Top tech colleges lower compensation requirement to woo recruiters: Report

Budget constraints, especially in the IT sector, discourage recruiters from visiting campuses this year

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) have lowered their minimum compensation requirements in placement season as they respond to a challenging jobs market, Mint reported on Friday.

It is among various strategies top engineering colleges have reportedly adopted to woo companies that have tight budgets and reduced student intake.

Premium higher education institutes are encouraging students to reach out to companies through social media channels such as LinkedIn. They are using technical journals to seek information about companies and potential recruiters.

Some IITs have also reduced their threshold compensation packages from Rs 12 lakh to Rs 9 lakh.

Mint reported that RV College of Engineering in Bengaluru is one example of institutes adopting flexible placement policies. Students receiving offers below a threshold are allowed to explore opportunities with other companies offering higher salaries. This flexibility aims to optimise placement outcomes for students.

Budget constraint lead to less on-campus hiring

According to Mint, macroeconomic challenges and budget constraints have led companies to decrease their student intake. This has a cascading effect on campus placements across engineering colleges. Moreover, hiring freeze by startups has also impacted student placement. Information technology (IT) services firms, such as Wipro and Infosys, which historically recruited a significant number of engineering graduates, have indicated a shift away from on-campus hiring this year. This goes in line with most IT companies deferring or providing low appraisals this year.