Satyam staff ready to trade pay cut with higher posts

HYDERABAD: Satyam's loss is turning out to be small IT companies' gain who are hiring highly skilled Satyam techies at affordable salaries. These small time local IT firms, most of them operating from a single room with a staff of not more than 100 people, say they have been approached by hundreds of Satyamites. The bargain seems simple and sensible: Satyamites are willing to take a pay cut if offered with senior positions.Firms are agreeing to it, saying it's a golden chance to hire Satyamites they wouldn't like to miss.
"We are more than happy to have Satyam employees working for us," says Vodala Devaraj, director of Accord Solutions, a software firm currently holding a staff of nearly 80 people. He says he has received over 100 applications from Satyamites over the last 20 days. "Most of the profiles are of engineers with maximum three years of experience in Satyam asking for senior technical and managerial positions such as senior programmer or team leader. Had they continued in Satyam, it would have easily taken them five or six years to reach those positions. But given that these employees have undergone world class training, possess latest technical knowledge and boast of good communication skills, we are willing to offer them the positions as they too are ready to compromise on wages," he says.
The owner of another such IT firm with a current staff of 120 and based in Begumpet, notes that he is ready to bend backwards to hire anybody from the Satyam talent pool. "They are willing to work on exactly the same packages they are drawing in Satyam. Although we usually don't even give that level of wages to our employees but then it is not everyday that we get engineers from top colleges having worked with a top company on such less a salary," he says. A Satyam employee, who recently applied in one such small firm that his friend is working in, laughs at the irony of the sudden turn of events. "Earlier my friends in small IT firms would ask me about openings in Satyam, now I pester them to look for vacancies in their firm," he says.
Headhunters across the city too say they have been approached by a number of Satyam employees offering resumes for such small IT firms that position far below their otherwise multinational brand preferences. "With most of the leading IT firms having frozen their recruitments, Satyamites are not left with much of a choice and are forced to look towards small time software firms for a job," says a placement consultant based in Banjara Hills.
Headhunters note that it is mostly the localities or people from nearby cities and districts in Satyam who are eying small IT firms. "Out of 10 such resumes, 7 are of locals. It is only predictable as who from a far off place would settle for a small firm," notes M Srikanth Rao, managing director of Eminent Technologies, a placement agency. He adds that some employees are willing to settle even for a 40 per cent reduction in wages provided they get senior positions.