IT firms change hiring process to beat Covid-19 challenges

In a bid to be more responsive to the multiple disruptions and changes in the business environment amid the Covid-19 second wave, Indian IT firms have begun staggering their recruitment of freshers through the year. At the beginning of the previous fiscal year, various companies had deferred the onboarding of freshers on account of the uncertainty in business, but now things have changed as the Covid-19 situation has improved.

Over 100,000 freshers are expected to be hired this year due to a talent crunch in the industry, according to a report in The Economic Times.

IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been recruiting trainees via its National Qualifier Test (NQT) over the last few years. TCS will continue hiring the majority of its talent from campuses at the beginning of the year and now with NQT being held every quarter, there is scope for recruiting even during the year, said Girish Nandimath, global head of Talent Acquisition of TCS, as per the media report.

Democratisation of the hiring process

Nandimath added that this has enabled them to tap into the abundant talent pool along with widening their reach and democratising the way they recruit new talent into the organisation. Fresh graduates hiring is no longer a seasonal venture, according to Sameer Bendre, Chief People Officer of Persistent Systems. The company has also ramped up its fresher intake to build in-house talent, the report added.

More efficiency in fresher onboarding

With the pandemic ravaging the country at the beginning of FY21 and rising uncertainty in the business environment, majority of the companies had hit pause on their plans of hiring freshers. One of the main reasons behind staggered hiring is the struggle of efficient onboarding several thousand fresh recruits remotely. Staggered hiring is also helping companies in reacting in real-time to the surge in attrition and the ever-dynamic demand-supply gap, said Kamal Karanth, Cofounder at Xpheno, a staffing solution firm as per the report.

Infogain Corp has plans to onboard 500 freshers this year by rolling out offers on a quarterly basis. The quarterly onboarding processing is helpful in training recruits more efficiently, according to CEO Ayan Mukerji.