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As the search for IT talent in interior areas begins, colleges are readying themselves with faculty training and soft skill development programmes.

After recruiting in bulk in the best colleges in the cities, the IT companies have started hunting talent in Tier III cities located in some of the backward districts like Perambalur and Virudhunagar through campus placements and joint-campus drives.

“We are very happy that 59 of our final-year students got placement in a top company like Infosys in campus recruitment on October 11. We are adopting various strategies for enhancing the soft skills of our students as expected by the industry which has yielded results,” says S. Ramasamy, Associate Professor, Department of English, Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology (KCET), Virudhunagar.

In the campus interview conducted during September at Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Engineering College in Perambalur district, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) recruited 67 candidates, including 48 girls, following the aptitude and technical tests, group discussion and personal interview.

At Roever Engineering College in the district, a 16-week capsule has been integrated into the curriculum for enabling even non-IT students to be industry-ready in IT industries. Net Magnus has scheduled a campus interview at the college for December 21 and 22 for Trainee/Test Analyst positions entailing an annual salary of Rs.2.4 lakh.

In Thanjavur district, IT majors have been recruiting deserving candidates, though in small numbers, in many colleges, including AVVM Pushpam College, Poondi, Rajah Serfoji Government College, and Kundavai Nachiyar Government College.

Faced with a high attrition rate in metros and bigger cities, major recruiters have indicated their preference for candidates with right aptitude in colleges located in interior districts owing to the loyalty factor.

In Tier II cities such as Coimbatore, Tiruchi and Madurai, the placement season has truly begun. Placement trend at Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE) has always been inspiring for the southern districts, with top companies making no distinction between Chennai and TCE students. In fact, TCS started its State-level recruitment from the TCE campus in Madurai in August second week.

In Coimbatore, the response of the companies has been good in spite of the apprehensions linked to the fallout of recession. According to K.S. Amirthagadeswaran, Placement Officer of Government College of Technology, another refreshing trend witnessed by colleges here is that some local IT companies have also come for campus recruitments offering salaries on a par with the big players.

It is not just engineering colleges that are seeing an encouraging trend. Arts and Science colleges are also seeing a surge of recruiters, since these students do not expect as much salary as engineering students. College students finding placements in IT majors are quite happy since they are also given assurances for pursuing higher education while in job, according to V. Sujatha, principal, Cauvery College for Women in Tiruchi, from where Wipro recruited 58 students last month.

TRAINING-THE-TRAINER

Companies have also joined hands with institutes such as ICT Academy of Tamil Nadu (ICTA) and the Directorate of Collegiate Education (DCE) to offer training-the-trainer programmes for better employability of students.

The DCE has a tie-up with Infosys to offer a training programme for arts and science colleges for recruitment to its Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO). Similarly, the ICTA is developing modules and offering training for tier II and III engineering colleges.

“The emphasis is on improving the quality of faculty members in engineering colleges located in smaller cities who are not exposed to the needs of the IT industry,” says B. Anbuthambi, General Manager- Corporate and Government initiatives, ICTA.