The Hindu Business Line : Looking for a suitable placement? Try IT please

FOR anyone exploring career options in the IT software industry, fresh from college or experienced, it ought to be a great feeling reading the business press in these last few weeks.

The daily clutter of headlines screaming out recruitment plans of software companies should warm his heart.

Business Line sifted through a few articles on software companies that have announced their recruitment plans in the last three months. The list we came up with, and which isn't exhaustive, showed a total of about 31,000 new positions for the IT industry in the coming year.

And, this list does not include names such as IBM, EDS, Computer Sciences Corporation, Computer Associates, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard and Deloitte Consulting, all of which have recruitment plans for India this year. However, accurate details of those plans are unavailable. Media reports in 2003 indicated that IBM planned to hike its manpower by about 5,000 by the year 2005 and that Accenture would add a similar number by December this year. Industry estimates Wipro's recruitment plans for the current fiscal at 9,000.

On the Web site of Monster India, an online recruitment services provider, there are over 30,000 real-time jobs posted. The site has over 1,200 corporate clients. It hosts nearly one million resumes in its database, reflecting both the potential in the market and buoyancy.

Mr Balaji E, General Manager, Ma Foi Consultants, a placement agency, says, "Our estimate of new positions in the IT industry for the coming 12 months is about 50,000. In IT-enabled services (ITES), that number would be about 80,000." He says most of these jobs would be located in cities along what he calls, `the accent-neutral crescent'. According to him, "An imaginary arc from the National Capital Region, down Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore to Chennai, would trace this crescent."

Sutherland Technologies recently announced plans to recruit 3,000 people for its ITES operations this year. Convergys is another name that figures prominently in the Indian ITES space.

Is there a spurt in new positions in the IT industry or is this normal for a year that does not foresee a slump in US IT spending? Says Ms Saundarya Rajesh, CEO of Avtar Career Creators, "The IT industry is decidedly expecting a surge. This has been happening for the past seven to nine months."

Mr Balaji attributes the surge in manpower demand to the benefits of offshoring as compared to mere outsourcing (For example, a company in the US would save much more by getting work done by another company out of a country like India, than it would by merely outsourcing it within the US.)

According to industry watchers, the positions that companies talk about may not all get filled. Quoting a higher number spreads a feeling of well being among existing employees.

A few companies could also use inflated numbers to send signals to the stock market. Says Ms Rajesh, "While companies liberally deliver mandates for recruitment, positions don't get closed as easily." She says companies are in a hurry to build pools of suitable candidates, but are not particularly keen on hiring large numbers that they announce at the outset.

Mr Balaji says that he has got more enquiries from software companies wanting to build teams of less than 100 this year as compared to last year. "These are software companies working in niche areas such as software research, software for chip design and the like. They are located in Bangalore or in Hyderabad."

According to Ms Rajesh, the surge in recruitments poses a problem for IT companies, "Since they want large numbers quickly, they have to offer experienced candidates high salaries."

So, existing employees would expect a hike in salaries to similar levels. This calls for skilful managing of expectations.

Cherry-picking, of course

WITH the IT industry preparing to recruit in large numbers, is an engineering degree - wherever you get it from - a sure passport to a life of luxury and heady success? What Mr Balaji says proves that an engineering degree helps but isn't sufficient by itself.

"A survey we did last year showed that typically, 52 per cent of fresh engineering graduates spent the first year after college idling at home or in a job that was irrelevant to their qualification." Though that situation could have changed now, he adds that software companies are looking for pedigree. "IT companies insist on an engineering degree with a minimum of 75 per cent marks beginning from the 10th standard onwards. These companies are hiring, but are also cherry-picking."

(With inputs from Hyderabad, New Delhi and Bangalore)