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| Monday, January 28, 2008
Delay in placement may cut number of interviews
10 firms likely to take part against 20 last year
- Recruitment truncated by
- five months
- University is in talks with some auto majors
CHENNAI: About 270 students from non-autonomous self-financing
colleges in and around Chennai have been short-listed for interviews
for placement in information technology firm Cognizant in the
first phase of Anna University’s State-wide placement
programme which began on Sunday.
As part of the Tamil Nadu State Level Placement Programme organised
by the university’s Centre for University-Industry Collaboration
(CUIC), recruitment programmes will be held in Chennai, Coimbatore,
Madurai, Tiruchi, Salem to benefit students of 222 colleges
across the State.
Last year’s programme saw 55 interviews conducted by 20
companies, with 20,000 students participating and 15,000 receiving
placements. This year, there are some concerns that the number
of interviews could be less owing to the delay in the programme.
With Anna University being split into four regional universities
this year, there was confusion about whether the placement programmes
would be co-ordinated by the Chennai institution or the regional
bodies.
Only in December did the Government decide that since the current
second, third and final year students would receive their degrees
under the auspices of Anna University, Chennai, it would be
responsible for the placement programmes.
This delay results in a truncated recruitment programme of five
months, and this could take its toll on the programme.
CUIC director P. Mannar Jawahar said 10 companies were expected
to participate, with 40 interviews spread across the centres.
In fact, Cognizant, which is the only company to have fixed
interview dates so far, plans to hold interviews only in Chennai
and Madurai this year.
The company’s human resources director Sriram V. Rajagopal
said this was because the company had completed most of its
hiring process for the year. “We are now at the fag end
of the recruiting season. Typically, the season is from May
to August or September,” he said. The company was also
reluctant to interview students from colleges it had already
visited.
Anna University vice-chancellor D. Viswanathan said the programme
was being extended beyond the examinations, till June, owing
to the delay.
While some companies might use this delay to restrict the centres
they would visit, the university would try to ensure that all
colleges were covered. “It is their choice, but we will
try our best,” he said.
Large recruiters coming
He pointed out that the large information technology recruiters,
Wipro, Infosys and TCS, all planned to participate, besides
infrastructure giant L&T. The university was also in talks
with some auto majors. Dr. Viswanathan said that while companies
were now using written tests to short-list candidates, the university
was conducting trials for online tests for campus recruitment.
On Sunday, 625 students of 70 colleges wrote the test for Cognizant
placements. The short-listed students will be interviewed on
Monday. Those who are placed will receive a pay package of Rs.
25,000 a month, said Dr. Jawahar. All recruiters were expected
to offer salaries of Rs. 20,000 and above.
Courtesy: The Hindu
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