New Delhi: Just out of college and straight into a swanky office?
Well, most Indians will refuse to believe that such good times have already dawned in India. But the matter of the fact is, rookies are already ruling the roost in India's industrial landscape with the IT industry leading the pack. While the look and feel of the IT and BPO industries have always been young, it's now the scenario in other emerging sectors as well.
Talk of telecom, talk of retailing, talk of hospitality or even multiplexes and airlines, the emerging India has a very young look. And the average age is not even 27, it's come down to 24, or even less in some cases. "Twenty-seven was the age-bracket of 2003-04," HR managers at these industries will tell you.
The Economic Times recently published figures that show even among IT biggies, the 'young' is the 'in-thing' now. At Wipro, for instance, as much as 45 per cent of the workforce is straight out of campuses. The companies say they prefer young fresh minds as they are more adaptable and easily trainable.
Wipro vice-president Achuntan Nair has even gone on record, saying that the company plans to increase the tribe of young turks in its rank and file. "In the next 2 to 3 years, 55 per cent of our hires will be right from the campus,” Nair says. The situation is still better at Infosys. The proportion of people in its workfroce with 0-3 years of experience has already gone up to 59 per cent this year from 46 per cent four years ago.
If these figures are not enough testimony, look at the pre-placement offers at various biz schools and even universities this year. At IIMs, it has more than doubled. Even lesser-known institutions like IIM-Kozhikode has seen up to 25 per cent jumps in PPOs, while it has doubled at IIM-Kolkata, IIM-Bangalore and IIM-Lucknow.
And look at the engineering colleges. From Chandigarh to Chennai, pre-placement offer is the campus buzz everywhere. Even Delhi University has seen more employers lining up to hire the young and educated this year. Guwahati University, from one remote corner of the country, has reported the surprise arrival of several IT companies and other industrial firms to add rookies to their rolls.
According to industry sources, India today needs more than five lakh engineering and science graduates every year from its more than 1500 colleges. Call it India Shining, industrial resurgence or whatever you may, the fact of the matter is the elite B-school products are not the only ones in demand today. Rookies from every walk of educational life are out to write the future of modern India. Period.
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