Engineering colleges brace for challenging placement season amid tech downturn

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Engineering colleges that have already begun final placements for the Class of 2024 are bracing for a challenging season under the shadow of a tech downturn, where some of the biggest recruiters are hitting the brakes on hiring. Colleges including Delhi Technological University (DTU), NIT Calicut, NIT Jalandhar, NIT Hamirpur and Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) told ET they expect it to impact campus hiring numbers.

Some said it could be up to 20-30%. With tech, information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services (ITeS) companies likely to make fewer offers than usual, institutes are inviting many more recruiters including those from core engineering, manufacturing and global capability centres (GCCs); tapping their alumni networks, upskilling students in niche and soft skills; and even asking students who have turned down pre-placement offers to rethink their decision – all to ensure minimal impact on placements.

“Students need to ground themselves; be aware of the realities of the market and not be focused on big packages,” said Praveen Sankaran, chairperson of Centre for Career Development at NIT Calicut. The institute has given early slots to core engineering firms which are hiring in good numbers, but whose packages tend to be lower than tech majors.

It is also diversifying the recruiter base, trying to connect with more GCCs and some startups in the areas of analytics and drones. All institutes are reaching out to as many recruiters as possible.

“We are reaching out to more of GCCs to make up for the loss of offers from the IT services companies,” said V Samuel Rajkumar, director of career development centre at VIT. For its final placements that started in July, 30 companies have already visited VIT and over