New Delhi: An acute shortage of quality engineering talent is forcing recruiters to visit engineering institutions well ahead of the final examinations to grab the cream of the crop.
For many engineering graduates in Bangalore, the nervous wait for a job ended long before their examinations did. IT companies such as Infosys, Wipro and TCS are now hiring students almost a year before they complete their courses. And the reason, a serious shortage of skilled personnel.
"The reason we do this is because we want to get the best and the brightest. So if we go in early we have the whole pool available to us. So far there have been no negative effects," Head - HRD Infosys Bikramjit Maitra says.
In 2001, campus recruitment was held in January for the batch passing out that year. In 2002, recruitment took place in October 2001.
But for the 2007 batch, companies will start their search as early as April this year.
According to a study conducted by MeritTrac Services, only 25.2 per cent of students have the basic skill sets that industry looks for. The average for Karnataka is an even more dismal 23 per cent.
And even though the number of engineering graduates has increased significantly, the quality of education has not kept pace with industry requirements.
Madan Padaki, Director of MeritTrac Services says, "There is a huge demand-supply gap. The industry is producing a large quantity of people, but what is lacking is quality. As long as there is a demand-supply gap, there will be pressure on industry to advance this as far as possible.
"So, we have to get to the root of the problem, which is enhancing the employability of people and increase the right kind of supply."
A common complaint in the industry is that most fresh engineering graduates lack the skills and expertise that have become the hallmark of the Indian IT industry.
Most IT firms are stepping up expansion plans but are faced with a shortage of skilled personnel. For many of the big names in the industry, the race has just begun to grab the cream of the crop before their competitors do.
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