BENGALURU: After nearly four-six quarters of slowdown in hiring in the IT industry as clients scaled back to optimise costs, the industry is now witnessing a turnaround. All major IT companies have announced their campus hiring plans, and it will be driven by specialised skills.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) added 5,726 employees in the September quarter. During the company’s earnings conference call, its chief HR officer Milind Lakkad said, “We continue our focus on acquiring quality talent. Our current trainee hiring is segmented with differential compensation for each segment. This year, we have more than doubled our intake of higher cadre trainees.”
He said the company is working on various technologies and transformational programmes that are across technologies, from SAP S4/HANA to GenAI to very specific skill sets on certain projects. “All of that is something we continue to hire in the quarter,” he said.
It added 11,000 associates in the first half of the year, and has also commenced the campus hiring process for FY26. After six quarters of headcount reduction, Infosys added 2,456 employees in Q2. It is on track to recruit 15,000 to 20,000 freshers in FY25. Wipro has added 978 employees, and plans to hire about 12,000 people this fiscal.
During post-earnings conference, Wipro CEO Srini Pallia said they believe all employees should adopt an AI mindset, have the right skillset and use the right toolset in their work for its clients. The company is focusing on reskilling its workforce for AI opportunities.
It has now trained and certified over 44,000 employees on advanced AI. HCLTech alone saw its total headcount fell by 780 employees in Q2. 2024 has seen a resurgence in campus hiring, reflecting revival of the business in the software industry, said Maya Nair, executive director, Elixir Consulting.
Since July, many software companies have actively recruited both on and off campus, mainly seeking specialised skills like cloud computing, AI, ML cybersecurity and ServiceNow. While the focus on emerging technologies has increased, the percentage of hires with specialised expertise remains small compared to those with generic skills. Most companies still continue with the rhythm of hire, train and deploy rather than hire exclusively targeting specialised talent, Nair added.
Hiring practices during campus hires continue to include language assessments and coding tests. There is an added emphasis on specific certifications that demonstrate proficiency in emerging technologies.
