You are in queue, software majors tell new recruits

MUMBAI: They never thought that thecross-over from college campus to office cubicle would take so long. But, fordozens of bright young men and women all over the country, the wait before theyjoin their first job is proving to be extremelyfrustrating.Twenty-three-year-old MCA student Vijay V was recruitedby Satyam Computers Services Ltd, Hyderabad, as a software engineer a few monthsback. He was given a tentative joining date of June 23 when he received theoffer letter. But, when the time came for joining, Vijay was in for a rudeshock; he was told that his joining had been postponed by a couple of months. "Iam still awaiting a call from the company. I tried several times to contact theorganisation but, initially, nobody answered our calls," he said on Tuesday. Itwas after a lot of trying that he got a senior official to tell him that thecompany had slowed down its intake and those waiting to join would be able to doso by December.Vijay's is not a stray incident. Mayur Mehta (namechanged), recruited by Wipro in Hyderabad, is also facing a similar problem. He,too, was given a tentative date of June but the company got in touch with himsaying it would soon update him about his new joining date.Studentsblame the prolonged wait to step into office on the global economy slowing downand affecting IT companies in India. But companies beggeddiffered.Satyam Computer Services Ltd global head-HR S V Krishnansaid: "The usual trend is that the bulk of campus recruits join in the third andfourth quarters. Our projected growth rates still put us on the trajectory ofmeeting our guideline of recruiting 14,000-15,000 employees thisyear."A TCS spokesperson from Kolkata said the company this year hadhired almost double the number of people it generally does. "The slight delay injoining is mainly because our training facilities have not grown with the numberof hiked recruits. So it is taking a tad longer to complete the process," shesaid.