TCS gearing up to maintain hiring momentum

Having clocked $4.3 billion in revenues this financial year, technology major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is gearing up to maintain the momentum. For the next financial year the company has drawn out a detailed talent acquisition plan. In 2007-08, TCS plans to visit 350 campuses and will increase campus accreditation to 450 from the current 349.

In its search of talent, the company is also looking at international campuses. S Padmanabhan, executive vice-president, global human resources, said the company would be visiting 4-5 campuses in China and two job fairs in Germany which will give it accessibility to 15-20 colleges. In the US, TCS has already started it rounds by targeting 15 engineering schools and five management schools and three colleges each in Canada and Brazil.

"With increasing work from the international geography, we felt there was a need to have global texture to the company. Hence, the increase in the number of international hiring. We expect this to grow at a rate of 2 per cent year-on-year," added Padmanabhan. This year international hiring constituted 18 per cent of the total recruitment.

TCS will also look at tier III cities. "We feel there is no difference between students of tier II and III cities. The challenges such as language capability and others can be worked on," he said.

In FY07, TCS had visited 61 campuses in tier-I cities, 141 in tier-II cities and 49 in tier-III cities. Around 30 per cent of the campus hiring was took place in tier-I cities, close to 15-20 per cent in tier-III and the rest in tier-II cities.

The company did not specify the number that it was planning to hire in FY08. But they are expected to be similar to the current year's figures of 32,000.