Recession takes shine off IT,core engg students root for sector jobs

Post recession,there seems to have been a perceptible change in the campus recruitment trends of the city engineering colleges.

Post recession,there seems to have been a perceptible change in the campus recruitment trends of the city engineering colleges. Unlike earlier years when students from even core engineering branches such as mechanical,production or civil would opt for a job in the IT industry,the present trend has been of students opting for core branches to which they belong.

“The trend is obvious in the campus placements of almost all city engineering colleges in 2009-’10,” said Sheetalkumar Ravandale,convenor of Federation of Training and Placement Officers. “Though the number of jobs remain to be higher in the IT industry,the shift to core engineering branches is definitely visible. There was a trend when students of mechanical or production also used to opt for IT jobs. However,the IT sector was the one that was affected the worst during recession and students are now aware of it. This is one of the major reasons for the shift.”

Last year’s placement statistics in the city’s prestigious College of Engineering,Pune (CoEP) is a reflection of this change. “In 2009-’10,583 of 652 CoEP students got placements in different companies. Of these,only 210 opted for jobs in IT sector,” said Mohan Khond,training and placements officer at the college. “Companies in various sectors such as manufacturing,construction,petroleum and even banking recruited students. As many as 113 companies visited CoEP,of which 90 were core engineering companies. The prominent among them were Bajaj,General Motors,John Deere,L and T,Shapoorji Pallonji and Company,Adani Power,HPCL,IOC and BPCL.”

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Sandeep Meshram,associate training and placement officer at CoEP,said salaries in the core engineering sector had also been high. “While these companies provided packages in the range of Rs 4.5 lakh-8 lakh per annum,the packages of IT companies were in the range of Rs 3.5 lakh-5.5 lakh per annum.”

Veerendra Pawar,manager,HR,of Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT) said the trend had been significant in the past two-three years. “Till three years ago,500 of 600 students in campus placement in VIT used to opt for a job in IT industry. Now,with the salaries increasing in core engineering sectors too,the ratio has changed. Of 600,around 200 are now opting for jobs in core industries. The rate of students of core engineering branches opting for jobs in their own field has definitely been increasing.”

Ravandale,however,said the off-campus recruitments in the IT sector was still higher. “The federation has been organising pool campuses,where students of all city colleges are invited for a particular company’s campus recruitment. IT companies have benefited from this drive as they require large numbers.”

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