TCS has begun an experiment to recruit science graduates to deploy on projects for its customers.
BANGALORE: If Infosys hires arts graduates as software programmers in the US, its bigger rival Tata Consultancy Services can’t be far behind in adopting its own strategy.
In a bid to attract and retain talent in the highly competitive sector, TCS has begun an experiment to recruit science graduates to deploy on projects for its customers.
“We are looking at BSc and MSc graduates. Around 1,000 of them will be recruited this year and as we progress it will increase,” TCS CEO S Ramadorai told DNA Money.
TCS is eyeing science graduates with specialisation in mathematics, statistics and physics to fit the software programmer role and they will be put on intensive training for over three months before they are posted on job.
Analysts say that non-engineering students who undergo a guided programme could become code writers and deployed on maintenance and application development work from which most of the Indian software majors earn a substantial chunk of revenue.
“It is a long-term strategy that companies adopt. The science graduates could be deployed on application maintenance projects to free the engineering resources to do more high-end work. They are also not as vulnerable as engineers to shift jobs,” B S Murthy, CEO of human resources firm Human Capital said.
Ramadorai said that process of hiring science graduates had just begun at TCS and it would continue over the next few years.
The top tier-IT services firms like TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Satyam have attrition levels of less than 15%, but the huge churn in talent in comparison to the workforce they employ is forcing these companies to adopt new methods to retain them.
Incidentally, Wipro, which was the first company to hire BSc graduates as software programmers, has tied up with BITS Pilani to help these employees get a post-graduate degree at the end of four years. The students are trained over weekends.
“This model helped us to reduce costs for the client and service their need for legacy systems. It also helped in increasing the talent pool,” Wipro officials said.
TCS plans to employ over 30,000 people during 2006-07 and has made offers to over 8,700 engineering graduates to be employed in 2007-08, Ramadorai said.
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