Bengaluru: This placement season, companies are looking for graduates with additional skills from engineering colleges in the state.
Placement officers at some engineering colleges said that additional skills have been one of the criteria companies use to filter students at the entry level itself. Some companies demand the certificate for the acquired skills, while others even demand that the students prove the skills they
claim.
K N Subramanya, principal of RV College of Engineering, said, “Interestingly, companies have switched to hackathon-based hiring, mainly at the entry level. While they conduct a 24-hour to 36-hour hackathon, they will get to know the skills acquired by the students.”
He added, “We prepare our students for such kinds of hiring by giving them project-based experiments.”
As companies are prioritising Artificial Intelligence (AI) over manpower, even the engineering colleges are giving importance to training students in skills as per industry demand.
“Having skills with a general degree is a must now. Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing, and sales force are the main skills demanded by the companies,” said Guru Venkatesh, senior vice president, Placements and Skill Development, Dayanand Sagar College of Engineering.
With the companies demanding additional skills, the skill centres at private engineering colleges are active.
The state government has allowed colleges to collect skill lab fees between Rs 5,000 and Rs 20,000 as per the skill training they offer for students.
Cut-off box – Tier-2 tier-3 colleges hit hard According to placement officers the slowdown in campus recruitment has hit tier-2 and tier-3 engineering colleges the hardest. “Even colleges in tier-1 cities are struggling to attract companies for campus recruitment. One can imagine the situation in tier-2 and tier-3 institutions. Until a few years ago such colleges managed to secure placements for at least 50% of their students. In some cases that has now dropped to almost zero” said the principal of a private engineering college. Placement officers also pointed to a decline in the number of mass recruiters visiting campuses this year. “The drop in bulk hiring is largely due to the growing adoption of AI” said the placement officer at a private university offering engineering.