Everyday we hear of companies rapidly cutting their losses by employing massive retrenchment drives, firing thousands of employees or offering them early separation schemes. However, despite the massive economic turmoil across the globe, there are still some companies that are looking to hire skilled candidates. One of these companies is Infosys. The company intends to stick to its plan of hiring 25,000 people this fiscal year and 9,000 by March 2009.
Shifra Menezes spoke to the company's spokesperson to find out how Infosys has managed to stay ahead of the turbulent times, the skills the company is looking for and what young IT professionals should be doing to ride out the rough times.
Could you tell us about Infosys's hiring plans for the year? How many people is the company planning on hiring this fiscal?
Infosys gave a target of hiring 25,000 employees this fiscal year and as per this target will be hiring another 9,000 more employees till March 2009.
How has the current economic scenario impacted Infosys's business, if at all?
The change that our business is seeing is slower decision making or delays in decision making by clients. Mostly client budgets are planned at the beginning of the calendar year and it is very late in this calendar year for an impact to be felt. The impact will be visible in next year's budget rather than this year.
While MNCs across the globe are on major retrenchment drives, firing thousands of employees, Infosys has plans to hire new staff. How do you explain this?
Infosys has a robust business model in place, which takes into account the contingencies that may affect the company, such as the economic downturn in the long run. At Infosys, hiring is a well thought out and comprehensive process, based on business requirements. According to the business plan, hiring is forecasted and implemented throughout the year.
What are the profiles the company is hoping to fill in this hiring? Are these only for Infosys's Indian operations or for the global offices as well?
There is a shortage of talent and the offshore industry is growing. Infosys needs project managers who are from the geographies in which it operates, who can lead delivery teams in different parts of the world. Infosys also needs domain experts in various areas who work in these delivery teams.
Has the company's campus recruitment been affected in terms of number of offers being made, compensation packages being offered?
We had committed to hire 25,000 people in this FY 09 -- we are well on our way to achieve this and have set the target for hiring 4,500 people in this quarter.
Young IT professionals and students are getting nervous about job prospects given the slowdown. What do you think is in store for the IT/ITeS sector? Is there reason for worry at this point?
Engineering students on the whole should focus on honing their skills sets -- be it technical or soft skills -- and be competent to face the challenges in the IT sector. Software professionals are advised to constantly upgrade their skills and learn new technologies. Skill and competency are key factors that can determine the success of an individual.
We have stuck to the commitments we have made at the beginning of the year in terms of hiring. Job opportunities in this field continue and students are advised not to panic.
What about one-two years down the line? Do you see the situation improving or deteriorating?
In spite of the current economic scenario, companies will continue to invest in IT. Companies may resort to cost-cutting and tightening of budgets, due to the economic downturn in the short term. However, in the medium to long term corporates would continue to invest in IT as it has the capacity to transform businesses. As a result, the technology spending in the medium and long term will also continue to increase.
