Companies Prefer Internship to Campus Hiring

Chennai: Companies are taking a cautious approach to campus hiring while using internships as a first step towards full-time hiring.

Business sentiment looks positive for India, with 69 per cent of organizations expecting a high to moderate growth. The sectors driving this growth are financial institutions, life sciences, and consumer goods, finds a study by Aon.

Despite a positive business sentiment in India, the study found companies are taking a cautious approach to campus hiring with several organizations implementing hiring freezes and reducing hiring volumes.

However, internships and lateral hiring continued to see growth. A large number of organizations are using internships as a first step to full-time hiring. Over 80 per cent organizations offer pre-placement interviews or pre-placement offers to promising candidates upon successful completion of internship, with the highest prevalence for M.Tech.

Hiring volume increased for interns at 46 per cent and lateral hiring at 40 per cent, while 38 per cent of MBA graduates and 30 per cent of diploma holders including those who have completed vocational courses saw the least increase compared to the fiscal year 2023.

Further, early attrition seems to be another issue for a large number of companies. Around 90 per cent of the organizations are tracking early attrition among campus hires as opposed to 83 per cent last year. The study revealed that early attrition is a cause of concern among MBA and bachelor’s in technology graduates, the top reason being competitive pay.

“Campus hiring is a strategic opportunity for organizations to build a diverse, skilled, and future-ready talent pipeline. However, the campus hiring market in India is undergoing a rapid transformation due to the changing expectations of the candidates, the evolving skill requirements of the organizations, and the impact of the global slowdown,” said Roopank Chaudhary, partner and Head of Reward Solutions in India for Aon.

“Furthermore, there is a direct correlation between company culture and performance, and organisations must have policies and frameworks in place to align culture with employee expectations to ensure stickiness of the new hires,” he said.