The slowdown in the IT sector is taking a toll on campus recruitments. HCL Technologies, for instance, is yet to assign jobs to several graduates interviewed in September 2011 and even given offers of employment.
Some of the affected students told Business Line that though the ‘Letter of Intent’ (or provisional offer letter) was given to them in May 2012, the company has not yet specified a joining date.
The students are from various technical institutions and universities in Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. While they are still awaiting the joining date, they say they cannot apply to any other firm in the meantime because of the bond they signed when they were given the letters of intent.
“I was placed in HCL Tech in 2011 but for the last seven months, despite having a service agreement and Letter of Intent (LoI), I am sitting at home, waiting to hear about the joining date. When I ask HCL people about joining information they don’t give any reply,” said one of the students, requesting anonymity.
According to the student, around 5,000 graduates are waiting to hear from HCL Tech after they were given placement letters. This number could not be independently verified.
Another candidate, also selected in September 2011, said HCL Tech had initially indicated that joining dates would be given by June 2012, though there is still no word from the company.
“The company sent us a letter saying ‘you will get the joining date in June 2012’, but has not got in touch since then. In August 2012, the company again sent us a letter saying we have to appear for their ‘Front Runner Programme (FRP)’ test on September 30,” said another student.
HCL Tech had also scheduled a second FRP test in January 2013 for those who didn’t clear the first one but this was later cancelled. The test is the basis on which the company fixes the sequence of joining and initial training.
When contacted, the $6-billion global technology and IT enterprise said: “All 2011 freshers batch that were given offers by HCL have been on-boarded.” However, Business Line has seen the letters given to some engineering students in May 2012 that said the joining date would be intimated in “due course of time”. The students are yet to be formally appointed.
The company however confirmed that it has cancelled the FRP test, which was fixed for January 1. “We have called off that and no test will happen now,” a company spokesperson told Business Line .