-Reshma Ravishanker
Engineering colleges in Karnataka have seen a increased number of placements and better quality of jobs this year despite the Covid pandemic according to college authorities.
Although the previous year’s recruitments had seen a slight drop with the performance of industries remaining a question and a Covid prompted economic crisis world over, this year, the numbers have been even better than the pre-pandemic times, engineering colleges have said. Recruiters have continued the placement drives virtually, in lines with the previous year due to the pandemic.
Tech giants participated in large numbers, recruiting students in large numbers while also offering a good annual package to them.
Dr Saritha Chakrasali, Head, Department of Training and Placement, BNM Institute of Technology, said that the scenario has changed with the pandemic. “Data science and machine learning are among the most sought after streams. Now that everything has gone online, the demand has high for students who studied in the cyber security courses branch.”
Regarding the companies approaching colleges for recruitment, Dr Chakrasali said that this year has been particularly good for the IT sector with most companies switching to online work, upping the demand for computer science courses. “We know that some sectors like the manufacturing, automobile are not doing well. We have seen a reduced numbers in recruitments for mechanical and pure electrical branches. This is probably because most of their units have remained closed due to Covid,” she said. Rs 19 lakh is the highest annual package that any student was offered this year in the college.
Meanwhile Guru Venkatesh, placements officer, Dayanand Sagar College of Engineering said that this year’s placements have been better in comparison to the last year. “This year’s offers have been great from the IT sectors while the non IT sectors such as automobiles, aerospace etc have made minimal recruitments. From the IT sector, we have already seen job offers pouring in for the 2021-22 pass out batch as well. We expect next year’s offers to multiply in numbers of the current year,” he said.
The pandemic has turned in favour of students as the the demand for freshers has gone up drastically, he believes. “Because of the pandemic, the non performing mid level staff have been laid off, or have quit jobs due to the pandemic and relocated or taken leave from their jobs in case it was their secondary source of income. Companies are looking to recruit freshers in their place. All these days, work was kept pending in a lot of sectors due to the pandemic. Now that there is a pile of work, a lot of recruitments are being made.”
The highest package offered for a student here was Rs 32 lakh per annum. “The average salary itself has gone up this year. It is around Rs 6.5 lakhs as compared to 5.5 lakh last year,” he added.
Subramanya KN, principal, RV College of Engineering agreed that this year’s recruitments had picked pace compared to the previous year. “Students have been given an average salary of around 10 lakhs per annum. One student from the college was recruited at a package of Rs 58 lakhs. Although the IT industries began recruitment drives early, the core companies are coming in now. Already, 250 companies have conducted their placement drives and conducted virtual interviews.