07.01.2009

Company image vital for job seekers

The current global recession is forcing various segments of students across the country, including recent graduates, to consider the image of a company and its management credibility while seeking jobs, according to a pan India study conducted by a private company.

The research was aimed at understanding the preferences of the student community during their search for employment and was name ‘Future Workforce Expectations’.

Conducted by a workforce assessment service company, the study also points to an increasing awareness among students on climate issues, making them pick and choose those companies that are socially responsible and are doing their bit towards maintaining an eco-friendly ethos.

The data was collected from over 5000 respondents form the engineering, non engineering and management academic streams form over 156 locations across India in the months of September and October 2008.

Disclosing the contents of the study at a press meet on Tuesday R Kannan, CEO, AssessPeople Private Limited said that though the students form the three academic streams in different parts of the country had different perspectives while seeking employment, the image and credibility of a company often came under the scanner.

“The collapse of reputed Wall Street institutions and the various scams that were perpetrated by the CEO’s of such institutions were the cause for this trend”, he said.

However Kannan pointed out that the recession had not drastically affected the fortunes of the job seekers.

“While some companies have reduced the intake of eligible candidates, there were others who had surprisingly increased their intake. The average intake hasn’t really changed against the backdrop of recession,” he said.

While respondents in the Northern and Southern parts of the country cited the image of the company as an important selection criterion, it was the transparency exhibited by the company management and compensation provided, that formed the selection criteria for the East and West respectively, Kannan pointed out.

Mumbai and Bangalore topped the two most preferred work destinations for most, while the telecom and the IT industries were the preferred sectors for working, he noted.

Kannan also disclosed that more than 80 percent of future workforce preferred online mode of assessment for selection while 74 percent of the respondents identified the Internet as a major source of information for them.

The report, which would set a benchmark for companies to gauge the preferences of the future workforce is priced at Rs.12,000 plus taxes and can be purchased online, he added.