IT Job Market Buzzing again

Headhunters looking out for 30,000 lateral entries in top firms
IT majors are back to hiring experienced hands after an eight-month hiatus beginning January. Counting for the early signals from headhunters in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, tech shops may be looking out for up to 30,000 lateral entries, if not more, before this calendar runs out. Recruitment agencies say they have started getting mandates for hiring in small batches.

At least two recruitment firms that FC spoke to confirmed that IT companies had mandated lateral hiring of between 20,000 and 30,000 employees in the past one month alone, though they were unwilling to hazard a guess on how the numbers might stack up by the end of 2009. They said there were still uncertainties about hiring intentions of their clients.

In the boom years of 2006, 2007 and 2008, the IT/ITeS industry created up to 400,000 new jobs every year of which about 150,000 were lateral entries. And while the global recession set in September 2008, hiring continued right through December. It was only in January-August this year that hiring trickled down to just a few hundred.

Headhunters confide that most large Indian and foreign firms, including the likes of IBM and Accenture, are back to hiring. Infosys and TCS have about more lateral hirings from the October-December quarter. So are some of the mid-sized body shops Sotware engineers with 4-8 years experience are mostly in demand.

Kris Lakshmikanth, CEO of The Head Hunters India said even tier-II IT companies were scouting for experienced personnel. “Depending on the size of the companies, the number of vacancies is generally between 50-100.”

Infosys board member T V Mohandas Pai told Financial Chronicle that his company had increased the forecast of additional headcount for financial year 2010 to 20,000 from 18,000 because it wanted to recruit more experienced people. This was needed to balance out the company’s staff pyramid, 70 per cent of which rests on freshers.

A HR industry tracker, who did not want to be named, said Infosys and TCS were also looking for business and vertical heads with over 12 years experience.

Sudhakar Balakrishnan, CEO of Adecco India, said, “There is some buoyancy now in the lateral hiring market for IT companies. Companies, though keeping the final numbers under wraps, are definitely looking to hire laterally. With revenues going up and the environment stabilising, they feel that a lot of requirements would be coming up.’’

While declining to give definite growth numbers, T Muralidharan, CMD of Hyderabad-based TMI Group said, the mandates received by his agency for filling up vacancies at top software firms in the past month was equal to what he had got in the preceding five months.

E Balaji, CEO of Chennai-based Ma Foi Management Consultants, said while the signs were good, firms were basically opening up positions that they had frozen earlier. “We have to wait and see how this scenario will pan out in the future,” he added. His opinion was shared by Gautam Sinha, CEO of TVA Allegis, a specialty IT/ITeS

hiring firm. He said, “The situation has improved but we are still 3-6 months away from lateral hiring going up to the pre-economic crisis numbers. The pipeline is good but big hirings will depend on the market condition in the US in coming months.”

He also explained that right now the companies were looking for professionals with 4-8 years experience. The big numbers would come when firms start looking out for professionals with 2-4 years experience, he said.

Party Time at Infosys

Say cheers to this! IT behemoth Infosys has reintroduced binge benefit to its 100,000 employees, entitling them to a fixed quarterly allowance to take time out for recreation.

The company had withdrawn this perk six months ago in the wake of the economic meltdown and stagnation of its business.

There is now buzz in the campus that Infy may soon reintroduce other incentives such as interest-free home loans to needy employees, car loans and other giveaways.

The news comes close on the heels of the IT bellwether revising its full-year revenue guidance upwards and is aimed at boosting staff morale.

Nandita Gurjar, senior VP and group head of HR at Infosys, confirmed the news.

“Yes, we have reintroduced this particular scheme. This was put on hold due to economic downturn. Under this scheme, the company pays Rs 300 per person every quarter as party incentive. All employees will get this benefit,” Gurjar said.

Infoscians say the sop marks a return to good times both for the company and for the employees located at around 50 offices across the globe.

The party incentive comes as the icing on top of an across-the-board salary hike and promotions announced earlier this month. Offshore salaries have risen by 8 per cent while onsite remunerations have gone up 2 per cent.

For quarter ending September 30, Infosys reported a rise in net profit by 7.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis at Rs 1,540 crore and 3 per cent revenues growth at Rs 5,418 crore, beating street expectations.

