Infosys yet to offer joining dates to 700 freshers
What's the story
Approximately 700 new recruits are still awaiting their joining dates from Indian IT giant Infosys, despite over 2,000 of their peers receiving final offer letters. The roles in question are for System Engineers (SE) and Digital Specialist Engineers (DSE). The candidates have already finished two pre-training sessions, with the most recent one conducted in August this year.
Recruitment details
Recruitment process under scrutiny
The group awaiting joining dates comprises around 500 SE candidates from the 2022 batch, and approximately 200 DSE candidates from the 2023 batch. The DSE candidates were selected after successfully participating in the advanced "HackWithInfy" tournament in 2022, during their third year of a four-year engineering degree. Despite receiving offer letters in 2022, these candidates have not been onboarded due to a downturn in the IT industry.
Hiring concerns
Hiring strategy amid industry challenges
The IT industry's slump has led to a multi-decadal decrease in headcount, fueled by fears of an impending recession in major markets for IT companies, and a lack of discretionary spending. Yesterday, Infosys issued joining dates to nearly 1,000 freshers from the 2022 batch. This move came just a day after letters for the same were sent out, according to the Pune-based employee union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES).
Assessment issues
Candidates express frustration over repeated assessments
Candidates have expressed their frustration over the repeated assessments, questioning why they are being asked to sit for these tests again after successfully completing them previously. After finishing pre-training assessments in July, candidates were required to take a test that comprised two coding tests and about 25 multiple-choice questions. Some candidates have alleged inconsistent selection criteria for certain freshers who have received offer letters so far.
Company's stance
Infosys's response to hiring concerns
In July, Infosys acknowledged that a small number of earlier hires were pending. The issue arose when the firm contacted candidates who were issued offer letters in 2022, a few months ago. Since then, candidates have complained about multiple rounds of pre-training sessions and assessments. Despite these concerns, CEO Salil Parekh has assured that all offers made to freshers will be honored by the company with some changes in dates.