to play in job choices.

Also, he says, in the quest for numbers, the IT industry recruited in droves, with perhaps many not really fit for IT. “While this reassessment is happening, the manufacturing industry too has picked up steam,” says Mr Santhanam.

‘Balance will emerge’

He says a balance will emerge. “When we were short of engineers, we recruited diploma holders and developed them; the IT industry is now asking whether they need engineers for all the tasks and if science graduates can do the job.”

Moreover, he says, the fascination for young people to go overseas on jobs has come down; they aren’t as enamoured as before. “But manufacturing too has to engage with young engineers in a positive way by giving them prospects of early growth in their careers,” he adds.