After a gap of a few months, there is some excitement among the campus recruits picked by Mahindra Satyam in late 2010. Some of them are getting ‘BG” (background) check enquiries. “At last I got it,” Mr Gopal (name changed), said.

He has been awaiting this ever since he received information from the company that he would be given a fresh date to join. He was to join the firm on September 7. Exclusive social networking sites set up by the Mahindra Satyam freshers were agog with similar mails, comments, queries and doubts from others who are not as lucky.

As it braces for merger with Tech Mahindra, Mahindra Satyam is in the process of accommodating the campus recruits. The company had gone to campuses nearly two years after the 2008 financial crisis and selected 5,000 from colleges across the country.

It, however, could induct about only half of them, creating anxiety among the candidates and parents. Though it maintained that it is taking people only “need based”, confusion still reins in on candidates who are at a loss to whether to continue or to look for other choices.

“We continue to bring in freshers more on a need basis, so I think to that extent we are being a little watchful of the headcount addition there. Most of the additions have been on the lateral basis, we continue to look at that on a need basis now. I would believe that probably the trend would continue to be so for this quarter too,” Mr T. Hari, Chief People Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, told analysts after the second quarter earning release.

Going slow

With so many freshers still to be inducted into the rolls, the company has decided to go slow this year with regard to campus recruitments and picked only “smaller numbers”.

“We will take all of them. There is no need to worry. Only, we will take them in batches,” a top Mahindra Satyam executive said.

He, however, was non-committal on whether the company would complete the induction process in this financial year or overflow into the next financial year.

Sources in the company said it was taking people in lots of 400-500 and this phase-wise induction could go up to August next.

kurmanath@thehindu.co.in