Assessment Companies

Banking sector to provide major employment opportunities

2011-03-10T04:18:00.000-08:00

The banking sector in the country is growing at a very good pace and with that this sector is expected to create ample employment opportunities. It the year 2010, the hiring in the banks rose marginally.

The number of bank employees in public and private banks recorded a marginal hike but the foreign banks recorded a fall in their employee strength by 6.22% except Standard Chartered bank. Apart from it the largest lender in the country State Bank of India also registered a fall of 2.79 percent in its head count.

But that was last year, this year various banks have already commenced the recruitment process. More than 5000 posts are expected to be filled up of both officer and clerk grade.

The Chairman and Managing Director of Andhra Bank Mr R Ramachadran said that most of the existing bank staff is about to retire creating a lot of employment opportunities for the youngsters in banking sector. "This would happen at the senior management level as bulk of existing personnel had joined in the 1970s at a junior level and progressed to senior levels. Hence there will be lot of opportunities for the aspirants to get into banking," he said.

About the recruitment in the banking sector Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Bank Mr. T.M. Bhasin said "There will be more vacancies coming up in the industry sooner than what has been notified till now. This will be driven by large-scale expansion of banking in rural and urban regions, replacement needed in view of the retirements and the rationalisation of operations and staff."

IBM in collaboration with Doaba Group of Colleges organized job fest

2010-01-19T04:19:00.000-08:00

In Punjab, Global Technical Leader IBM in association with Doaba Group of Colleges (DGC) organized major employment generation initiative at Campus I, Village Ghataur, PO Allapur, Tehsil Kharar, Distt. Mohali.

This is the only one placement fest was organized by the world IT leader in Punjab.

The placement fest got a very good response as from the engineering graduates over 7000 aspiring engineers turned up for interviews for various posts in the company. The placement fest was inaugurated by Harcharan Singh Bains on behalf of the the Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, Dy. Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, entire cabinet and Government of Punjab.

The Chief Minister sent his blessings for the large number of deserving, desiring and eligible engineering graduates who had come to placement fest. It was expected through such job fest will maximum number of eligible candidates will get absorbed by big companies.

During the inauguration of fest Harcharan Singh Bains had congratulated DGC for inviting such a reputed company for placement, which he stated is an honor. He gave blessings to Doaba Group of Colleges on behalf of Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal and Dy. Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal.

The company started the recruitment process with the pre-placement talks followed by aptitude test, group discussion and final interviews. There were HR and technical rounds of interview. On behalf of IBM Maoj Srivastava said, the company is looking for the students for the post of software trainees, web designer, business analyst, search engine optimizer and other technical jobs.

IIM graduates PPOs offer jumps to Rs 18-30 lakh per annum

2009-12-29T03:32:00.000-08:00

This year the pre-placement offers (PPOs) for final year management graduates of Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) has jumped to Rs 18-30 lakh per annum in comparison to last year’s average of Rs 8-12 lakh per annum, as many multinational firms are hiring new talents as they see revival in their businesses.

One of the IIM officials informed, “Students who already have many years of experience have got PPO packages of Rs 30-40 lakh per annum. We expect people with more work experience to get Rs 50 lakh per annum during the final placements.” Some of the IIM students told ET in most of the IIMs the number of PPOs for the 2008-2010 batches has already reached to 50-60, except IIM-Shillong as it has only 63 students. According to IIMs during the final placement in March 2010 the PPOs will be double.

An IIM-Ahmedabad official said, “This year, investment banks seem to be keen on final placements too. We are clearly seeing an uptick in the market, but at the same time this is just cautious optimism.” He added, “We are not taking it easy and are reaching out to more MNCs than before.”

Some of the global consulting firms such as McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Deloitte and AT Kearney, besides technology companies such as Huawei, Intel, Dell, Pfizer, HP and Google have also shown interest in participating during the final placements next year.

Thus, this year India’s premier business schools is expecting a good part of their campus placements from companies such as P&G, Diageo, HUL, City Bank, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, Barclay’s, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Bank of America - Merrill Lynch, HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland and public sector banks. According to sources such companies have already started offering lucrative PPOs or are having talks with IIMs for hiring.

However few students are opting to graduate in finance. For instance, from the Harvard Business School only 28% of its 2009 graduating class is taking up career in finance. As per school statistics, around 40% of the 2008 students pursued careers in finance and over 20% opted for consulting career. David A Garvin, a C Roland Christensen Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School said, “Now, there is fall in the number of students pursuing these domains. Students are taking up operational roles, line management and entrepreneurship.”

After getting cue from the global peers, IIMs have also started working in this direction and are searching new roles in sectors such as healthcare, pharma, telecom IT, real estate, media, PSUs, education, energy, logistics and entrepreneurship, IIM Shillong chief corporate relations and external affairs Arijit C Majumdar said.

IIM Bangalore second-year student Vineet Sharma, a marine engineer, told he is looking for the role in general management and might join his own business venture called Oilfield Warehouse and Services (OWS), as his organization is planning for an international expansion in Middle East and Africa and Singapore. While IIM Lucknow second-year student told he is interested in sales and marketing in the pharma industry.

Chirantan Shah, a placement committee representative at IIM Kozhikode said this year most of the students are showing interest to join start-ups as they know it is a great learning process to attain knowledge of multiple roles such as equity, marketing and sales.

Hariharan Sriram, the external relations secretary at IIM Calcutta, told students are now showing interest in domestic opportunities as well as to work in countries in South East Asia which have better economic outlook.

PSBs to visit top B-schools again for recruitments

2009-12-14T03:29:00.000-08:00

Last year during the placement season the public sector banks (PSBs) were able to snare management graduates from top business schools such as the Indian Institutes of Management, therefore getting motivated from the last year decision the PSBs have decided to go for aggressive campus recruitment this year.

Bank of Baroda chairman and managing director MD Mallya said, “We have had a fantastic experience last time when we recruited from the top management schools in the country. The quality of talent was extremely good”.

Earlier this year during the placement season in March the bank had hired around 200 students from various B-schools, including the IIMs, this year also bank has decided to hire around 350 students. He added, “We are looking to add talent to facilitate our expansion plans and plan to hit the campuses soon”.

