Like last year, Infosys plans to hire about 20,000 engineers from campuses across the nation; skills sought this time, though, are different.
Even as the IT industry witnesses a slowdown in hiring, with most companies trying to control costs and adjust workforce capacities, Infosys has confirmed that like every year, it will continue to hire from the campuses.
Like last year, the company plans to hire about 20,000 engineers from campuses across the nation this year. The skills sought this year, though, are different. “We will continue to hire people with high learnability and excellent orientation to technology from the campuses,” the company said in an email response to HRKatha.
Although traditional services such as maintenance and testing are getting increasingly automated, at the same time, there is a rise in demand for new technologies such as data analytics and cloud-based services. The focus of hiring, too, is undergoing a change.
In line with this, the company mentioned in its statement, “While automation is making rapid strides in the business process and technology environments, new avenues evolve rapidly which require us to reskill our people on newer technologies and also hire from outside to meet gaps in the skill mix. Big data, Analytics, Automation, Platforms and Products are some areas that are in focus at the moment.”
Although the recent layoffs in the IT industry have been attributed to rising automation, there is also no denying the fact that progressive IT companies will now look to infuse new skills into the existing talent or hire for those skills.
Recently, IT body Nasscom also emphasised on the shift. It stated that out of the four million strong workforce in the sector, 40 per cent need to reskill themselves over the next five years to be able to survive and keep pace with this fast-changing industry, which is rapidly heading towards automation. It added that IT continues to be the largest employer in India as it has added about 6 lakh new jobs over the past three years, including 1.7 lakh in 2016-17 itself.
The decision surely is a silver lining amidst the gloom spread by all the layoffs. Earlier this month, Infosys had also shared its plan to hire 10000 people in the US this year as it looks to launch four new technology and innovation centres which include artificial intelligence, user experience, machine learning, emerging digital technologies, big data and cloud.