IT Remains Recruitment Honey Pot

Notwithstanding the US slowdown and the consequent retrenchments and slump, the IT sector is still the most lucrative sector/industry for job seekers here, unlike their US counterparts, according to recruitment agencies.

A recent survey by California-based Wetfeet, a recruiting solutions provider, found that only five percent of about 2000 undergraduate and MBA students from top universities and business schools across the United States, rate Internet/dotcom as the hottest industry, down from 36 percent last year.

The Student Recruitment Report 2001 says that students are expressing a renewed interest in more established industries such as management consulting (17 percent listing it as the hottest industry, up from two percent last year), pharmaceuticals/biotechnology (12 percent, up from three percent in 2000) and investment banking (11 percent, up from three percent).

But, recruitment agencies here say that for job seekers in Cyberabad, the IT sector hasn't lost its charm. In fact, the number of applications flowing into recruitment firms has more than tripled and quadrupled in the past few months, majority from freshers still keen on pursuing computers, and the rest from "out of job" techies, they say.

"We expected US recession to hit them hard, but surprisingly, it hasn't. IT jobs are still a status symbol. They are an accomplishment to boast about. A route to the dreamland -- the United States. For students, IT is the dream bubble, which they don't even want to realise, has burst. With the IT-enabled services opening up and good salaries being offered for even those not too talented or skilled, the emphasis is on just making a fast buck," says Priya Iyer, Director Recruitment, iSpan.org Fulfilment Ltd.

"The number of applications has increased by 300 per cent in my agency, though only 10-20 per cent of them are able to find jobs," says RP Agarwal, MD, M R Placements.

"They are all waiting for that dream paying job. Half of those applying on our site are students, bitten by the software bug and refuse to be cured of it. They are hopeful, still dreaming about dollars, and haven't given up on IT. They believe it's a temporary phase. They want better salaries and better lifestyle promised by the IT, though presently it's not very paying," Agarwal says.

What's more interesting, about 15 per cent of the job seekers are willing to go in for even clerical jobs such as administrative, marketing and front office jobs, as long as it's a software development company, he adds.

"IT jobs are not losing their popularity among the well informed students, but for those with a limited awareness, there is a dilemma. Students are aware of recession in IT, but they are hopeful that things will improve," says T Sreedhar of Braintrust, another recruitment firm.

The hype and overselling by training institutes, the promises of a career abroad, their own gullible nature, a desperate hurry to go abroad fast and make a fast buck, still drives them to IT, he says.

IT still finds favour with techies here because of the "trip to the US"-tag it carries, she says. It's not the company profile, clientele and the kind of work getting done, the career prospects etc, but only a route to the H1B they want," Iyer adds.

This is unlike the US students, who according to the report, look for employers that provide the best combination of challenging assignments (95 percent), good colleagues and bosses (93 percent), and training for future growth (92 percent).

But, T Sreedhar of TMI Network argues that US students are no more rating IT as the hottest industry, because alternate jobs are available and they are considered sutiable. But, this is may not be possible in India, even though the training centres are not hubbling with activity.

IT continues to be the favourite, though the focus has now shifted from Web technologies to telecom software such as ANSIC, SNMP and protocols, and chip design skills, RDBMS, networking, and even mainframes, besides realtime operating systems such as Unix and programming in C++, they say.

IT tops the favourites list, but telecom and financial services, which includes insurance, are also catching up fast as are management consulting and hotel management, they add.