In fact PSBs decision to hire students from IIMs and other B-schools is basically its necessity and not just out of craze. Approximately 40 per cent of their workforce, around 8 lakh people are going to retire in the next two years, therefore PSBs are ready for large-scale recruitment drive. Banks will be hiring at all levels and for this they have decided to visit B-schools as well.

Bank of Maharashtra CMD Allen Pereira stated, “We will hire in sizeable numbers and will visit management schools during the upcoming placement season. But not all the positions that fall vacant will get filled up as some jobs get eliminated as a result of improved technology over the years”.

In the last year placement season, the bank had hired from Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, among others.
United Bank of India CMD SC Gupta informed his bank is looking to hire around 1,700 people in the next one year at all levels and for this it will be visiting management schools such as XLRI. On the other hand UCO Bank has decided to visit IIMs and other B-schools this year to hire around 100 MBA graduates.

In the last placement season more campus recruitment was done by PSBs mainly because several foreign banks, affected by the global credit crisis and the recession in the West, did not visited Indian B-school campuses. The position of private banks in India was somewhat similar to as foreign banks.

Many job seekers are giving preference for PSBs over private banks may be because of challenge of working in a public sector company or the due to job security in the an uncertain world.

According to government data, last year there has been decline in the number of students being recruited by MNCs from IIMs it was as much as 45 per cent. in 2009 placements MNCs hired around 497 students from six IIMs as against 920 a year before.

Even in the salaries there was a major change, as most of the IIMs witnessed decline of up to per cent in average salary offers.

IIM Calcutta external relations secretary Paul Savio pointed out, “Last placement season, the decision to join PSBs may have been guided due to lack of opportunities from MNCs. But this year too, many students are interested in joining PSBs and other such enterprises. This is even as the economic situation has improved”.

Summer placements bring cheers at IIMs campuses

2009-11-10T02:51:00.000-08:00

The summer placements have brought cheers in the Indian Institutes of Managements (IIMs). Banking and financial sector companies have started hiring for summer internships which is likely to improve the final placement process in the campuses.

The summer placement provides the opportunity to the first year post-graduate students to work for nearly two months during summer 2010 with companies that give them offer.

For the meantime all the IIMs have maintained that happy days are returning although placement scenario is yet to achieve the 2007 levels when the growth was at its peak. However there has been improvement this year in comparison to the earlier year 2008 when companies stopped hiring which created vacuum in students life with no hopes and no where to look for jobs due to the Lehman Brothers collapse and the economic slowdown that followed (the IIMs had also extended the closing dates for placements last year).

IIM Ahmedabad has completed its summer placement process four days record time this year, on the other hand relatively smaller IIM Kozhikode too has been able to engross the process in eight days with the highest stipend offer at Rs 1 lakh. Although other IIMs have started the process later but are expecting to close the season within a week.

Last year when there was crash of global banking and financial sectors, the IIMs mainly focused on tech service firms to look for job opportunities for their students. But this year, the IIMs have witnessed a return of all their regular information technology (IT) and IT consulting firms. Also this year the IIMs and start-ups have witnessed coming of non- government-organizations (NGOs) and sports-based companies showing interest.

IIM-Kozhikode (IIM-K) has too witnessed visit of new sectors in micro-finance and NGOs. “These can add up to nearly 15 per cent of the placements,” said Rohan Jaikishen, placement committee member, IIM-K. IIM-Lucknow placements chairman, R L Raina, says: “The offers are expected to rise. This is a sign of economic growth.”

The students of batch 2009-11 of IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) had a sigh of relief after over 150 of a total of 315 students have got placed for the summers by the end of second day. This year marketing has been the hot favorite with some of the most sought recruiters such as Diageo (of Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker and Guinness fame), Nokia and Coca Cola. The finance sector has been the top pick with 44 per cent of IIM-A students opting for roles in finance, investment banking, private equity, corporate banking and treasury roles. The marketing sector captured 18 per cent share with positions in sales and marketing management, branding, business development and marketing research. Next came the consulting and general management domains followed by IT, at 11, 18 and 9 per cent, respectively.

However IIM Kozhikode (IIMK), has been able to capture 100 per cent summer placements for its 2009-11 batch in eight day process with 120 firms making offers to the 309-strong batch.

This year big global groups such as Arthur D Little, KPMG, Hewitt, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank, HUL, Pepsico and Colgate Palmolive had participated in the placements. The highest stipend offered this year has been over Rs 100,000 inclusive of perks and allowances. Keyoor Purani, chairperson placements, IIM-K said, “The participation of new recruiters in the emerging fields of media, sports management, hospitality and NGOs is indicative that our students are also willing to explore new avenues”.

For the time IIM-K has got as many as 40 firms including Biocon, Astra Zeneca, Singapore-based Tolaram group and Dubai-based Gargash Insurance have recruited summer interns.

IIM-Calcutta has also witnessed the same scene. On day 1 around 90 students got placement. This year there are 408 students of IIM-C for placement which is around 100 more than last two years. This year Morgan Stanley has recruited from IIM-C, exclusively for its London desk. This year absence of Lehman Brothers was not felt, as Nomura the firm that took over Lehman gave five offers to the students. The banks have given offers in investment banking divisions, global markets, equity research, sales and corporate banking.

Whereas at IIM-B summer placement process started on Friday with 15-20 companies visiting campus on day one of slot zero, most popular slot of placement. In other business schools the investment banks and consultancies formed the bulk of recruiters offering both domestic and international offers. Sapna Agarwal, head of career development services at IIM Bangalore (IIM-B), said, “Initially, the institute was apprehensive about placing 350 students this year as compared to 267 last year but the response of recruiters has been very encouraging.”

Though officially nothing has been disclosed but average stipends are understood to be marginally higher than last year as are the number of offers. Also recruiters like RBS, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, BCG, UBS etc are expected to visit the campus.

However last year around 85 students from IIM-B got the international offers among the highest across the IIMs and the number is likely to increase this year also. IIM-Indore too, has witnessed summer placements and the institution will be giving details only after the completion of the process.

