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Campus Recruitment in India needs a change Current situation: Most of the Information Technology companies conduct campus recruitment

in the third year of engineering and give appointment orders. By the time students complete their fourth year, they receive a formal letter from the organization which says, your joining date is postponed by x months/ indefinitely until further notice. I heard this from more than 100 students in the last 3 years and many blogs confirmed this. Background: This culture of campus recruitment in third year started few years ago when companies were flooded with large projects and hence they could project manpower requirements for next 5 years with little deviation, being refined at least once in a quarter. The projections were later affected by many factors including, - Tightened visa procedures in terms of fees, time elapsed in issue, etc., which may not be too amenable to project schedules and cost. Two decades ago we could fly abroad on business visa with one day notice, kick off project in two days and work with project up to 18 months with legal extensions. Now the individual gets notice of more than 3 months for foreign travel during which company prays that the individual does not quit, visa is granted and project is not terminated. Intra company transfers and applying visa in anticipation had a significant positive impact, with many constraints. - Rarely any individual is sure of his/ her stay with the company citing factors including personal, family, company and industry. - And technology gap, geographical time differences, Nonmaterialization of Marketing teams ambitious plans/ targets etc., a bigger list normally available with HR/ Human Resources Management Group of every company. Impact: When companys revised estimates of manpower requirements more than an year after giving appointment letter, are significantly below the earlier estimates, the steps taken by company are to discourage freshers to join and encourage low-performing seniors to leave. As per unwritten business rules, company is not supposed to appreciate individuals loss and trauma. Two decades ago we used to blacklist those companies that did not honour their commitment. But now, many universities cannot afford this. But it is definitely creating first-bad-impression on those companies in the minds of affected students. The most advanced subjects are covered in 4th year , by which the student attains certain maturity in thinking and exposure to IT

industry. At least he / she would be able to identify area of interest for self. Once appointment letter is received, the students are taking the subsequent courses lightly, giving more attention to moderate grades and less attention to knowledge. They are unable to project its impact on their future growth. Further, most of them are not even applying to other companies though job melas are frequently conducted in their own cities. Only they can explain their frustration when they receive postponement letter, which leads to quickly jumping into less challenging jobs with less established companies. Message to IT companies: Visit campus during the last year of the degree, which can fetch more matured and more focussed employees. If 1st January is the deadline for firming-up manpower requirements for that year, start campus visits after that date. The deviation from projections in 6 months time can be negligible unless there is termination of massive projects. Such a change can show significant benefits, if adapted by all major companies, than just one. HR forums would be ideal to propagate this. Add Prospective-employee perspective to the existing industry, organization and employee perspectives. Message to students: Understand that you are entering a big competitive world. Getting an appointment letter is not the end of your journey. Keep attempting other interviews to understand your own interests and weaknesses. Keep enriching your knowledge throughout your lifetime to stay alive in the competition. The opinions expressed here by Emani Sarathy, Proprietor of MEQPRIMA Advisory Services, are based on his experiences and interactions with several youngsters in India. The author will feel happy if companies have already taken or willing to take this direction, collectively.

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