Deloitte to Hire 15000 In India

Global business consultancy Deloitte is planning to hire 15,000 people in the country over the next two to three years, the company's top official said here Tuesday.

"We are very upbeat about the Indian economy and have major expansion plans in India," said Deloitte's global chief executive Jim Quigley.

"At present, we are employing about 11,000 people in India. To increase our business, we are planning increase it by 15,000 people over the next two to three years," Quigley told reporters.

"The (global economic) crisis is also an opportunity to expand and acquire assets at attractive valuations. We believe that India and China will be leading the global economic recovery. Europe will very slow to recover. So it makes sense to invest here," he added.

"Even during the time of economic slowdown we saw a (business) growth of 30 percent in India. We are going for active acquisition and expansion plans here."

Capgemini to Up Head Count in India

Outsourcing firm Capgemini is all set to increase its India headcount with the opening of a new business information centre in Bangalore, according to a report in a business daily.

The Bangalore centre will take the company's India headcount beyond 21,000, an increase from its employee strength of 20,000 in home country France.

According to the company, the new centre in Bangalore would start with a workforce of 1,000, which would scale up to 3,000 in about 18 months.

Paul Nannetti, general manager of Capgemini's global business information service line, said, "Bangalore provides plenty of application and technical skills in information management." He added, "The company can scale-up there much more quickly than in onshore locations."

India is among the most attractive outsourcing destination for global MNCs including IBM, Accenture and Microsoft, giving tough competition to domestic players TCS, Wipro and Infosys. The country offers large pool of skilled and low-cost talent for business information management services that help companies improve their collection, use and analysis of data.

Entry Level Salaries Down by 20% in IT

Entry-level salaries down by 20% for software pros

Dhannanjay Kumar, a 25-year-old computer science graduate from a top engineering college in Bangalore, considers himself lucky to have found job in a year when India’s over $50-billion software outsourcing industry had to cope with falling demand and trim payroll by up to 10%.

“Not only I had to work twice as much for getting an interview, the annual salary of around Rs 1.7 lakh is much lower compared to my seniors who got Rs 3.5 lakh two years ago,” said Kumar who got hired by a Bangalore-based mid-tier software company last month.

Every year, around 3,00,000 computer science and engineering graduates seek employment with hundreds of tech firms, including big names such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro. This year, more than half of them were left unemployed because tech firms were already finding it tough to manage resources sitting on the bench.

A worsening economic crisis, increased availability of skilled workers and lower demand for software services have brought down the entry-level salaries for IT professionals in the country by up to 20%, according to experts tracking the sector.

“The entry-level salaries are down by at least 10-16%,” said GC Jayaprakash, principal consultant of Stanton Chase International.

Until two years ago, almost all computer and engineering graduates were absorbed by India’s outsourcing industry, comprising top tech firms such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro and many others. However, as customers delayed and shelved outsourcing projects, these tech firms also postponed campus hirings.

“Last year, a number of companies gave away offer letters but did not recruit. On top of that, there is a new pool of qualified professionals being churned out this year -- all this has created an oversupply in the entry-level IT job market where salaries typically sway between Rs 3 lakh per annum and Rs 5 lakh on the higher side,” Mr Jayaprakash added.

Many students had to approach potential employers directly, since companies did not visit their campuses for placements.

“We formed groups and toured companies, and agreed to settle at lower salaries because it’s better to be employed at lower salary than having no job at all,” said Srilekha Varma, who recently accepted a job offer from a Chennai-based IT firm specialising in banking software.

Recruitment firms such as GlobalHunt said the entry-level salaries may have dipped by up to 30% because of increased availability of skilled professionals.

“Earlier, companies were building bench strength and doing skill development, as they were expecting large business and didn’t want to run out of manpower. Fresh graduates used to have multiple offers and they were in a position to negotiate,” said Sunil Goel, director of GlobulHunt’s Indian operations.

In a normal year, computer science graduates were offered entry-level salaries of Rs 3.5-5 lakh. However, companies are now hiring freshers at Rs 1.7 to Rs 3.5 lakh.

Meanwhile, HR heads at tech firms, including Wipro, India’s third-largest software exporter, say professionals have become more realistic about what they want from their employers.

“I don’t think salaries have come down, but the environment has indeed helped us in containing salary hikes,” Pratik Kumar, head of human resources at Wipro said.

