Pune colleges a mecca for recruiters

Corporates use on-campus exhibitions for surrogate hiring

Corporates big and small are raising their profile in Pune-based engineering and technology colleges, and are taking keen interest in campus exhibitions. While not all exhibitions hold the promise, companies are interested in catching talent early.

Sridhar Shukla, director, Great Software Laboratory, said: "If we do like the projects we call the students for interviews and select them for our initiatives in product development."

The company is sponsoring an expo by Pune Institute of Computer Technology (PICT). Shukla said the idea was also to make students aware of the opportunities in security systems and automation.

One factor that draws corporates to such exhibitions is the need to be known among the students. This was clearly seen when over half a dozen companies that include IBM, Sungard, Calsoft and HSBC Global Technology Centre sponsored Concepts 2006, a project exhibition held by PICT.

More than 70 corporates visited PICT's campus in the course of the five-day event. The show received a record 535 project entries and 570 paper exhibit entries from over 80 engineering colleges in the country this year.

"For corporates, the events signify a chance to promote their companies and a time to brand and attract premium talent," Harsh Aparanji, head (HR) at Honeywell Automation, says. His company is planning to increase its annual intake of trainees from engineering college graduates from 80 to 150 by 2007.

He said: "As students generally get attracted to IT and telecom due to all the hype surrounding the industries, our taking part in college events helps us to create awareness about the core engineering industry and the career opportunities that it offers for students."

In these times of engineering and technology institutions aspiring to get the top notch companies to their campuses for recruitments before anyone else, there are also companies struggling to be among the first to be invited to campuses and avoid having to settle for level II talent. For such companies, the project exhibitions work as a surrogate mechanism for campus recruitment.

And there are rich pickings. With over 40 engineering colleges affiliated to Pune University and a handful of deemed universities with their own engineering colleges, Pune plays host to a number of engineering final year students' project competitions. Besides PICT's Concepts, there is Sinhagad Institute of Technology's 'TechTalk', Bharti Vidyapeeth College of Engineering's Innovations, Maharashtra Institute of Technology's (MIT's) 'Intchxition', and MIT Women's College of Engineering's 'Pinnacle'.

Explaining the importance of holding such events, G P Potdar, principal, PICT says, "As these are intercollegiate events, colleges in the smaller towns also get a chance to participate and showcase their talent. Such events showcase the very best in terms of talent. And students often get offered a job on the spot by corporates."

Of course, recruitments is not the only agenda that colleges have on mind. A K Phatak, head (department of computer engineering and IT) at the Maharashtra Institute of Technology which recently concluded its project exhibition, Intchxition, says: "It is the application and learning that is reflected in the project work. These exhibitions give students an opportunity to learn and think innovatively."

The college is in the process of setting up its innovation centre where students who have attractive projects will be work further on their ideas. The building will be inaugurated in July-August, Pathak said.