Indian job index increased by 4.1% in September

2009-10-30T02:51:00.000-07:00

In India the job index has moved up by 4.1% in September. According to Naukri JobSpeak, job index, there has been increase of 4.1% in September in comparison to August. As per the three-month average the job index has moved up from 715 in August to 719 in September this year as the hiring activity has picked up among Indian companies. In April – May this year the job index was as low as 664.

The hiring has moved up in all experience levels, thus the highest growth in hiring for freshers and trainees has increased by 39%. According to the report consisting data of 41 industries has illustrated a positive trend in September across sectors and cities. As per report across 14 industries it was a double-digit increase in hiring activities while in 13 sectors it was a single-digit increase and 11 functional areas indicated a plunge.

Last month the hiring in ITeS and BPO services increased by 18.3 per cent as compared to August. Even the real estate and retail sectors bounced back, showing an increase of 36.8 and 12.2 per cent, respectively, but were still far away from August 2008 levels.

Out of the top 13 cities, an upward trend was seen in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi-NCR, the hiring was at 9, 8.4 and 3.5 per cent, respectively. While the smaller cities of Ahmedabad and Vadodara saw a double-digit growth rates at 11.8 and 12.5 per cent, respectively.

Hitesh Oberoi, director and COO of Info Edge, which operates Naukri.Com told, "The secular trend is positive across sectors. Had it not been for an early festival season, we may have seen a further improvement in the index. The good news is that the IT and BPO sectors — which are big employers, especially at entry and junior levels — seem to be in positive territory after a long time".

But there has been decline in the hiring activity in the sectors of banking & finance and oil & gas. The drop was by 6.5 per cent and 4.6 per cent, respectively, in September in comparison to the previous month.

IIMs getting PPOs from companies

2009-10-21T05:04:00.000-07:00

Similarly to the IITs the students of Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) are also getting pre-placement offers (PPOs), defeating the fear of hiring freeze by companies.

In June and July this year few of IIM students received PPOs which confirmed companies are opening hiring.

IIM-A placement committee media co-coordinator Vivek Jain told, “While the early PPOs were extended primarily by consulting firms, now investment banks and private equity firms, too, are offering PPOs”. “Many of the offers are for international roles in places like Europe, the US, Singapore and Hong Kong. We expect many more PPOs in the coming days.”

The IIM campuses have started receiving PPOs the students hopes are getting high and it is being hoped that the coming placement season will turn out to be a better one than last year, as B-schools had to struggle hard to get job offers for their students.

B-schools refused to share the numbers, ET reporter tried to get the flow of the PPO atmosphere it moved around the campus and quizzed students, teaching staff and sources across campuses.

By July earlier this year batches across IIMs of Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta had received PPOs close to 7-10%. Now the figure has gone up by anywhere between 15-20% in these institutes.

As compared to July earlier this year, when close to 7-10% of batches across IIMs of Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta had received PPOs, the figure has gone up by anywhere between 15-20% in these institutes. Other IIMs like Lucknow and Kozhikode, too, are also getting a much better flow of job offers as compared to the past year.

For instance IIM-A, till now has received around 60-70 PPOs, students at the campus informed ET. The institute's placement committee however did not revealed any official figures, but the students at the campus have confirmed that after a long break in August, during the past six weeks the job offers have started pouring in.

Some of the companies who have given job offer to students at IIM-A include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, HUL, P&G, UBS and Citigroup. Last year in mid-September only 20% of the batch of 250 students had got PPOs. This year the size has increased to 300 students.

Similarly IIM-B also refused to give any official PPO numbers, but a student keeping track of development told the institute has already got around 50 such offers. As the placement representative at the institute was not in the campus for comment.

The placement circles at IIM-C informed that the PPOs are lesser during this time in comparison to the past year. The rise is expected only in the next couple of months.

“Apart from firms from sectors like finance, consulting, marketing and general management, IIM-C has also got PPOs from a few IT companies and Wall Street Banks,” said IIM-C external relations secretary Paul Savio. “Markets are definitely picking up and we are expecting a better Placement 2010.”

At IIM-K there is a 30-40% increase in the number of PPOs as against to the past year. The other institutes are keeping the exact numbers under covers. The placement committee member, Rohan Jaikishen, informed the number of verbal confirmations which they are getting from companies is also in double digits. “The concrete offers have started coming in from the beginning of September and the companies that have made offers include ITC, American Express Bank and Futures First,” he added.

Last year, only 20 PPOs were offered at IIM-K. The batch size at IIM-K is 308. Mr Jaikishen informed that PPOs till now at IIM-K had mainly come in the financial sector, and the marketing companies visit campus in a close second.

Likewise, IIM-L placement chairman Prof RL Raina informed the companies have sent PPOs to at least 10% of the current batch students at IIM-L. While the current batch size at IIM-L is 320. “This number is quite significant since IIM Lucknow has the largest batch size across all IIMs,” he said. He is also expecting rise in the number in the coming weeks.

Prof Raina, international consulting and finance firms said, “like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, JPMorgan, besides marketing majors like Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Diageo, have already confirmed PPOs”. “Tata Administrative Services is another company that has offered job offers at IIM-L with companies operating in the renewable energy space also showing keen interest in IIM Lucknow students,” he added. Watching the trend, Prof Raina also sees 2010 as more promising than the previous year.

In spite of extended placement process last year, IIMs had to struggle with a heavy baggage of reasonable salaries and less number of job offers. This year although most of the institutes are keeping their placement season open much beyond the usual timeframe as the job-engine taking up larger portion once again.

HCL in 3-4 months to hire 2k software engineers

2009-10-08T03:41:00.000-07:00

HCL Technologies is India’s fourth-largest software exporter proposes to hire around 2,000 software engineers in the next three-four months. A top company executive said the company is expanding its employee’s strength to attract new client base and existing operations across verticals.

Out of 2,000, 30% will be freshers, and the remaining 70% will include experienced professionals. With new hires the company’s total workforce will increase to about 57,000 globally

in the past few months the software major has been able to strike various IT outsourcing services deals therefore company need to increase its workforce. Last year during the campus hiring the company had hired around 15,000 freshers and professionals on rolls.

