The Indian Institute of Technology in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 12: Placement drives have started at the IIT, Bhubaneswar. But the authorities feel that the hiring scenario does not look very encouraging this year.

Campus placements began in the third week of November, which saw about four companies coming for hiring. Another 10 to 15 companies are lined up for December.

“Around 25 students, one fourth of the total BTech students, have already been placed and we are doing good so far. But looking at the hiring interest among the regular recruiters, things do not look very encouraging this year,” said T.V.S. Shekhar.

Most of the companies that have come or have agreed to come are the regular recruiters from this campus. There are very few new ones, he added without revealing the names.

“The recruiters are core companies and are mostly non–IT based. Even though we have IT companies coming for campus drives, our students are more keen to join the research and development wing of these companies rather than going for IT positions,” Shekhar said.

The trend for the past three years has been in favour of electrical and mechanical engineering streams. The numbers of core infrastructure or civil companies coming for hiring were relatively low.

“The uniqueness of the courses at the IIT Bhubaneswar is that we have interdisciplinary courses such as the electrical sciences, which is a mix of electrical, electronics and communication. Similarly, the course BTech (mechanical sciences) is a mix of mechanical, aerospace and production,” said the official.

The authorities said that they were getting negative responses in reply to their mails for recruitment drives.

There are mails saying that they have stopped hiring for business reasons, or do not have requirement now suggesting the low hiring trend in the market.

“So far, we haven’t felt the heat, but there is a apprehension that situation may not turn out to be good,” said Shekar.

It had been decided by the IITs that the old IITs would start their campus drives only in December, while the new ones were allowed to start in December giving them better prospects.

Last year, IIT, Bhubaneswar, had recorded 92 per cent placements. Director of the institute M. Chakraborty said that the job crunch was a global phenomenon. “The job crunch situation is all over the world and there are few jobs on offer. We are trying our best. Those students who are not able to get through the campus drives have been taking up higher education in India or abroad. We are also encouraging them to launch their own start up companies,” he said.