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After the largest Indian information technology (IT) services firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) earlier this month raised its hiring target for FY14, most of its large and mid-sized peers are expected to follow suit.
Experts believe that hiring in the IT sector has already risen by about 20% in the recent past, and it will increase further in October-December, 2012.
Additionally, experts are of the view that Indian IT companies might move away from their traditional dependence on campus-hiring, and tap the unconventional off-campus route to add staff, mainly to avoid the cost of holding a huge bench.
“Hiring in the IT sector has gone up recently and is expected to rise by another 10% in October-December, 2013 as against a quarter ago,” Kris Lakshmikanth, chairman and managing director of Headhunters India said.
“Off campus hiring has increased and most companies have started doing this primarily to cut cost of holding a bench. Off campus hiring will remain one of the strategies going forward,” he added.
Hiring from campus increases cost, as companies have to pay for employees even when they are on the bench before getting on to a project. Thus, amid the competitive market environment where companies look to cut costs, off-campus hiring is coming into focus.
India’s largest IT services provider, Tata Consultancy Services, which raised its hiring target for FY14 to 50,000 from 45,000, also said it may look at bringing people from the off-campus route. The Mumbai-based company has traditionally remained focused on campus hiring.
“When we started this fiscal we had stated our hiring target of 45,000, but now we think we will hire 50,000. Of the extra 5,000 we are yet to decide if we want to do off campus hiring or laterals,” Ajoy Mukherjee, executive vice president and global head, human resources at TCS said.
Surabhi Mathur-Gandhi, senior vice president, Teamlease Services also notes that with the changed view of 'Just In Time' (JIT) hiring, fewer campus hires are being picked up. Companies are preferring to bring fresh as well as experienced talent as per actual demand that gets created, Gandhi said.
Additionally, some experts believe that companies may be forced to opt for off-campus hiring as demand has picked up in the second half of FY14, which is not the hiring season at colleges.
Another significant trend noted in the hiring practice of IT companies recently is the focus on bringing lateral recruitment and bringing experienced assets on board.
“Direct campus hiring has definitely seen a drop and organisations are looking for more experienced hands to join and immediately become productive,” Prashanth Vaidyan, senior partner – Technology Practice, MapleCode Consulting said. “This is natural that organisations will hire in need in a modern organisation set-up and structure,” he said.
Lakshmikanth said, lateral hiring has increased, and it would get clearly reflected when the companies announce their attrition numbers for October-December.
