Lateral hiring might see an edge over freshers' intake this placement season

Companies say freshers lack communication skills, have unrealistic salary expectations and refuse to join even after accepting job offers

KEC International, part of the Rs 16,000-crore RPG Group and one of the largest power transmission engineering, procurement and construction companies, is visiting campuses this year with an 80:20 hiring strategy - 80 per cent lateral hires with relevant work experience and 20 per cent management trainees who are freshers.

Lateral placements are recruitment of students with prior work experience at management schools.

"While lateral hires are recruited for specific roles as per the requirements and are thus put on the job soon after induction, freshers are nurtured through rotational stints with varied roles under different mentors for a period of one year. Usually, management trainees are given one or two projects in a stint and cover three or four stints in a year," says Yugesh Goutam, executive director at KEC International.

Going by KEC International's experience, B-schools say this placement season, lateral placements might have an edge over recruitment of freshers.

"While the scenario is being predicted to have some impact due to slowdown, the other hint we are getting from recruiters is they are more willing to recruit students with work experience than freshers," says Savita Mohanty, placement coordinator at Xavier's Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.

Mohanty adds initial feelers from companies indicate a tilt towards candidates with work experience.

B-schools placement officials say one reason could be the reluctance among companies to spend on training of freshers. Students with work experience offer a ready talent pool and are productive from Day One.

The trend, however, could be more for certain specific sectors such as information technology and manufacturing.

"In IT and manufacturing, a ready talent pool in lateral placements help companies initiate projects quickly than by recruiting freshers," says Neeraj Arora, senior manager (corporate relations), Institute of Management, Nirma University.

Arora adds that while companies may not do away with the entire training programme, recruiting students with work experience could help them cut training time.

Another reason why companies might favour lateral hiring is the lack of communication skills among freshers, unrealistic salary expectations and, in many cases, refusal to join a company after accepting the offer.

A campus hiring survey, conducted by portal Firstnaukri.com, says hiring from campuses will see a slower pace in 2014. According to the portal, 115 recruiters interviewed said there would be an overall decline in campus hiring in 2014. The survey covered sectors such as IT, IT-related services, construction, and finance.

Of the recruiters surveyed, 73 per cent said the number of students to be hired from campuses would be lower in 2014, compared to 56 per cent in 2013. Around 44 per cent recruiters who hire engineers expect a decline in hiring in 2014, compared to 50 per cent who had a similar sentiment in 2013. Recruiters who hire only MBA students said they would visit fewer campuses and hire less students this year.

"Most companies have adopted a watchful approach towards recruitment and its ramification will be felt in campus hiring as well. We expect fewer students to get employment from campuses next year," said Deepali Singh, business head, Firstnaukri.com.

According to the portal, availability of quality talent remains the lodestone for companies when it comes to selecting colleges for campus hiring. Twenty-five per cent of the recruiters expressed it as a key factor while selecting campuses for placements.

CAMPUS BEAT

* Placement officials of some B-schools say one of the reasons could be the reluctance among companies to spend on training of freshers since students with work experience offer a ready talent pool and are productive from Day One

* While companies may not do away with the entire training programme, recruiting students with work experience could help them cut down on training time

* A campus hiring survey, conducted by portal Firstnaukri.com, says hiring from campuses will see a slower pace in 2014