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There are many changes companies today are noticing when they go to campuses for recruitment. While in 2014-15, the entrepreneurial bug was in the air, this time around, with increased startup hiring from campuses, there is greater competition among employers to attract top talent.
With more choices, students are ready to check out all their options before deciding which offer to take. And companies this time round seem to be accepting this turn of events and positioning themselves suitably.
“It’s easy to tag Generation Z as lazy keeping in mind that they can access anything at the click of a button. But contrary to the perception, the trend has been to look for more meaning and value in work. They are not really looking for cushy jobs,” says SJ Raj, senior VP-HR, Newgen Software.
“The craving for meaning and relevance for how best can they be instrumental in bringing the change to the organisation or the world excites them a lot more than just easy money. They are lot more forthcoming and confident in their demeanor. Organisations (thus) struggle to reorient their talent acquisition practices according to the students’ expectations/aspirations.”
And it is this ‘more meaning and value in work’, especially in newer technologies that these large players are talking about at campuses.
The other trend freshers seem to be looking for are opportunities where they can get excellent practical knowledge. And this in turn at times motivates them to prefer startups.
“Established companies or businesses definitely give them a good opportunity but a monotonous profile. Whereas in a startup, an ocean of opportunities are available where they can utilise their knowledge, capacity & competency to the fullest,” says Prateek N Kumar, CEO and managing director of Neoniche Integrated, a startup that is talent hunting in campuses.
To counter this, the strategy adopted by established players has been to focus on employee branding and innovation even at this stage.
“Challenges for the corporations is to engage with the talent pool on a long-term basis as students are today spoilt for choice. The need for a strong employee brand along with a well-defined employee value proposition has never been felt this much. The need is to constantly evolve ways and means of engaging with the talent,” says Raj.
All this seems to have impacted the salary expectations as well. Premier and established campus students continue to command high packages and they get it due to the crop of new companies/startups as well as large IT MNCs that are willing to pay them.
“Salary expectations are ever-increasing in campuses. In last few years, it appeared to have stabilised but going by the recent surge to grab the best talent, we foresee a raise of 12-15 per cent across all campuses and cadre. This has been directly linked to the value potential of the talent and the energy levels that they bring on the floor,” says Raj.
However, Pankaj Khanna, vice president-talent acquisition, Mindtree, is not so enamoured by this new campus talent.
In an interview to TechGig.com, he said that though more students are graduating due to the rise in the number of new institutes, the number of quality students remained stagnant.
“While we have our campus programme on track in terms of overall offers, we believe our joining ratios this year will be lesser as compared to the last few years,” he said.