But this year company plans to remain low on campus hiring due to overall slowdown in demand for IT services world-wide.

HCL Technologies global head (human resources) Dilip Kumar Srivastava pointed out, “We are following just-in-time model of hiring. Unlike earlier when we used to give hiring guidance 18 months in advance, it will be a quarter or two in advance, as we are yet to have a clear visibility on where the industry is heading. Focus will be on lateral hiring for core IT processes across sectors”.

Regarding altering the compensation package of the freshers he said at present company has no such plans as the variable component of the salary will exclusively depend on the performance. Earlier this year the company had to put a freeze on employee salaries and also did cutbacks in bonus due to tight demand and declining volumes in the US and Europe as the rationale.

In the past few months however, HCL has added new clients and has also bagged two IT outsourcing services contracts worth $110 million from Texas-based energy companies, Energy Future Holdings and Oncor.

Over the next few months to support the growing business the company will be increasing headcount in Texas.

At present company is serving clients from various sectors including aerospace, defence, financial services, government, retail, life sciences and telecom.

IELTS to introduce online test across the country

2009-09-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

Soon International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is going to introduce online test besides the pen and paper model across the country. Up till now the computer-based format test is available only in Delhi.

First secretary (education services) Kevin McLaven who was in the city informed that the within two years computer-based test will be introduced in other parts of the country also.

But the interactive session to assess spoken English will not be computerized. McLaven in an interview told TOI, "Students will be more comfortable if they have an interviewer testing them than an automated voice which sounds like an answering machine”.

He informed that in the past two years there has been increase in the number of IELTS candidates, around 2,30,000 students take up the test last time.

On the other hand IELTS officials have warned the candidates from joining coaching centers which lack in offering qualitative coaching. Nirupa Fernandez, Head, English and Exams, British Council said, "We guide students on what they need to look for in terms of preparation for IELTS. The students should preferably join institutes where the trainers are trained by IELTS officials. This will ensure credibility".

British Council/IELTS in a partnership has launched a program for IELTS trainers in the city. McLaven informed, "The program is set to teach the trainer to give out accurate information on how to crack IELTS".

IT professionals, especially the lateral hiring makes comeback in Inc.

2009-09-17T03:52:00.000-07:00

Good news for IT professionals. Although the percentage is low the lateral hiring has made a comeback in the software industry. Now the lateral IT professionals can get salary hikes, or change jobs. This enthusiasm can be accredited to signs of recovery in US.

But the campus recruits of 2007-08 batches will have to wait for long as the companies are hiring laterals.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), excluding its auxiliaries, is expected to hire 50 per cent more lateral, or experienced hands, this quarter in comparison to the previous sequential quarter, its head of human resource, Mr Ajoy Mukherjee told Business Line in an interview.

Before this year quarter comes to an end, the company has already crossed the figure of later hiring as against its last quarter’s gross lateral hiring figure of 384.

Mr Mukherjee stated, “Though lateral hiring at TCS is still controlled, we have requirements in niche areas due to new customer wins”. He stated quarter there is more demand for people with high-end techno-functional skills in enterprise solutions and infrastructure management.

According to industry observers in the last two months there has been increase in the number of IT-related advertisements in newspapers and job portals. In a series of recently released job ads, Cognizant has been looking for professionals with 3-12 years experience for its engineering and manufacturing practice.

The current quarter is expected to see 12-15 per cent rise in the lateral hiring than the three months ended June, informed Mr E. Balaji, CEO of manpower consultancy firm Ma Foi. “Though these are early days, things are definitely looking up for the industry,” he added.

Last year the IT companies did not give any wage hikes and promotions due to the freefall in demand for their services. But now gradually the conditions are changing.

According to MNC firm Datacraft Chief Operating Officer for India, Mr Shailendra Badoni, this fiscal in India the company will give hike in salaries on the basis of employees’ performance.

However Datacraft follows a fiscal calendar ending September. “Since we are nearing our year-end, we are in the process of evaluating the quantum of hikes. But they (hikes) will be there for sure.” On the other hand as per information provided by Infosys Technologies spokesperson the company will continue with freeze on promotions and wage hikes this fiscal.

Mahindra Satyam, recently has restored the variable portion of salaries of employees however the 8,000 campus recruits are still waiting in the wings is still to be resolved.

Mahindra Satyam spokesperson explained, “As a company, we have been through the worst and things will only improve from here on. We are waiting for business to further improve before we can start getting campus recruits on board and hence we cannot give a timeframe”.

L&T Infotech, which was also in competition for Satyam, has recently e-mailed a group of its campus recruits informing them that it will be initiating only a small batch (this month) from the 1,000-and-odd candidates of 2007-08. According to sources in December there can be some more joining, with the rest scheduled to wait longer.

Likewise, the process of hiring freshers of 2007-08 is still not through at Wipro Technologies and is likely to get into pace into calendar 2009.

Medium-size IT companies go for lateral hiring

2009-09-15T22:44:00.001-07:00

Last year at the time of recession the medium-size IT companies were the first one to pull down the curtains on lateral hiring due to sizeable bench and most important factor was rising salary costs, are now back on the recruitment.

The key HR consultants informed that lateral hiring is back because the ‘market has improved.’ According to Mr Rishi Das, CEO, CareerNet, a Bangalore-based recruitment firm a big recruitment cycle is going to begin in the mid-size companies.

Mumbai-based IT recruiter stated, “The mid-caps did see a stock rally and there is confidence in the Indian market”. The HR sources, pointed out companies such as Aricent, Logica and captives such as Goldman Sachs and BankAm are in the process of hiring between 200 and 300 people.

Dr Pallab Bandyopadhyay, Vice-President and Head, HR, Asia Pac, Perot Systems, informed his company is hiring at a steady pace and has to currently recruit 300-400 positions.

The company has plans to recruit at least 100-150 positions a month. Mr E. Balaji, CEO and Director, Ma Foi Consultants, informed the companies that had put hiring on hold are now in the process of filling critical positions, but the ‘peak is yet to come.’

However, most of the recruitments at present are for lateral (those between five years and 10 years’ experience) even as companies have put campus hiring on hold.

