For a young engineering graduate, getting a job has never been tough in the past few years. Just how times change. While multiple jobs offers was pretty much the norm earlier, now engineering graduates consider themselves lucky if a company shows up for campus recruitment at all. And those who have got offer letters have been asked to wait for a six months to a year before reporting for work. Get a offer letter now but report for work in 2009!
Some fresh graduates say they are still to receive offer letters from IT companies, which includes many top tier ones, even after the selection and placement season ended in February 2008. Others say they are receiving offer letters which have a date of joining mentioned as late as six months to one year, thereby creating a ���virtual��� bench. Anxious students across India have even formed Orkut (a social networking site) communities around companies who have issued them offer letters.
Says Nidhi Sharma, a final year B Tech student at a Greater Noida based Engineering college: ���I received a job acceptance letter from Wipro in February this year. In the letter, the company promised to deliver a final offer letter in April, which I am yet to receive. There are many students in the college facing the same situation.��� Students are also disadvantaged as they are not allowed to sit for any other interview if they have accepted a job offer from a company during the placement season.
Students in tier II institutes in non-metro towns have been the most affected. Greater Noida Institute of Information Technology placement officer Ritesh Pahuja says: ���All major IT companies have been slow on placements this year. Only 60% of the total batch has been placed so far though the process is still on. Students who have been placed were supposed to get their offer letters by first week of April. However, most of the students have not got any letters as yet. The delay might be the result of slowdown in the US, which is impacting the IT industry in India.���
On the other hand, top tier IT companies maintain that they will stick with their annual guidance of hiring the announced numbers (25,000 in case of Infosys). Wipro Technologies has made close to 14,000 offers to fresh engineering graduates in the current year. Says Wipro VPresourcing Pradeep Bahirwani: ���We keep hiring students every quarter. If students have not received their offer letters this quarter, they will surely get it in the next. But this is a general phenomenon and we will surely hire them.���
Speaking to ET, an Infosys spokesperson added: ���We are not looking at staggering the campus hiring this year. All the campus recruits who were extended offers on campuses last year will be joining us starting May 2008.��� But students in tier II colleges have a different story to tell. Says Anant Kumar, a student of Raj Kumar Goyal Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad: ���Many IT companies have been slow in doling out offer letters, many are still to issue it. There is a slowdown in placement witnessed this year.���
Students who opted to work for small-sized IT companies are at a major risk. ���The top-notch IT companies will certainly hire students as promised though the placement would be delayed. However, smaller companies might refuse to take the students,��� fears Mr Pahuja. On the other hand, students waiting to pass out next year might find it difficult to get internships or placements this year. Satyam has outrightly denied participating in the placement process this year for 2009 batch, according to an institute in NCR. An e-mail query to Satyam Computer did not evoke any response. Meanwhile , some institutes which offered 100% placement guarantee might see their record tarnished this year.
Some fresh graduates say they are still to receive offer letters from IT companies, which includes many top tier ones, even after the selection and placement season ended in February 2008. Others say they are receiving offer letters which have a date of joining mentioned as late as six months to one year, thereby creating a ���virtual��� bench. Anxious students across India have even formed Orkut (a social networking site) communities around companies who have issued them offer letters.
Says Nidhi Sharma, a final year B Tech student at a Greater Noida based Engineering college: ���I received a job acceptance letter from Wipro in February this year. In the letter, the company promised to deliver a final offer letter in April, which I am yet to receive. There are many students in the college facing the same situation.��� Students are also disadvantaged as they are not allowed to sit for any other interview if they have accepted a job offer from a company during the placement season.
Students in tier II institutes in non-metro towns have been the most affected. Greater Noida Institute of Information Technology placement officer Ritesh Pahuja says: ���All major IT companies have been slow on placements this year. Only 60% of the total batch has been placed so far though the process is still on. Students who have been placed were supposed to get their offer letters by first week of April. However, most of the students have not got any letters as yet. The delay might be the result of slowdown in the US, which is impacting the IT industry in India.���
On the other hand, top tier IT companies maintain that they will stick with their annual guidance of hiring the announced numbers (25,000 in case of Infosys). Wipro Technologies has made close to 14,000 offers to fresh engineering graduates in the current year. Says Wipro VPresourcing Pradeep Bahirwani: ���We keep hiring students every quarter. If students have not received their offer letters this quarter, they will surely get it in the next. But this is a general phenomenon and we will surely hire them.���
Speaking to ET, an Infosys spokesperson added: ���We are not looking at staggering the campus hiring this year. All the campus recruits who were extended offers on campuses last year will be joining us starting May 2008.��� But students in tier II colleges have a different story to tell. Says Anant Kumar, a student of Raj Kumar Goyal Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad: ���Many IT companies have been slow in doling out offer letters, many are still to issue it. There is a slowdown in placement witnessed this year.���
Students who opted to work for small-sized IT companies are at a major risk. ���The top-notch IT companies will certainly hire students as promised though the placement would be delayed. However, smaller companies might refuse to take the students,��� fears Mr Pahuja. On the other hand, students waiting to pass out next year might find it difficult to get internships or placements this year. Satyam has outrightly denied participating in the placement process this year for 2009 batch, according to an institute in NCR. An e-mail query to Satyam Computer did not evoke any response. Meanwhile , some institutes which offered 100% placement guarantee might see their record tarnished this year.
