Strict norms make placements pale: Survey

A survey conducted by Careernet Consulting, a recruitment consultancy organisation with offices in Hyderabad, Delhi, Pune and Bangalore, reveals that about 60 per cent of the students declined job offers after companies asked them to sign a bond or offered them low-end jobs.

The survey studied the campus compensation trends and other attributes and sampled 2,200 students from 120 colleges including 12 in Andhra Pradesh.

According to the survey, 57 per cent students put job profile as the deciding factor to accept or reject an offer. Brand mattered to only 21 per cent, while 10 per cent took the offers on the basis of compensation alone. About 15 per cent got multiple job offers.

Though food coupons or free lunches attract students, 65 per cent want compensation in cash. Recognition at work and job satisfaction are the most influencing factors for 56 per cent of the students to stay in an organisation beyond one year.

The average compensation is Rs 2.74 lakh a year in the IT services sector and Rs 4.63 lakh a year in an IT products company. However, salaries for MTech students have dipped. The difference between MTech and BTech salaries fell to 13.5 per cent this year from the 18.3 per cent last year.

In both the products and services companies, research and development profile attracted an average salary of Rs 9 lakh, followed by analysts (Rs 6.75 lakh), development (Rs 5.09 lakh), quality assurance (Rs 4.5 lakh), testing (Rs 3.87 lakh), technical support (Rs 3.7 lakh) and general (Rs 3.87 lakh), according Careernet director Rishi Das.

The survey pointed out that companies had different recruitment strategies - a majority (88 per cent) conduct technical interview, 83 per cent go for HR interview, 73 per cent conduct test, 71 per cent have an aptitude test and 20 per cent have group discussions. Only seven per cent conduct cognitive tests and just three per cent have team activities and contests.