The reason is the companies have to yet absorb the last year’s hires besides restricted by an advisory from Nasscom, which has recommended that IT companies should not enter campuses until they have absorbed all last year’s offers. Mr Das informed that this year campus recruitment will be active in the last semester and not 18 months ahead of graduating, as it used to happen earlier.

Regarding salaries, laterals who could have demanded between 50 per cent and 100 per cent jump can now look for only 15-20 per cent rise when they change the jobs.

Tesco Hindustan to hire analytics

2009-09-03T00:58:00.000-07:00

Tesco Hindustan Service Centre, the captive global services wing of the UK retailer Tesco, has offers for analytics. The company believes the analytics have a major role to play in a “recessionary environment” therefore currently its main focus is on analytics offering.

From the last nine months, the Bangalore-based Tesco HSC is in the process of generating a committed analytics team which will be able to provide right insight about what customers want, pricing analysis vis-À-vis competition, stock movement in a store, and ways to improve operational efficiency.

Mr Sandeep Dhar, CEO, Tesco HSC explained, retailers can take help from analytics in understanding what bring value to customers and how to improve their operational efficiency. However Tesco accounted a 12.6 per cent jump in its group sales for the first quarter this year.

Previously at Tesco HSC, analytics were involved in various processes but due to its increasing importance company has a fixed team of 50-members to handle this role. Thus Tesco HSC is in expanding mode of its analytics team. Mr Dhar pointed out, “We will hire two dozen people this financial year and add more as the company expands.”

Tesco HSC (which follows a March-February financial year), by the end of this year has plans to increase its headcount from 3,500 now to 4,000.

Besides hiring statisticians and MBAs for its analytics team, Tesco HSC is also looking to hire freshers and supervisors at various positions for its other processes. Mr Dhar said, “We will also hire architects and civil engineers for virtually designing Tesco stores worldwide.”

Tesco HSC seems to offer infrastructure management services to Tesco Personal Finance, the consumer finance business of Tesco. Under this the company will offer support services for retail banking processes such as insurance, deposits and credit cards.

Hiring to pick-up in India in coming months

2009-09-01T00:50:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months there had been rigorous cost-cutting, including freeze on fresh recruitments and even reducing size of workforce in some cases, but now, according to different surveys several Indian companies are planning to increase hiring process in coming months.

Recently Economic Times conducted a survey on selective listed companies across various sectors such as telecom, infrastructure, consumer goods, auto, pharma, technology and power and all of them informed that they have plans to increase their workforce in the next three-six months. Some of the few companies planning to increase hiring include Infosys Technologies, Maruti Suzuki, Lupin Pharmaceuticals and Standard Chartered Bank.

Another survey done by job portal TimesJobs.com stated an increase in hiring process among Indian companies. The survey, which surveyed 5,000 companies across sectors in Indian metros, depicted that almost half the companies from Delhi and Mumbai are planning to increase hiring in the current quarter.

Also the IT capital Bangalore is likely to start hiring process after seeing mass layoffs in the past quarter of 2008, with one-fourth of the firms planning to increase their workforce this quarter. Although 52% of these firms told they are tasking replacement hiring. According to the survey conducted by TJ InSite, the research wing of TimesJobs.com four-fifths of the firms in Delhi and 57% recruiters in Mumbai are hiring to prepare for growth.

However the result depicts that Corporate India is optimistic about the economy despite the alarming threat of a drought due to shortage of rains in this monsoon season and the fears of swine flu that has sparked panic in several cities. Sunit Mehra, managing partner of executive search company Hunt Partners, “Swine flu is not a pandemic yet; unless it goes to such proportions, there will be no impact on the job market”.

Although these concerns remain, India Inc’s are optimistic due to economic recovery and has truly begun gaining traction across sectors. In July car sales robust and industrial production figures bear out this optimism.

Also globally positive signs are encouraging with lower-than-expected decline in the US economic growth for June quarter and a rebound to growth of the South Korean economy. Vivek Madhukar, vice-president of TimesJobs.com said, “The quarter-on-quarter growth that India Inc has witnessed both in terms of revenues and profits, and the continuation of government stability, policies and commitments, have brought a more optimistic business forecast for organizations”.

The TimesJob conducted survey covering sectors such as IT, BPO & ITeS, engineering, logistics, healthcare, architecture, hospitality, travel & tourism, finance & accounting and sales & marketing.

Last year India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki, who had hired 300 professionals from engineering and management campuses, plans to take the strength of its engineers in R&D department to 1,000 by April next from around 730 now. Drugmaker Lupin, having over 50% of its employees in India, plans to add up to 1,000 people, including medical representatives, R&D professionals, IP managers and clinical researchers, this financial year. “Healthcare not being a discretionary spends, the industry has largely been insulated from the economic slowdown,” pointed out Lupin Pharma president-HR, Divakar Kaza.

Showing signs of recovery in IT and financial sectors, Infosys and StanChart too is planning to hire thousands this year, the ET survey noted. HR consulting firm Manpower’s global quarterly employment outlook survey for July-September indicated that India is having the most optimistic employment outlook globally.

Surabhi Mathur-Gandhi, general manager of TeamLease, a staffing solutions firm stated, “There is a slow and steady upsurge in Hiring intent across sectors. The advent of new players and aggressive expansion of large telecom giants has added to the bullish outlook”. A TeamLease study indicated that the many companies are planning to hire almost doubled to 42% in the current quarter as against 22% during April-June. Earlier in the first quarter of 2009 hiring plans by companies had declined by 30% q-o-q and 10% in the second quarter.

The employment outlook is worked out as the difference in the proportion of respondents who report an increase in hiring needs and those who report a decline in hiring needs over the previous three months. The hiring plans show the movement of business outlook index that declined by 50% in the first quarter and 8% in the second quarter. As per TeamLease surveys for the current quarter, the business outlook is up to 24%.

Consulting and finance companies defer campus hiring alike IT companies

2009-08-13T03:43:00.000-07:00

Although the improvement in economy is getting visible but still it is not enough for the companies to hire a big group. The major consulting and finance companies like McKinsey and Royal Bank of Scotland like the IT companies have postponed their hiring plans for up to six months. Nasdaq-listed IT service provider Cognizant has also taken the same decision.