What has also changed this year is the manner in which salary offers are being structured.

“Due to an oversupply of qualified talent there is rationalisation at entry-level salary, which is based more on performance and are variable by nature. Cost-to-company is not necessarily a comparison of the past-drawn salary,” said Ashok Reddy, managing director and co-founder of staffing company TeamLease.

Indeed, professionals who lost their jobs during the past few months, are now being offered entry-level salaries by companies who can get experienced talent at lower salary levels.

“I was working as a software testing engineer and lost my job in February. Now I have a job, but the salary is similar to what is being offered to new recruits,” said Neelesh, who has around six-month experience.

“Companies are now preferring to hire professionals who missed jobs due to slowdown, were on the bench or were laid off, because they have some kind of training and are experience compared to freshers,” said Mr Goel.

TCS said it would do new campus hiring in January 2010 and will honour all 24,000 offers made for FY09. “Around 1,800 graduates have joined us in Q2 and another 8,000 will join in Q3, rest of the graduates will join based on the demand,” a TCS spokeswoman said.

Infosys said for FY10, it has made 20,000 campus offers and expects an 80% conversion rate i.e. 16,000 of these offers to join the company. “We are honouring all our hiring commitments,” an Infosys spokeswoman said.

India to Need 5 Lakh Project Managers

According to a research by Project Management Institute (PMI), India will need about five lakh project managers in the future to complete 591 projects being carried out in the country.

About 591 projects each worth more than Rs. 100 crore were being executed in the country and it required a great number of project managers in order to finish them on time, said Raj Kalady, Managing Director (MD), PMI.

"The initial estimates of Rs. 5.25 lakh crore for the total projects have aroused to Rs. 5.85 lakh crore due to lack of proper project management," said Kaladi.

PMI will organize an all India conference starting from November 13, former MD of Maruti Udyog will be the key note speaker in the conference and NASSCOMM President Som Mittal and ISRO Chairman Dr. K Radha Krishnan are among others to attend the conference.

Kalady stated that PMI has developed 12 applications of project management on the lines of world's best practices. The institute was also negotiating with some of educational institutions to offer scholarships to students pursuing project management course.

Indian Engineers backbone of Japanese IT

Indian system engineers have emerged as the backbone of Japan's IT industry and more are flocking to the country which is witnessing a steep decline in its work force.

Indian system engineers are making their presence felt in Japan's information technology industry. Around 22,000 Indians are living in Japan at the end of 2008, nearly double the number a decade ago.

"India is already the international standard in the IT world," said Kenichi Yoshida, a director of Softbridge Solutions Japan Co., a staffing company. Its founder is an Indian-American, who set up the Japanese company in 2002.

Indian engineers are sent out to Japan after studying Japanese language for five months. In addition to operation and maintenance of financial information systems, they are in charge of systems development for computers and mobile phones, Kyodo news agency reported.

"While the number of working people is decreasing in Japan, in India the number will continue to increase until 2040. Education levels are also high. It's important for Japanese industry to work together with India," Yoshida said.

His company is also providing opportunities for Japanese engineers to undergo training in India for two to four months, and major Japanese enterprises are taking advantage of the service.

"Everything is in English there. They eat curry from same bowl and return home a lot tougher," he said.

Tokyo's Edogawa Ward has the highest number of Indian residents, at about 2,200. After visa requirements for engineers working in Japan were eased in 2001, Indians flocked to the ward because it is close to the centre of Tokyo and prices are lower than in other wards.

"Until several years ago, there were only men in their 20s whose families were back home, but recently, the number of Indians accompanied by their families is increasing," said Jagmohan Chandrani, 57, a company president who came to Japan about 30 years ago.

Chandrani imports and sells black tea, runs a guest house and also serves as leader of the Indian society in the ward, assisting his countrymen in their day-to-day lives.

Many new residents are from Bangalore, known as India's Silicon Valley. Given that tandoori chicken and nan, which are popular in Japan, are northern Indian dishes, Chandrani has opened a southern Indian restaurant and a food store for engineers yearning for the taste of home.

He also participates in local events and holds an Indian festival twice a year, inviting Japanese from neighboring areas.

Chandrani says he hopes the ward will become not an 'India town' but a place serving as bridge between the two countries.