More and more engineers queuing up to work as temps

Slowdown is a great leveller, or so one can say now.

With salaries steadily moving south and job cuts becoming the norm rather than exception, the aspiration levels of those graduating from various technical institutes appear closer to ground than they have been in a long time.

Indeed, while a lucky few graduating from better-known institutes may have got decent offers, most others are lapping up whatever  comes their way.

Many are even willing to work in temporary positions, which, not so long ago, was considered infra dig for someone with their  qualification and training.

Take the case of Shriya Kannan, a fourth-year computer engineering student from an engineering institute in Salem. She is thrilled having got an offer to work as a technical assistant in a Chennai-based business process outsourcing (BPO) unit with a salary of Rs 7,000 p.m, even before she has graduated.

The job is only for 6-8 months — the duration of a pilot project by the BPO — after which Shriya might get placed in some other firm, or will have to scout for another job on her own. Besides, she is not on the payroll of the BPO, but on the rolls of a staffing company based in Bangalore.

In other words, Kannan is a contract worker, a temp.

Still, she is one of only 130 students, out of 450 in her batch, to have landed a job.
“I don’t know whether the situation would improve by the time my contract expires or whether the staffing company would be able to place me in some other company after that. But, I’m happy to have got this offer. It will at least bring in some work experience,” she says.

Kannan has reason to feel lucky. There are so many who would give much to get what she has.

For example, MK Srikanth (name changed), a sales executive in his late 20s who lost his job with an insurance company two months ago, has applied to three temp staffing companies and several insurance firms, but is yet to find a taker.

“As placements are down, fresh graduates are keeping an open mind and are open to working as temps,” says Marcel Parker, chairman of Bangalore-based Ikya Human Capital Solutions.

E Balaji, chief executive officer of Chennai-based staffing firm Ma Foi Consultants, which has about 50,000 temps on its rolls, couldn’t agree more. “We are seeing a 20%-25% rise in the number of applicants for temp jobs,” he says.

Rajesh AR, vice-president of Bangalore-based staffing firm TeamLease Services, says the calls made by people seeking temp jobs to the company’s helpline are up 25-30% quarter on quarter.

“Once retrenched, people are looking for some kind of interim solution in the form of a temp job”

For all that, however, there aren’t many temp jobs going right now.

“Sectors like banking, financial services, and to a certain extent insurance (BFSI) are rigid on not taking in temps at this point. But we are seeing demand for temps coming from companies in areas like agriculture, fertilisers, telecom, and also fast moving consumer goods,” says Rajesh.

The slowdown and overexposure to the BFSI space has led to TeamLease’s temp numbers dipping from an earlier 80,000 to the current 67,000.

But there are some who see demand for temps improving before long.

“We are looking at increasing the number of temps by 10-15% on a quarter on quarter basis as the demand would increase going forward,” says Sudhakar Balakrishnan, managing director and CEO of Adecco India, which has 55,000 temps on its payroll/