Covid19 outbreak in late 2019 and the subsequent worldwide pandemic in 2020 have changed many things that we were used to for so many years. These changes, in some areas of our lives, are drastic. This is more true in the engineering campus recruitment process than in any other sphere. 

India is in a unique position as far as engineering education goes. India produces the maximum number of engineers in the world. India also has the distinction of having the maximum number of engineering education institutions and infrastructures in the world. As per Government statistics of 2021, India produces more than one million engineering graduates every academic year. This is possible from an impressive engineering infrastructure that consists of 3500+ engineering colleges, 3400+ polytechnics, and 200+ schools of planning and architecture. 

Yet, unfortunately, 3% of engineering graduates in India get jobs that are in line with the course studied. According to a recent industry study, only 3% of new engineering graduates have the suitable skill sets to be employed in the industry.

This situation has become worse due to the last two years of pandemic-induced lockdown of most functions of our society. The prolonged lockdown forced most education institutions to go online. Virtual classes have become the norm since the outbreak of the pandemic. 

While virtual classes can be suitable for a lot of courses, for a technical course like engineering, it has severe drawbacks. Engineering study requires a lot of hands-on practical training that enhances the understanding and insight of the students. Virtual education impedes learning the concepts of engineering. 

In this scenario, the corporate recruitment process has changed. Along with that, the recruiter’s expectations from a candidate have also changed. 

I interact regularly with corporate HR teams, who recruit fresh engineering graduates from various engineering campuses spread across India. During my interactions, I noticed two distinct trends that are different from previous years. 

First is the recruiters’ expectations from the fresh graduates. 

Graduate engineering courses are for four years. During the first two years of the course, the students study the basics of the engineering course. While the last two years, they study their chosen stream, their chosen domain subjects. 

Students’ passing out batch 2022 had studied the first two years of their course before the advent of the pandemic. During 2018 and 2019, when they did their first and second year, there was no lockdown. Hence, the students attended their college regularly in the physical model, as it should be.

In 2020 the pandemic-induced lockdown forced the institutions to start online classes. The students attended their third and fourth-year classes, mostly, virtually. The third and fourth years of engineering studies are always most crucial. During these two years, the students usually acquire their domain expertise. Yet these two precious years, 2020 and 2021, they were forced to complete virtually. They missed out on physical interactions with their teachers, guides, and peers during 2020 and 2021. They missed out completely on all types of physical interactions of learning, which are vital for all technical courses, for their chosen domain. 

Fortunately, for 2022 passing out students aspiring to be hired by the corporate from various campus drives, there is a piece of good news. Most corporate HRs have recognized and accepted these shortcomings of the students. That they have missed out on their learning opportunities during the final years of their course due to the virtual model of studying. 

There is another silver lining in this year’s recruitment drive. After the reopening of the economy, the industry is slowly getting back to its grooves. A lot of companies are struggling to meet the delivery commitments of orders that are long overdue due to the pandemic-induced lockdown. To meet their committed targets, a lot of companies are on a hiring spree.  

These two macro issues have made the corporate HRs less choosy than the previous years’.  All they are looking for in a passing out 2022 batch student are the basic qualities. Qualities like good communication skills, understanding of basic engineering concepts, the right attitude to be part of a challenging and highly effective team, and a never die attitude - are at a premium for the recruiters. Any students having these skills have a fairly good chance of being selected through the campus recruitment drives. 

Second, is the trend of hiring non-IT students by IT companies.  

We have been witnessing this changing trend for the last few years. Big IT companies, that hire big numbers, every year from the campus have started recruiting non–IT engineering graduates as well. Students from core streams like mechanical, civil, electrical, etc. can now apply for IT jobs. 

There is a reason for this trend. Due to the last two years of disruption, the quality of students has suffered. To overcome that, the IT companies want to broad-base their talent pool and hence want to go beyond their traditional pool of students. Hence, most large IT companies are allowing non-IT students to appear in their recruitment drives. 

This is a positive change for the students of the core branches. On one side they get the opportunity to be hired by the giants of the IT companies, who pay much better salaries than the companies in the core sectors. On the other hand, now the core companies must pay better salaries to attract the best talents from the core streams. This is a win-win situation for the student fraternity. 

The way forward for the students. 

It is evident from the recent campus recruitment trends, that the students need the following skills to get selected from any campus drives.

• Engineering basics: Very clear understanding of the engineering concepts. A student may not be very knowledgeable in a specific domain, yet, if his basic concepts are sound, he has a good chance of getting selected.

• Good communication skills: Verbal communication, especially speaking in English, is a skill a student must develop to get his first dream job. 

• Awareness: Awareness of the present situation of society – be it political, or economic - is a sure-shot clincher for that dream job. 

In short, most recruiters are looking for a rounded personality in a student – a quality, that will place a student soundly on a path towards corporate growth. Unless a student sincerely works on his or her employability factors, s/he will take a long time to land her/his dream job. 

The trends mentioned above are not going to change in the immediate future. For students passing out batch 2023, the same trend is expected to continue.