Earlier these companies had hired the B-school students during the placement season in February-April.

The consulting giant McKinsey has postponed the joining dates of students of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C), by three to six months. However the institute informed that company is paying students’ part of their monthly salary to retain them. IIM-C 40 per cent of the batch of students have got placed in finance and 21 per cent in consulting.

According to the sources at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B), the McKinsey Company and Royal Bank of Scotland have postponed the joining date to between October and December from June.

A professor from IIM-B informed, “A few students have already taken up short-term projects rather than wait for a final call from the companies. This trend, however, raises concerns for placements in 2010”.

Out of the 250-student batch at IIM-B around 25 per cent of the students have accepted the positions in consulting. The other sectors in which number of positions being offered includes: finance 29 per cent; marketing 16 per cent and general management 16 per cent.

Effects of economic slowdown visible on IIT/IIMs

2009-07-31T00:27:00.000-07:00

The effect of economic slowdown could be seen on campus hiring this year. Many multinational companies had delayed campus hiring. The effect was also seen on IIT/IIM hiring. This year the hiring of IIT/IIM graduates by multinational corporations had slowed down. But this has not been the case with Indian private sector companies, on the other hand the hiring by these companies have increased.

As per written reply given by Kapil Sibal in the Rajya Sabha in 2008, MNCs hired 3,031 IITians through campus selection whereas Indian private sector companies had employed only 1,621 students.

However in 2009 hiring by MNCs had declined considerably to 1,606, though it was a marginal increase in the hiring Indian private sector companies hired 1,718 students.

The same tendency can be seen in six IIMs. In 2008 MNCs had hired 920 students while Indian private sector companies had hired 493 through campus hiring. But this year a substantial decline can be seen in hiring by MNCs which stand at 497 on the other hand Indian companies have hired 658 students.

While all the seven IITs suffered loss in case of hiring by MNCs. In 2008, MNCs through campus hiring selected around 643 students of IIT Kharagpur. This year it has declined to 44. The similar trend was seen at IIT, Delhi, there has been decline from 633 in 2008 to 390 in 2009.

Even the IIT, Madras has suffered a major loss from 458 in 2008 to 282 in 2009. But this year IIT, Kharagpur was able to make up from 334 in 2008 to 586 in 2009, as Indian private sector companies have hired the students from here. Leaving IIT, Kharagpur the decline in hiring by Indian private companies can be seen in other IITs.

In case of IIMs, the Calcutta IIM has suffered a big loss this year the campus recruitment from MNCs has declined from 240 in 2008 to 121 in 2009.

Even the IIM, Ahmedabad, has seen the decline in hiring by MNCs which has come down from 155 in 2008 to 92 in 2009. While hiring of students of IIM, Bangalore has come down to 119 in 2009 from 203 in 2008.

IIM, Lucknow has suffered a loss of nearly 50% from 169 in 2008 to 82 in 2009. Regarding the measures being taken for hiring talent in public services, Sibal said transparency is maintained in the recruitment process and all the pertinent aspects of the applicants including their intellectual abilities are assessed to certain that the selected candidates are best suited for the job and can efficiently handle the assigned task.

Other field companies make for campus hiring

2009-07-27T04:24:00.000-07:00

This year the IT companies have not turned for campus hiring at engineering colleges which has given chance to companies from other fields such as manufacturing and automobiles to select the best students which were usually taken up by the IT companies.

Therefore the first day, first slot was reserved for core engineering companies across tier-1, tier-2 engineering universities. This has also shown up the importance of ‘day zero’ placements reserved only for IT companies.

According to University placement officers across the country the global slowdown is the main reason for firms to delay their recruitment plans. Some of the companies like HCC, Tata Consulting Engineers, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra & Mahindra, Indian Oil Corporation , Tamil Nadu Petrochemical Limited and others will be visiting most tier-I and tier- II universities by the end of July.

These companies usually select students of core engineering streams like mechanical, civil engineering, production and electronics, whereas the IT companies do recruitments across fields. The pay packages offered by these companies stand around the Rs 3 lakh range which is on the same level with industry standards.

The major auto manufacturing company Ashok Leyland will be visiting for campus hiring between July and September. Last year the company had hired around 100 students. Ashok Leyland HR executive director Shekhar Arora stated, “We are privileged to be Day Zero recruiters in most of the reputed engineering colleges of the country and hope to recruit over 100 students this year”.

The companies hiring students in the following months will be joining the companies in 2010 after their graduation. ET spoke to some major engineering colleges, they informed that their placements will start in July and they have received confirmation from most engineering and manufacturing companies. Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) will begin its placement process this week while Tata Consulting Engineers on July 24 followed by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Ashok Leyland in August.

MIT associate director, placements, KJ Kamath informed, “We will be starting the placements in July and will go on till November. While most engineering companies have confirmed, Larsen &Turbo has said that they will be delayed in coming for recruitment. The recession has affected them marginally, since the projects are getting delayed”. When contacted L&T was contacted regarding recruitment policy it refused to comment on this.

HCC another infrastructure major had recruited over 150 graduates last year; this year also it will be visiting campuses during the September-December period. But the company declined to reveal its hiring numbers. A spokesperson for the company informed, “It would be worked out closer to the recruitment period”.

Online testing to replace written exams to help ‘exam-phobic’ people

2009-07-24T02:50:00.000-07:00

Now in most of the universities online testing is being preferred than the written exams. Recently a senior education figure revealed that written exams will be replaced by persistent online testing to help people with 'exam phobia',

Simon Lebus, chief executive of Cambridge Assessment said traditional GCSE and A-level exams will be discontinued within 10 to 15 years, and instead of writing three-hour exams people will undertake computer assessment.

Lebus added the new age of online testing is not 'science fiction' as exam boards are investing millions of pounds into developing the new technology.

In an interview he told The Guardian, 'The likelihood is that in the next 10 to 15 years it will change almost out of recognition in that by the end of that period of time you'll be able to do exams more or less on demand, on screen'.

'You can make the learning more valid and the technology can enhance the way people engage in the subject. It's very expensive, complex stuff to do. But it is achievable. It's not a vision based on a sort of science-fiction type fantasy.'

