SMEs recruit in downturn, need for innovative models Whereas all large IT companies have stopped their campus hiring, small-medium sized enterprises still continue to hire engineering, MBA and MCA students. These companies give interesting opportunities to students to get involved in product development, product design and client interaction.

On Thursday, Wirkle Technologies hired students shortlisted from more than ten campuses at IMS Engineering College in Ghaziabad. Wirkle Technologies interviewed more than forty students and made offers the same day.

There were students from colleges in Ghaziabad, Haryana and Delhi, which included Kurukshetra University students, students from KIET, Ghaziabad and from ABES. All these students had already taken a 2.5hr test called AMCAT conducted by Aspiring Minds at their own colleges. Through this test, students from faraway campuses got an opportunity from Wirkle, a Noida based company run by IITians.

"SMEs are recruiting in the downturn. The AMCAT model is very beneficial to students who don’t get access to SMEs. We conduct our Computer-Adaptive-Test AMCAT at campuses across multiple states around the year. More than thousand interviews have been conducted. through us by various companies such as MPhasiS, Kritikal, etc in the last three months. In the last one month Valyoo Tech hired MCAs through us, iTrust hired MBAs from the students we assessed, SMEs such as Srishtitech continue to make hiring through us. They are all good paymasters" says, Varun Aggarwal, Director, Aspiring Minds.

Colleges are also looking for opportunities from SMEs for their students. "Small companies are still hiring and our students many–a–times get more exciting work to do there. We got our students tested on AMCAT last year and AspiringMinds has been very helpful in arranging interviews for our students both on and off campus. It is time to tap the small companies to get jobs for our students and we are learning how to do it." said Ritesh Pahuja, Training–Placement–Officer at IMS Engineering College.

SMEs still continue to hire in good numbers. We asked Sunil, CTO, at Wirkle, as to what allows them to still hire, when the big ones have stopped. Sunil said, "We have our niche areas of specialized work. Our demand has not been affected and it is still growing strongly. We are hiring and look for tapping diverse talent across multiple cities."

Given the thousand of small IT and non-IT companies India has, that is where the new job market is. Innovative models such as pre-assessment on computer-based tests, pooled campus drives, drives at company premises, etc. are the way to go. "There are all these jobs in the market which we do not know about. Wirkle Technologies is just one example. We need help to access these jobs through the new models such as AMCAT and pooled campus."