Ratan Tata leads the ‘Role Model’ list for 2010 batch of engineering graduates.

“The charm of the IT sector has not faded. Students prefer IT for its MNC culture, opportunities to work with technically sound professionals with in cutting edge technology, training & growth opportunities, among others. The fact that many of the top companies with huge turnovers hail from the IT sector furthers their choice,” said Vatsala Pant, Associate Director, Consumer Research, The Nielsen Company.

Nielsen Campus Track T-Schools ’09 surveyed the attitudes of students towards companies as prospective employers. The findings are designed to help companies develop personnel strategies to attract the best talent from engineering campuses. Nielsen Campus Track T-Schools analyses the various employment dimensions students look for to evaluate prospective employers. Each company is evaluated on the employment dimensions, which are aggregated to compute a Nielsen Campus Recruiter Index 2009 providing the overall standing of the company in the eyes of students.

Some of the leading companies that engineering students would consider applying to are Accenture, Bosch, Google, Infosys Technologies, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Larsen & Toubro, Microsoft India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, and Wipro.

Future Industries
Students perceive Nanotechnology (12%), IT Services (11%), and Power (9%), Energy – Oil & Gas (8%), and Telecom (6%) as the top five ‘industries of the future’. IIT students consider Energy – Oil & Gas as the industry of future, followed by Nanotechnology and Finance sector.

“Though Management Consultancies and the Financial sector figured on the list of ‘industry of future’ last year, the economic crisis has changed the preference and new industries have taken their place,” continued Pant.

Influencers of choice and reasons for leaving an employer
The soon-to-be engineers want to work for a technically sound company when they pass out, ranking it the highest on the list of drivers that influence choice of an employer. They want to work on sophisticated and state of the art technology, where there is good learning on the job and want to work in a growing industry, where they get ‘hands on’ exposure to projects.

“Graduates today are looking at honing their skills in their first job. They want to practice what they learnt theoretically in their course. You have to be a master of your skill to succeed in today’s competitive environment and this sends students in search of advanced technology that provides good learning on the job,” said Pant.

Half of the batch of 2010 plan to move out of their first job in three years or less, with 51 percent citing higher studies as a reason for leaving. Better career opportunities, better salary, better designation, and job satisfaction are some other reasons for moving out of the first job. Among those keen to pursue higher studies, 69 percent intend to do an MBA

Students are willing to stay back if the employer pays them well (39%), if they are satisfied with their job (34%), if their job provides a good work environment (32%), and if the employer is willing to sponsor their higher education (31%).

“Salary emerges as the most attractive option to stub attrition rates, provided the employee is satisfied with his/her job profile and gets a conducive work environment. It is also interesting to note that people are willing to stay on a job if the employer pays for their higher education, a fall out of the primary reason for them leaving their first job,” said Pant.

Source of information
60 percent respondents relied on Pre Placement Talks (PPT) by companies for their source of information on recruiting companies. According to the respondents a good PPT is one that details on job description, growth path & opportunities, training & development aspects, and work environment that the company provides. 56 percent relied on information from Faculty/ Alumni/ Family/ Relatives/ Friends, and 36 percent got their information by the experience gained doing project work. Information on company websites, internet, other media and job portals are other areas that act as source of information on a company.

Sponsorship to cultural events, student development workshop and awards are the two most liked activities of companies on campus by students. TCS, Infosys Technologies, and Wipro are the top three companies in terms of the activities undertaken by them on campuses.

Periodic emails from HR post placement, access to company intranet, blog, and sharing of HR manual are some of the activities that make students feel part of the company, keep them engaged and feel connected to the company.

Campus Track T-Schools
Campus Track T-Schools is a nationwide syndicated study conducted by The Nielsen Company, which collects and interprets information about perceptions regarding recruiters and preference for them, amongst the final year engineering students within the top Indian engineering colleges and institutes. Traditionally, this study has covered the top 20 premier engineering institutes of the country, but this year it has covered the top 151 engineering colleges and institutes (including all the IITs and the NITs) for its report.