The overall sluggishness in economic growth has begun to reflect in the job outlook being given out by companies from various sectors.
If the Net Employment Outlook Index of the leading staffing firm TeamLease for the October-December is anything to go by then companies are looking to slash or maintain hiring in the current quarter due to bleak business sentiment in the local and overseas markets.
The index, which is the difference in the proportion of respondents suggesting rise in hiring and those pointing to decline, has slipped 3 points to 71 in current quarter compared to 74 in the last quarter. It was, however, 2 points above the March quarter's 69 points.
What this implies is companies are not confident of increasing their hiring in the October to December period.
It also means many of them would not change their hiring pattern. These sentiments among employers have pulled down the index.
Among cities, Delhi and Bangalore saw the biggest drop in the hiring outlook by 9 points. Delhi's index slipped from 70 points last quarter to 61 points this quarter while Bangalore's was down to 79 from 88 during the same period. Other cities that have reduced hiring outlook are Mumbai (-5), Chennai (-7), Pune (-8) and Ahmedabad (-5). Kolkata (+5) is the only major city, which has given a positive outlook while Hyderabad's has remained unchanged.
Among the industries, information technology (IT) and ITeS have shown the sharpest decline of 7 and 8 points respectively followed by telecom, which dipped 6 points.
In a disturbing trend, six out of eight sectors reported negative employment outlook with financial services (+2) and infrastructure (+2) remaining in the positive zone. Hiring projections for retail & FMCG and manufacturing and engineering sectors dropped by 2 points.
E Balaji, CEO and managing director of HR consultancy firm Ma Foi, said there has been a slowdown in hiring activities because of macroeconomic concerns, but it was not as dramatic as TeamLease survey had portrayed. He said the pronounced plunge in the IT-ITeS sector was not surprising as they were dependent on Western markets like the US and Europe.
Engineers graduate with jobless tag after spending Rs.5L
Despite doing all this, there is no guarantee that I might get a decent job. My college is busy with placements for the current batch and has no time to consider ex-students," said Kumar.
Many of his classmates have also doled out similar amounts in the quest to get a job. Many are doing courses pertaining to VLSI (very large-scale integration), embedded technology, mobile communications, programming, etc, paying anywhere between Rs35,000-Rs50,000 for a duration of two to six months.
Saicharan Shetty, another fresh engineering graduate who paid over Rs4.5 lakh for graduation, did a two-month networking course in August-September for Rs22,000. He plans to shell out another Rs12,000 for giving the course exam. Passing the exam will guarantee him a certificate certified by a Nasdaq-listed networking firm. "Neither the institute from where I did the course nor my college will help in my job hunt. In short, it means investing more and more effort and money for returns which are not guaranteed," said Shetty.
Experts said this trend is highly prevalent, especially with students hailing from lesser- known colleges. Estimates reveal that just 25% of engineering students get job offers by the time they graduate. "Three of four kids are jobless at the time of graduation. They need to then run from pillar to post to figure out ways to get jobs," said Amit Bhatia, CEO of Gurgaon-based employability education firm Aspire.
This happens as top recruiters visit only renowned campuses, while setting yardsticks of minimum cut-offs. "Students should score not less than 60% or 70% in their semester exams to be eligible for placements is what some firms as well as colleges stipulate. This excludes several students," said an HR official from an IT firm.
Shetty said as there was no structured guidance available on what to do post graduation, freshers end up emptying the pockets of their parents.
No comments:
Post a Comment