Ever since 2002, Lebus, a former investment banker, has been head of the Cambridge Assessment - a department of Cambridge University and the umbrella organization for international exam boards including OCR.

According to him the new system will be helpful for the people who are exam-phobic, but accepted that traditional written exams will be available for those who preferred them.

He added, 'There are some people obviously who get very frightened by exams or couldn't for other reasons do them well'.

'They would be well suited to an environment where there were no exams.'

The computerized world envisaged by Lebus will allow people to take tests at any point during their course, rather than after completing the course. The screening of the progress will be done through completed tasks and tracked online.

Lebus pointed out the new system can include 'adaptive' testing based on each individual’s ability. The computer program will generate tough questions when people answered correctly and easier questions when they got things wrong. Adaptive test is considered to give a more accurate assessment of a student's ability.

OCR has headed a fully e-assessed GCSE in environmental and land-based science since 2007. This summer around 1,800 candidates at 80 schools and colleges will be sitting for the new course.

The plan has been designed on the similar basis of the US education system which favors multiple choice exams and computer marking. South Korea is also on a fast track of developing new e-assessment models, while Denmark is heading the use of the internet during essay-based exams, seen as the equivalent of allowing calculators in maths exams.

But some of the academics have criticized the move towards computerized testing as creating an unfair system.

lan Smithers, professor of education at Buckingham University, said: 'Making judgments about performance isn't easy. The best way of doing it is dispassionate assessment of students tackling the same tasks under the same conditions.'

Dylan Wiliam, a leading exam expert at the Institute of Education, University of London, stated that rather than relieving pressure of exam-phobic students, with the introduction of the new system people will be under constant stress.

'There is no doubt that you could have a completely wired-up classroom where every keystroke will count towards an assessment,' he said.

'But that is too horrible to contemplate - the idea that students are under pressure all the time. We need a culture where kids can make mistakes without being penalized.'

But John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, pointed out, 'Too many people believe that the only legitimate examinations are the ones they took at school many years earlier. The world moves on and assessment should move on too.'

Good news for job seekers in India new hiring opportunities are coming up

2009-07-23T04:20:00.000-07:00

Steadily the Indian economy is showing signs of recovery. There is increase in car sales, steel shipments is going good, cement send off is showing some signs of firming demand. Now a steady rise can be seen in the hiring across sectors. There has been rise of 10% in employment in the first quarter of fiscal 2010.

According to the job search portal Monster.com there is slow but steady rise in hiring across most sectors of about 10% increase in hiring from April to June this year as compared to Dec which saw a 30% fall in hiring.

According to Sanjay Modi, MD, Monster.com India, "There was a few percentage increases in Jan in job opportunities but from April onwards we are seeing a steady increase and we expect it to rise significantly by the end of this year or beginning next year."

On seeing steady pace in hiring across sectors like IT, manufacturing and telecom many of them are lining up to tap this business potential. Direct-to-home operator Dish TV has launched a service on TV more and more job seekers can access with convenience.

Salil Kapoor, COO, Dishtv, pointed out, "This is a good time because people are anxious and this adds to the credibility. Also freshers are very uncertain about their future so we have something special for them too."

Moreover there has been increase in the job opportunities from 30,000 per month online to 50000 per month as compared to December last year.

According to analysts with the pick up in the economy in the coming months the job market will also grow. It appears it will be sometime before sectors like export, textiles and gems and jewelry have basis to cheer.

Fewer employers to visit Texas Law Schools this year for campus hiring

2009-07-13T04:39:00.000-07:00

At seven of Texas' nine American Bar Association-accredited law schools career services officials believe that only few employers will be visiting Texas law schools this year for campus hiring.

According to Reginald Green, assistant dean of career services usually more than 70 employers visit for the on-campus interview (OCI) program at South Texas College of Law in Houston. He informed by July 1, normally around 60 employers visit school to conduct interviews. But last week, Green pointed out the number was less than 50. Green said more employers will be signing on before interviews begin on Aug 24, but he added, "I think we will fall short of where we've been in the past."

The number of employers participating in OCI is indicator of the job market position. Green says, thus fewer employers mean few job opportunities. Although employers can sign up for campus hiring through the month of August, many small and mid-sized firms sign up in late August to conduct September interviews but school officials pointed out they get an idea of the number of interested employers by early July.

The interviews in bulk will be conducted for second-year students looking for 2010 summer jobs therefore it seems only few interviews will be conducted on campus for second-year students and for third-year students looking for full-time employment after graduating in 2010, while more students are submitting resumes to each employer signing up for the process.

Green says, "We have seen a trend, because the market has tightened up, of students dropping résumés for 30 employers versus just 15 employers". The resumes are reviewed by employers and students are selected for the 15-, 20- or 30-minute on-campus interviews.

But it is expected the prospects might be even tougher this year for third-year students. Green informed that usually around one-third of the interview slots offered by more than 70 employers in the school's OCI program are for third-year students. He adds till now those slots correspond to only about one-fourth of those available.

Arturo Errisuriz, assistant dean for career services pointed out at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in Fort Worth, the career services staff have started inviting employers who had participated in OCI in the past but have not yet signed up for the interviews that will begin from Aug. 25. He said the school would not be having data of the employers involved in the OCI program until early August. Earlier, employers automatically used to return to participate each year in OCI. This year, Errisuriz stated he and his staff is working hard to get employers to return.

He informed some mid-sized firms and government agencies have given indications that they will be interviewing, but have not yet signed up for the OCI program. "We know it is going to be tough," he says. "I'm not panicking just yet."

The school is also having talks with employers about externship programs for students, in which the students earn academic credit rather than money while working during the school year. "Instead of getting paid they get law school credit," he says. "It provides practical legal experience that makes them more marketable and gives them an opportunity to network."

He stated his office helps students in arranging search plans for summer and after-graduation employment, but this time it is warning students that employment may not be immediate. "This is a generation that is used to getting results quickly," he says. "We have to teach our students to be a little patient."

