IT companies regain hiring mojo at IITs

Employment in the information technology (IT) sector has become an in-thing again, going by the jump in the number of companies coming to hire students from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) this placement season.

With the first phase of placements scheduled to commence from December 1, several institutes, including IIT-Bombay, have reported an increase in the number of IT companies registering this year. “Last few years, job offers from IT companies had taken a setback and it was the case across all IITs. This time around, we are being approached by more IT and analytics companies and it looks like jobs being offered from this sector will increase,” said an official from the placements team of IIT-Delhi.

IIT-B had been witnessing a steady drop in job offers coming from the IT sector as well as core-sector companies for some time now. Last year, 80 engineering and technology companies made 324 offers — down from 345 offers in 2016-17 and 381 offers in 2014-15. The number of job offers from the IT sector dropped to 177, after witnessing a spike at 270 in 2015-16. “We are seeing a visible rise in the participation of IT and software companies this year. The final numbers, however, we can only reveal after the first phase of placements is over (on December 18),” said Tom Mathew, professor-in-charge of placements at IIT-B.

Officials from the placement teams of IIT-Hyderabad also highlighted the sudden rise in the participation of companies dealing with artificial intelligence, core engineering and software sectors this year. Similarly, at IIT-Mandi, IT and analytics companies are expected to offer maximum jobs.

Experts have often claimed how automation in the IT sector has led to a dip in bulk hiring of graduates and instead, shifted focus to getting more experienced candidates. But with that trend also changing, students are looking forward to better job opportunities in the industry.

“IT, software and analytics are sectors which many students are inclined towards and with an increase in the number of companies offering jobs in these sectors, it only means more jobs and more options for us graduating students, which will be a welcome trend,” said a student from IIT-B, on condition of anonymity.