The Hindu : Front Page : A surge in recruitment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 31, 2005

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Front Page

A surge in recruitment

Vani Doraisamy

"Tamil Nadu wins hands down in terms of quantity and quality of manpower"

ANXIOUS WAIT: Students waiting for an interview on the Anna University Campus in Chennai on Monday. — Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI: They probably never thought it would be their date with destiny, but 504 Anna University students created a history of sorts on Monday when they sailed through one of the biggest recruitment drives ever by a corporate in India in a single day.

The drive, launched by IT major Cognizant and Anna University's Centre for University Industry Collaboration (CUIC), saw 1,100 students facing 120 panellists. They had been selected out of 1,644 students who took the aptitude test on Sunday. All 504 offers were made for those who would pass out in July 2006, 14 months before their course got over. All offers were made for students of the varsity's four constituent colleges — Guindy College of Engineering, Madras Institute of Technology, AC College of Technology and the College of Architecture.

Cognizant head-hunters see the number of placements made as "an indication of the sharpening competitiveness of the recruitment market," as B. Suresh, senior manager, HR, put it. "We are extremely happy with the results. Tamil Nadu wins hands down in terms of quantity and quality of manpower," said R. Chandrasekaran, MD, Cognizant.

The new recruits are part of the 7,700 placements Cognizant has planned for this year. Last year, Cognizant recruited 286 students from the four constituent colleges and 280 more from the 222 affiliated colleges in the regional State Level Placement Programmes (SLPP) held in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai.

"Not just software firms, even core companies like TVS Motors, Ashok Leyland and Bajaj Autos have been invited for this year's drive. Students from 30 undergraduate and 60 postgraduate courses are in the fray. We invite firms based on the number of people they want to recruit, the salaries they offer, their not demanding any "bond" from the student and the number of engineering streams they are willing to recruit from. Last year, out of 1400 students who had appeared for recruitment, 1220 were given placements," said P. Mannar Jawahar, director, CUIC. After Cognizant, TCS would come calling on Wednesday, to be followed by Infosys and Wipro.

For the varsity's affiliated colleges too, the pickings are good. In 2006, 64,000 graduates would pass out of 222 affiliated colleges. A total of 748 candidates were recruited in last year'sSLPP.This year's drive would include Tiruchi too.

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