Errisuriz stated that out of the 75,000-plus lawyers working in Texas, only about 7,000 get jobs in big firms. "There are a ton of other lawyers and firms out there that might be looking" for new hires, he said.

Around 90 employers, 15 less than in previous years, have signed up for OCI this year at the University of Houston Law Center, informed Rhonda Beassie, assistant clinical professor and assistant dean of career development. Beassie stated that this year also most of the employers are coming to hire second-year students for the summer of 2010, and 27 employers indicated an interest in interviewing third-year students.

She pointed out normally only about one-third of the school's students are able to find jobs through OCI, while rest of the jobs are obtained through contacting employers directly, working part time during the school year in a job that becomes full time at graduation, or through networking. But this year she said about 80 percent to 85 percent of the school's students will be obtaining the jobs using methods other than OCI.

Beassie informed although large firms represent the majority of the employers involved in OCI, most lawyers in Texas work for small or medium-sized firms. As per the data compiled by the State Bar of Texas in "State Bar Members: Attorney Statistical Profile (2008-2009)," as of December 1, 2008 there were 75,087 licensed lawyers practicing in Texas. Out of those licensed lawyers, 46,279 were in private practice; of the licensed lawyers in private practice, 30,143 worked at firms with 10 or fewer lawyers.

"We're really working very hard with small firms now," Beassie says. "That's where more of our students are going to be working."

According to the Above Law report, third-year students at the University of Texas School of Law recently received a message from the career services office signifying that the number of employer-reserved interview rooms for third-year OCI has reduced to 45 percent as compared to last year.

David Montoya, assistant dean for career services at UT law school in Austin, puts in an e-mail that there fewer employers have signed up for OCI at UT. "Historically, the majority of participating employers are seeking 2L summer clerks," he writes. "A much smaller number of employers who participate come to interview 3Ls for post-graduate associate work. As expected, the number of employers participating is down generally at this point, but in particular, there's a greater drop in employers seeking 3Ls. The number of employers seeking 2Ls, while down from last year at this point, is nonetheless encouraging."

Montoya writes that the school organizes two fall OCI programs, the first in mid-August. Employer registration for the second session in October is opened till September.

Inquired about the Above the Law report, Montoya writes, "The numbers are a snapshot in time and already different as employers add, drop and change room reservations."

Heather Creed, working as assistant dean of professional development and student relations at Baylor University School of Law in Waco, stated 30 percent of fewer employers have signed up for her school's upcoming OCI program. "We usually have several of our employers who register rather late and so some of these we have not yet heard from," Creed says.

According to her the gap between the number of employers registering for OCI and those who had registered last year will decrease later in August. "We don't believe that it will be that big of a difference, but for right now it's about 30 to 35 percent less," she says. "The interview sign-ups for OCI are available to students now so they can see who has signed up. They know, as of today, who is planning on coming on campus."

Julie Doss, assistant dean for career services said it is difficult to forecast the number of employers that will be signing up for OCI at Texas Tech University School of Law in Lubbock. "So many come in at the last minute because they are smaller firms," she says. Doss refuses to release the number of firms that usually recruit on campus. She informed the number of employers signed up to interview third-year students is less than it was at this time last year – around one-fourth to half of the usual number of employers signing up to interview third-year students. "We are still going to have a lot of firms register later, the small to medium-sized firms," she says.

At St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Faye Bracey, assistant dean for career services, stated it will be too early to be certain about the number of employers participating in the school's OCI program, but she anticipate the number of employers visiting campus will come down as compared to past years. She refused to tell how many employers normally participate in the school's OCI program.

Bracey says she is executing a fall recruiting plan to bring students in front of potential employers. She is keeping in touch with potential employers and offering to collect and screen résumés of students who fit the employers' selection criteria and then fixing appointments for those students at employers' places of business. "In this market we really do have to be creative," she says.

Karen Sargent, assistant dean and director of career services for Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in Dallas informed this is the first year that Texas schools have organized OCI programs in August rather than September. She says that most of the schools have begun the earlier interviewing process and Texas schools are joining that group this year to stay in competition with schools in other parts of the country.

Sargent refused to divulge how many employers had participated in OCI at SMU. "The Dallas firms are very good to us," she says. "Everyone who has come in the past is coming back." She stated the large firms will be conducting interviews in August and the small and mid-sized firms will be interviewing students in September. She says. "They are still signing up, through August, for September."

However Donna David-Gregory, assistant dean of career services at Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston, did not called back seeking comment before press time on July 2.

Dallas-based Gardere Wynne Sewell normally schedules second-year interviews during the OCI program at several Texas law schools including UT, Texas Tech, UH, SMU and Baylor, managing partner Stephen D. Good informed. The firm has not yet decided how many summer associates it will require for 2010 and is also not sure whether it will schedule interviews at all of the Texas schools it has gone to in past years.

"We will be interviewing students for the summer of 2010, to start [as full-time associates] in the fall of 2011," he says.

Gardere is one of several large Texas firms but early this year lawyers were laid off for economic reasons, as did Baker Botts, Winstead and Andrews Kurth. Winstead also canceled its 2009 summer associate program. And Fulbright & Jaworski and Vinson & Elkins has delayed some new associates' whose start dates has been changed from the fall of 2009 until January 2010.

Thomas H. Yang, the recruiting partner at Dallas' Haynes and Boone, stated the firm has reduced the number of schools from 36 to 20 it will be visiting for campus hiring. The schools which had been cut include some Texas schools, which he refused to name. He says Haynes and Boone might hire students from schools the firm generally do not visit, as it is still accepting résumés from those schools' students.

Houston-based V&E aims to hire a 2010 summer associate class of about 95 to 100 students, pointed out John C. Wander, a partner in Dallas and a member of the firm's hiring committee. He stated the firm is planning to visit the schools it usually visits including UT and other Texas schools in cities where the firm has an office.

"We're shooting for roughly the same size group," he says. "We think our acceptance rate [from 2009 summer associates] will be higher this year and that may impact what we do when we're on campus."

iGate to resume campus recruitments, to hire 400 this year

2009-06-28T23:12:00.000-07:00

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.

Major companies prefer online test and assessment system for recruitments

2009-06-22T04:44:00.000-07:00

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.