Campus placements are showing positive momentum at engineering colleges this year, with top information technology service providers and Global Capability Centres (GCCs) vying with each other to hire freshers. Colleges report robust job offers this year, up almost 50-60 per cent at the same time last year.

businessline reported in November that top four IT firms recorded positive net hiring for the first time in two years as employee utilisation rises and new projects pick up. The same continues in December as the placement drive picks up pace.

At the Vellore Institute of Technology, 10,458 offers were made this year by 409 companies; GCCs accounted for half of them. Still, 6,000 students are yet to be placed. Comparatively, 8,000 offers were made in 2023, said a source.

For instance, TCS has offered 3,912 offers this year compared to 1,000 last year; Cognizant (850); Infosys (650) and MindTree (540) as against 200 to 300 last year.

Some of the top multinationals and GCCs who offered jobs at VIT included Microsoft, Amazon, PWC, Deloitte, KPMG, Bank of America and HSBC, the source said. Nearly 50 per cent of hiring was from GCCs, the source said.

At SASTRA University in Thanjavur, 1,860 offers were made from around 100 recruiters. Over 50 recruiters have agreed to visit the campus in the next 1-2 months, said a source. Recruiters are very cautious in their selection and are keen to select the best. However, the bulk recruiters are not giving offers as they did before Covid. “We are very positive and confident that in the even semester (January-June) we will get a good number of offers and will reach our annual target as usual,” the source said.

A source at Anna University said the placement numbers are identical to last year. The number of students getting more than ₹20 lakh salary has increased significantly. “We have requested service industries to have a second round of selection preferably in March to recruit all our students,” the source said.

Sriram Rajagopal, co-founder, Diamondpick, a recruitment solutions provider, said placements have been better than last year in engineering campuses. “Most IT services companies have maxed out on utilisation and are hiring for attrition backfill and new growth. IT spending is showing signs of improvement,” he said.

Monica Jamwal Managing Director, Talent Solutions, ANSR, said that GCCs, specifically mature ones, plan to hire 50% more freshers compared to last year across functions. “GCCs are extending up to 30% higher salary offers than homegrown IT services firms,” she added. As per ANSR Research, 5-10 per cent of GCC hiring each year comes from college campuses. 

According to Rajesh Kumar, co-founder & CEO, Kalvium, an education and skilling platform, the quantum of job offers seen currently were reached only in February/March last year as GCCs and product companies have offered more jobs and IT services hiring too has picked up. “GCCs are offering both level-1 jobs (basic profile that freshers would do in services firms) and also higher-level jobs that involve deeper algorithmic problem-solving skills,” he added.