Software major Infosys and other mass-recruiters of Indian information technology (IT) sector may join hands to expand and improve employability of entry-level talent pool in semi-rural and rural pockets. In an initiative mooted by Infosys, large IT companies could “adopt” certain Indian states and jointly fund learning programmes in colleges or universities there, to hire better talent.
“Each of us (participating companies) could adopt select states and identify colleges and work with them. Once the talent is created, we could then hire from each other’s adopted state,” Infosys’ vice-president and group head for human resource development Nandita Gurjar said, adding, “we can create talent, rather than talk of its short fall.”
The move once fructified, would fatten up entry-level talent pool and cut the prevalent “price wars” in campuses, she told FE. “The idea is to create a pool where there is enough for all companies to go around (hiring) and not fight on price. At entry-level, everybody should pay the same.”
If initiated, the programme could tap additional pool from at least 200 more colleges from where the software sector could hire. In the long run, it could solve the mid-management crisis in IT and BPO sector. On a larger scale, IT investments could be lured to lesser-known Indian towns where the talent pool was created.
Talent acquisition has become a major concern for most Indian IT players who work on the mass- employment model. Software apex body Nasscom has predicted that by 2010, the software sector would require 2.3 million graduates in India and face a shortfall of 22% manpower.
According to IT recruiting firm Human Capital, large-scale IT recruiters fill 55% of the vacancies with entry-level professionals hired from campuses. Apart from Infosys that hired13,600 people in 2008, other top employers-of-scale include TCS, Wipro, Satyam and HCL among others.
Without naming companies, Gurjar said that she was scheduled to meet the chief executives of some software majors to persuade them to consider the model. The plan was to involve governments in the selected states, so that the initiative could gather momentum across the region. It would also involve training the teachers, funding colleges to improve teachers’ remuneration, mentoring the students and improving curriculum to suit industry needs, if required.
“The investment needs of the programme would vary based on what we plan to do in each state,” Gurjar said.