It's a war of sorts among the IT companies.To have the best of talent from the engineering institutions and ensure themselves the day one placement slot, IT majors -- Tata Consultancy Services; Cognizant Technologies and HCL Technologies -- have put in a new condition for recruitment.
These companies have told students on campus that if they have scored above 60-70 per cent consistently since their standard 10th, they can skip the written test and walk-in straight for the interviews.
Engineering colleges that Business Standard spoke to, said they have placed around 70 per cent of students by this method.
Consider this: Nasdaq-listed Cognizant Technologies, for the first time, picked up a record 1,643 students this year from the Vellore Institute of Technology, University of Tamil Nadu.
The company has recruited students who have secured 75 per cent consistently throughout their standard 12th sans arrears.
Ditto with TCS, India's largest IT company, which is hiring students who have scored 70 per cent and above consistently -- from standard 10th to the semester in which they are hired.
"We analyzed over a period of four years to find that there is a co-relation between a student's score and his/her performance on job. Students who have consistently performed well academically, have performed well on the job," said a company spokesperson.
TCS has started this process from the current campus recruitment period.
Though the company did not specify how many students have been hired using this method, it has set up a target to hire 37,000 freshers for FY12.
Of these, it has already given offer letters to 23,696 students.
TCS uses this hiring route only for colleges that fall in its A, A+ and B accredited colleges.
The company has its own process of accrediting colleges based on the faculty and overall infrastructure."
TCS visited 370 colleges for the last fiscal. It would apply the same process for off-campus hirings.
Pandia Rajan, chairman, MaFoi Randstad, an HR Consulting firmsays companies which recruit in four or five digits from campuses are finding it challenging to equalise standards.
"By introducing such techniquies as a cut off criteria, it helps the
companies reject better. Today the interviews are no longer a one-on-one exercise. The companies are introducing simulation exercises to recruit better," says Rajan.
Delhi-based HCL Technologies calls this initiative 'Topper-Shop' where it considers 60 per cent and above marks as the selection criteria.
"We have done away with the test as most of the colleges we visit, have their own entrance exams. By asking students to appear for written tests, we are just duplicating the process.
"We however, will continue to have interviews and group discussions," said HCL Technologies in a response. The company, so far, has visited 25 colleges across the country and used this parameter for hiring.
"Unlike TCS, HCL Technologies has shortlisted colleges based on their popularity and desirability by students.
"We have tried to shortlist these colleges based on their popularity and desirability among the students. Other than the curriculum they offer and the quality of students that pass-out from these institutes."
The company does not select students who score below 60 per cent.
While the students are enjoying most of this competition between the IT companies, the institutes say they are having a tough time managing these companies.
"There is a lot of competition among these companies. Their 'my way or the highway attitude' is giving us a tough time dealing with them," said the vice-chancellor of a university where these companies participated.
The race among the IT firms to recruit students on such parameters also show the need for getting the best quality students.
According to industry experts, only one in every four engineering graduate is employable.
Along with the Indian IT services firm multinational firms like Intel, Google, Yahoo have also stepped up their hiring numbers.
Intel hired 30 students from IIT-Madras. Whereas Oracle hired 33 engineering students from IIT-Kharagpur. Last year Oracle hired about 22 students from the same institute.
