Non-engg grads choose job security over salary

Chennai: Salary vs. job security – when it comes down to the good old debate, arts ad science graduates choose job security over high salaries, says a survey.

Non-engineering graduates dominate the skilled workforce – about 30 to 35 lakh BA, B.Com and BSc graduates are available for hiring every year as compared to 4 lakh engineers and 1.5 lakh management graduates. According to AssessPeople, a workforce assessment firm, a typical non-engineering graduate to job security, type of industry and a good brand.

“Compensation does not matter much for him or her,” says R Kannan of AssessPeople.

“We carried out a survey on expectations of future workforce and found that salary was not the foremost criterion for choosing a job for 1,400 non-engineering grads. There is a supply-demand situation which does not favour them currently.”

For management grads, compensation matters the most, the same survey found.

According to Ganesh Shermon of KPMG, non-engineering graduates are increasingly looking at ramping up work experience. “Most look at landing at a job and gaining professional experience,” he said.

“The extreme focus on salary is only prevalent in the IT/ITeS sector. Non-engineering graduates work in that segment due to economic compulsions rather than professional reasons,” Shermon said.

E Balaji of staffing solutions firm Ma Foi Consultants says non-engineering graduates look at a good brand. “A famous and well-appreciated company does the trick. There is no hierarchy of factors. Besides salary, job prospects and learning opportunities are considered important.”

With the slowdown, Kannan says employers are getting skilled employees without paying a premium. “If a company was paying a premium for a particular skill set earlier, today they are able to get the same much less.”