vish writes " Climbing corporate ladders
Campus placements give a flying start to many students in the city
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Harshita Menon, a computer engineering student of CET, struck gold when she was selected by Google
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IN STEP WITH THE CORPORATE WORLD (From left to right) Siddharth Oomen, Nikhil Varghese, Harshita Menon, Vidya and Vishnu Gopal
This academic year has been witness to a sudden upsurge in campus placements in and around the city with global giants like Google joining the recruiting spree. With annual salaries that run into six figures and plenty of opportunities, it has opened the floodgates for the bold and the brilliant.
A couple of decades ago campus placements were unheard of and graduates had to seek jobs on their own. But today most engineering colleges have a Career Guidance and Placement Unit (CGPU).
"The CGPU is a primary requirement of an engineering college. It deals with inviting and receiving various companies interested in campus recruitment," says A. Samson in charge of the CGPU at College of Engineering, Trivandrum (CET).
Win-win situation
It has been a win-win situation for most of the colleges in the city. For instance, CET clocked 650 job offers this year at an average of one-and-a half jobs per person registered. S.C.T at Pappanamcode and T.K.M, Kollam, got more than 150 job offers this year.
Siddharth Oomen, a final-year student of mechanical engineering, who has got a placement in Ashok Leyland remarks, "This year apart from software companies like TCS, Infosys and Wipro, CET was visited by tech companies like Leyland, Mahindra and L&T from the mechanical division and ABB, IBM and Google from electrical and computer streams."
Harshita Menon, a computer engineering student of CET, struck gold when she was selected by Google after a gruelling set of tests, interviews and group discussions.
"Companies like Google are ready to finance their employees' higher education. Chances of getting projects abroad are also higher in companies such as Google," says Harshita.
Another student who has been recruited by Google is Krishna Swamy, a student of Linguistics, University College, Kariavattom.
Kurian Baby Kutty, a final-year student of computer engineering of SCT, says, `The CGPU has done a good job this year. We succeeded in bringing Infosys, Tata Elxi, IBS, TCS and so on to the campus. More than half of the students who registered landed jobs."
Manu Avinash, a student of electrical engineering, CET, has a placement in IBM. He claims, "The focus is slowly shifting to pure tech jobs rather than routine jobs in the information technology sector. This requires better technical knowledge and real time skills."
With engineering colleges mushrooming all over Kerala, private recruitment agencies are also proliferating and the role of such agencies is undergoing a change. Much like a CGPU, these agencies bring in various companies hunting for brains under one roof. The difference is that candidates are invited from multiple colleges.
Remya R, who was placed in US Software through SHREDS, one such private agency, says that various renowned companies like Sasken visit only these mass recruitment centres and do not "bother entertaining individual colleges."
There have been instances of students from TKM and CET who had already landed jobs visiting such agencies to search for better offers.
Most software companies give around Rs. 2.2 to 2.6 lakhs per annum while Google and ABB offer nearly Rs. 3 lakhs or more.
With jobs being served on a platter there is a feeling that students slacken in their academics after they secure placements in blue-chip companies. Teachers fear that the number of students appearing for and clearing tough competitive tests like Common Admission Test, GATE and GRE might decline.
Vishnu Gopal, a CGPU representative of SCT and one of the founder-members of a firm called Torque, agrees that there is some truth in this statement. But there are ample examples to suggest otherwise.
Widening their horizon
Shruthi George despite having received multiple lucrative job offers aspires to do her post-graduation in management and has achieved BLCKIE in this year's Common Admission Test. Nikhil Varghese, placed in ABB, has just returned from an interview and group discussion from IIFT, Delhi. Bala Subrahmonium, placed in IBM, has averaged a promising GATE score as well. Top jobs have thus failed to deter the exceptionally ambitious.
Then there are youngsters who set aside job offers to prepare for the civil services entrance exam. Still others choose to gain one or two precious years of work experience before joining the race.
Vivek Mohan Thampy of SCT aspires for GRE despite his safe job at Infy. Thus top companies striking gold while shopping for talent is becoming common.
The trend shows no signs of being a temporary phenomenon. And for the students, these companies might hold the password to high salaries and high profile careers.
VISHNU MENON M
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2006/03/04/stories/2006030401980100.htm
Note: Link to The Hindu Article
