Ahmedabad: Candidates recruited in placement camp wait for joining date

Of the over 17,000 final year students who were selected by companies during the 15-day mega placement drive conducted by the Gujarat government earlier this year, only 254 candidates have been handed over their joining letters, while others have been put on hold by the companies citing Covid-19.

In the first edition of the state government’s mega placement camp, only 15 per cent students were placed, while in the second edition, out of 34,584 students who attended interviews across 30 districts from February 6 to 20, 2020, as many as 17,148 (49 per cent) were selected by various companies. The placement camp was organised for over 1.3 lakh students graduating from government and grant-in-aid technical and non-technical colleges in June 2020.

The Knowledge Consortium of Gujarat (KCG), Ahmedabad, a nodal agency that actively co-ordinated between institutes, candidates and their prospective employers during the pre-placement and placement drives, recently conducted a survey to verify the live status of placements.

Sources associated with the survey said that around 900 companies were personally contacted. “There has been no communication from companies to students, so these were contacted personally. At present, due to Covid-19 pandemic, majority of the companies have postponed the recruitment process and the officials said that once the situation gets normal, they will start placing selected candidates. Also, while students are waiting for final year exams, a very few (254) have joined the companies,” they said.

“There is nothing promising so far. Last year, students had joined companies around this time, after their examinations. The companies are also citing financial issues as one of the reasons for putting recruitment on hold,” principal a government college said on condition of anonymity.

Principal Secretary Education Anju Sharma told The Indian Express, “Those companies that have not communicated to students about putting their recruitment on hold such students are being communicated through their colleges. The placement cell has been directed to inform colleges and students after confirming with the companies.”

However, she added, “It is only a matter of deferment. This is seen even in IITs and IIMs where the joining has been deferred by companies. Any company would like to train their new employees and since most of the companies have implemented work from home, new entrants cannot be inducted at the moment.”

Also, students are waiting for their final year examinations that were put on hold by the state government on directions from Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

Udaybhansinh Padheriya, an engineering student from Ahmedabad, said, “The IT company that hired me has said joining would be delayed… Due to Covid the company has reported a decline in its profits for the quarter and we heard that we would be informed about the recruitment status through mail.”

In the mega placement camp, out of 1.3 lakh eligible candidates graduating from government and grant-in-aid technical and non-technical colleges, nearly 94,500 final year students from 439 government and grant-in-aid technical and non-technical colleges registered for over 75,000 vacancies with 4,671 industries.