Slowdown Placement Drive ???
Educational institutions having companies over for recruitment or placement drives had become a regular fixture in the academic calendar. But this year many colleges and universities have woken up to a harsh reality – IT companies have not come for any placement drive. Students who were “recruited” in their final year of college in 2007 are yet to join the companies. This is true of both engineering and arts and science college students belonging to the IT and computer science courses.
According to M. Jayakumar, Director, Department of Extension and Career Guidance, Bharathiar University, what the companies actually give the short-listed candidates at the recruitment drive is a letter of “intention to offer.” It is not even an offer letter in the strict sense.
Sunitha, a BCA graduate who completed her graduation in April 2008, was initially told to join in August. That became October, and now it is January 2009. She says: “I would have at least pursued an MBA as per my parents’ wishes. But this letter made me choose a job over higher education. Now I really do not know what to do.” She is one among many facing the same predicament.
K. Kathirmathiyon, Secretary, Coimbatore Consumer Cause, says: “IT companies have been recruiting from campuses above the required numbers. When the actual time of appointment arrives, they find that the actual number required is lower. So they either tell the selected recruits to wait or find alternative options. Companies are not entirely to be blamed. Colleges often pressure companies into conducting drives in their campuses to attract admissions for the next year. Once the company gives a letter of intent to selected candidates, the college authorities wash their hands of them.” IT experts say there is a slump and the companies are not getting enough projects. Others say it is because of the U.S. recession.
