Recruitment spree in IT sector goes on

Coimbatore: IT majors have started head hunting this year, but engineering students may miss out on the job offer letters at the campus interviews.

Instead, they may just get “internship” offer letters. 

For several IT majors including Info­sys, Microsoft, Go­o­­gle, Intel and Ya­hoo have hit upon a new recr­u­­itment stra­tegy:­ “Intern, first, job next”. In a frenetically competitive IT market, the companies do not want to take chances. They will first “try them out”” at their workstat­ions before offering the interns full-time jobs.

Performance of the candidates during the three or six-month inter­n­ship and a written test will decide whether the interns get the job.

Be­sides, IT companies, even the core companies like Ashok Ley­l­and, TVS and Larsen &Toubro are hitting the internship route for hiring.

For, in a 10-minute interview and a written test, the aptitude of candidates cannot be fully assessed, the companies feel.

“This “internship be­fore giving a job” trend is gaining momentum here though it is popular in Western countries. Many core companies in India are taking students for internships during their eighth semester and assess their talents during that time,” Prof V Lakshmi Prabha, princi­pal,­ Government Col­lege of Technology (GCT) told DC.

To enable students go for internships, colleges are also completing the final semester syllabus quickly. Those selected for internships are given a stipend too.

“The inte­r­n­­ship gives the companies time to observe a candidate’s ability to work in a particular project,” said Prof. R Rudra­murthy, principal, PSG College of Tech­nology.

Hiring after internships are aimed at stemming the job-hopping culture too. “The companies want to bring down the attrition rate too, as they are recruiting only in minimum numbers now. So, a well qualified candidate recruited after internships may stick with the company for a longer time,” adds Prof. Rudra­mo­o­rthy.

For the employers and the students, it is a win-win situation, say the recruiters. According to K Purushothaman, Regi­o­nal Director of Nati­o­nal Association of Soft­ware and Services Com­panies (NASSCOM) “the companies can understand the candidates much better during internship,”  A performing candidate is sure to convert the internship into a coveted job.