The Bangalore-headquartered firm iGate Global Solutions Ltd plans to hire people this year. The company Global Head for Human Resource, Mr Srinivas Kandula informed that the company will be hiring 400 people this year.
At present the company is having 6,500 on its rolls including 1,100 abroad, and is expecting to restart campus recruitments from January.
Mr Kandula in an interview told Business Line, “This year, we are not planning any campus recruitment due to the challenging industry scenario. But in the next two quarters, there could be some revival in the industry. There are some positive signs in revenues and new contracts in general.”
Generally iGate, recruits 1,500-1,800 people annually, but slowed down the process this year.
He informed, “Except this, there are no other plans such as retrenchment or virtual pools”.
The company HR division did not take any major cost-cut measures as reduction of salaries. He told, “Right from the beginning we have been careful. Hence, there has been no need for any sudden measures”.
A do up of the HR strategy is being executed at iGate. He said, “In a nutshell, focus is now more on the competency building. Earlier, there was no emphasis on acquiring skills or performance improvement. We have become more categorical on these issues.”
He added, “The biggest challenge for a HR management is how to keep up the morale of the employees amidst frequent news of retrenchments and pay-cuts. We are also working on this”.
Regarding the IT job market scenario, Mr Kandula said the industry will witness serious jump in the unemployment of middle-level managers.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Major companies prefer online test and assessment system for recruitments
In the next three to five years the tests will be conducted online. In the recent times many educational institutes are going for computer-based entrance exams in an attempt to stop malpractices, such as leakage of question papers.
Industry experts, say in paper-based exams there is more possibility of leakage and malpractices and this can be curtailed by conducting tests online. Besides GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, IELTS and the new entrant CAT, few of the other online exams that are being conducted in India include entrance tests for IIIT (Bangalore), BITS Pilani, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Symbiosis, Anna University and Manipal Institute of Management.
Madan Padaki, co-founder & CEO of assessment firm MeritTrac Services said, “The problem of question paper leakage can be tackled by implementing advanced and secure online testing and assessment”. For online test the questions are sent to centers in encrypted forms, thus reducing chances of leakage. Moreover the questions are disorderly placed and the entire exam process is supervised to prevent candidates from cheating.
Padaki said, “Well monitored online examinations and assessments save time for both examiners and examinees, it reduces turnaround time, helps in optimized utilization of resources, data maintenance become easier and it can be used by anyone who has a minimum understanding of technology”.
Prashant S, assistant vice-president of MindLogic, a Bangalore-based assessment firm, informed, “Two out of 10 universities face problems of malpractices. The only way to curtail this is to go online. Automation of exams is the way forward and the coming decade will see most of the universities adopting online exam patterns.”
Padaki told that in India annually around 350 entrance exams are conducted and less than seven are taken online. MeritTrac skills Assessment Company is having talks with over 100 university bodies and about 80 of them have shown interest in conducting online tests and assessments. By the end of this year, out of the 80 universities, 30 universities will be implementing online exams.
Earlier, due to lack of technology platforms, expertise and availability of infrastructure the test organizers could not think of moving online. Prashant informed now the situation has changed there are companies offering online assessment systems supported by security mechanisms such as labs with testing terminals, advanced proctoring systems such as IP cameras and stringent registration mechanisms like biometric fingerprint scanners and so on.
Industry experts, say in paper-based exams there is more possibility of leakage and malpractices and this can be curtailed by conducting tests online. Besides GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, IELTS and the new entrant CAT, few of the other online exams that are being conducted in India include entrance tests for IIIT (Bangalore), BITS Pilani, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Symbiosis, Anna University and Manipal Institute of Management.
Madan Padaki, co-founder & CEO of assessment firm MeritTrac Services said, “The problem of question paper leakage can be tackled by implementing advanced and secure online testing and assessment”. For online test the questions are sent to centers in encrypted forms, thus reducing chances of leakage. Moreover the questions are disorderly placed and the entire exam process is supervised to prevent candidates from cheating.
Padaki said, “Well monitored online examinations and assessments save time for both examiners and examinees, it reduces turnaround time, helps in optimized utilization of resources, data maintenance become easier and it can be used by anyone who has a minimum understanding of technology”.
Prashant S, assistant vice-president of MindLogic, a Bangalore-based assessment firm, informed, “Two out of 10 universities face problems of malpractices. The only way to curtail this is to go online. Automation of exams is the way forward and the coming decade will see most of the universities adopting online exam patterns.”
Padaki told that in India annually around 350 entrance exams are conducted and less than seven are taken online. MeritTrac skills Assessment Company is having talks with over 100 university bodies and about 80 of them have shown interest in conducting online tests and assessments. By the end of this year, out of the 80 universities, 30 universities will be implementing online exams.
Earlier, due to lack of technology platforms, expertise and availability of infrastructure the test organizers could not think of moving online. Prashant informed now the situation has changed there are companies offering online assessment systems supported by security mechanisms such as labs with testing terminals, advanced proctoring systems such as IP cameras and stringent registration mechanisms like biometric fingerprint scanners and so on.
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