Date:20/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/02/20/stories/2006022001150300.htm

Back Now, campus hiring starts a year ahead

Anjali Prayag

Bangalore , Feb. 19

THEY come calling earlier and earlier. IT companies, whose mainstay talent comes from campus recruits (almost 50-60 per cent in biggies such as Infosys, Wipro and TCS), are landing in colleges in March-April this year to recruit students from the graduating batch of 2007.

Says Mr Madan Padaki, Director, MeritTrac Services, a Bangalore-based talent assessment company, "With every passing year, companies have started encircling the available talent pool earlier."

In 2001, for instance, campus recruits for engineering grads was scheduled in January for the batch available in July of the same year. In 2002, it was advanced to October of 2001. For the graduating batch of 2006, the campus recruitment exercise started in May 2005 and went on for a couple of months.

Out of 3,65,000 engineers who graduate every year, hardly 20 per cent are suited to industry needs. To help companies recruit better, assessment companies such as MeritTrac and Professional Aptitude Council are enhancing their offerings in these areas.

MeritTrac, for instance, has mapped engineering talent available in the campuses based on tests taken by 80,000 students across the country.

Talent pool report: The Engineering Graduate Talent Pool Report covers about 70 per cent (800 colleges) of the fresh tech resource pool in the country, says Mr Padaki.

"This gives recruiting companies some idea of where to head for, for the skill sets they would require." MeritTrac has even got enquiries from labour ministries in the US, Germany and France for the talent pool report.

PAC has rolled out its tests across the country to assess job aspirants. Mr Guhesh Ramanathan, Country Manager, India, PAC, says, "There are some talented engineers in the Tier2 and Tier 3 colleges in smaller towns which may get left out of the rat race simply because companies do not want to go there."