Tamil Nadu   

`Demand for freshers high in IT industry'

Viswanathan Venkatsubramanian

The academic climate in Coimbatore is very encouraging, says Viswanathan Venkatasubramanian, Manager, Fresher Hiring, Wipro Technologies, Bangalore. "There is an interest to study and the average scores of the student is high," he adds.

On his visit to Coimbatore for a recruitment drive, he spoke to Anasuya Menon on the Information Technology industry in the country, the technicalities of recruitment and jobs in software.

Those in the industry are optimistic about the trends in IT in the country, though China and Japan are emerging threats, Mr. Viswanathan observes. The industry is not likely to reach a saturation point and the number of opportunities for freshers will only increase, he says. The West invests more in automation and the trend of outsourcing will continue as long as India retains its talent pool.

The country needs to constantly invest in manpower and provide the workforce quality training. Though the competition is very high, there will be demand for those who are trained according to the needs of the industry. Training is very important for improving quality, Mr. Viswanathan says. Even after being in the job, the employees are required to constantly update their skill and knowledge. With more and more multinational companies setting foot in India, the competition has increased and thus attrition rate is also pretty high. "Attrition has always been a challenge to the industry," Mr. Viswanathan says.

"Companies always look for academic records, learnability (the willingness to learn on the job) and the attitude of the candidates aspiring to get into the job. Communication skills are also important, as the job demands a basic knowledge of written and spoken English," he says. Companies such as Wipro are also looking at graduates of maths, physics, Information Technology and even statistics. In engineering, it is not just for IT and electronics; those who have done civil and mechanical branches would also be taken in, he said. Also, there is scope for creativity in software jobs, he says. Even though most start off from a traditional technical department, they can always move on to leadership, management and even sales and marketing. "There are plenty of areas to explore and a multitude of roles to be played. Depending on the skill and competency, the person can find his own area of expertise. It is up to them to make use of their opportunities," he says.

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