Date:17/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/17/stories/2006061717520600.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

It's raining dream jobs at Anna University

Vani Doraisamy

Infosys, TCS, Wipro are headhunting at this year's campus recruitment

CHENNAI: There is gold rush on at the Anna University with top-notch companies lining up with plum job offers for engineering graduates at this year's campus recruitment drive, which began on Friday.

Salaries on board range all the way down from Rs. 9.1 lakh per annum (offered by Microsoft India) with even stipends touching Rs. 4.25 lakh (GE Technology Centre).

Around 45 top-range companies such as Infosys, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro Technologies, Bajaj Auto Limited, TVS Motor Company, Ashok Leyland, Larsen and Toubro and Google are headhunting for students from the varsity's four constituent colleges in the drive that will last all through August.

Infosys kick-started the process with associate vice-president N. Shiv Shankar outlining the company's plan to recruit 20,000 personnel this year.

50 per cent shortage

Last year's placement drive saw 95 students break the "dream job" ceiling (salaries of Rs. 4 lakh and above per annum), with eight of them landing up Rs. 1 lakh a month jobs.

"There is a need for ten lakh fresh engineers over the next five years and there is likely to be a 50 per cent shortage. We expect at least 200 of our students to land dream jobs this year," Vice-Chancellor D. Viswanathan said.

Each firm would do the recruitment over a period of two days, including pre-placement talk, written test, technical interview and HR interview.

The drive does not come without its expectations crunch, though. "There is a disconnect between the quality of manpower that the industry expects and that generated by institutions. We are looking to recruit `finished products' who have well-rounded personalities," Mr. Shiv Shankar said. To this end, Infosys had started a "Campus Connect" programme in educational institutions.

Though the head-hunters comprise a fair mix of IT and core companies, the latter are likely to generate more recruitments this year, especially among undergraduate students.

A clear pattern of the jobs that have been picked up is expected to emerge in the next couple of days.

The students could not have asked for anything better, especially those like S. Karthika from Vandavasi, who hopes to land a job with the top five IT firms: "Even if I get a job that pays only half of what the top-rankers pay, it would still be a dream come true."