Students await communication from recruiters, concerned about reduced offers

A final-year undergraduate student pursuing mathematics in a Delhi University college is “fairly anxious” these days despite landing an annual package of ₹17 lakh at a multinational firm at her college’s placement drive last year. The 21-year-old was set to start work in June after graduating.

A final-year undergraduate student pursuing mathematics in a Delhi University college is “fairly anxious” these days despite landing an annual package of ₹17 lakh at a multinational firm at her college’s placement drive last year.

A deserted view of Delhi University as the University has been closed after the order of Delhi government as a precautionary measure against coronavirus. (Sanchit Khanna/ Hindustan Times)

The 21-year-old was set to start work in June after graduating. However, Covid-19 pandemic has made the situation uncertain. “There hasn’t been any communication from the company’s side over the job offer — whether it still stands or not. I am fairly anxious because a lot of money and my career are at stake,” she said, requesting anonymity.

“I have to rethink my decisions if there is a salary cut in the offer, because, what if they lay us off eventually? I was supposed to join in June but now, we don’t know when our exams will be conducted,” she said.

From Delhi University (DU), Delhi Technological University (DTU) to Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), teachers and students at higher educational institutes across the capital are concerned about the impact of the global pandemic on placements and job offers. While many colleges and institutes had already conducted their on-campus placement interviews before the lockdown, which started on March 25, some had to cancel the interviews and tests.

Rajeev Gupta, dean of student welfare and part of DU’s placement cell, said, “The short-term issue is that placement is closed everywhere. If the lockdown is extended, we may have to think of alternative arrangements for placement interviews, consisting of an online module. The long-term problem of the current crisis is that the requirements [in the job market] may go down.”

DU sees most placements from English, Foreign Language and Management branches, Gupta said.

Hena Singh, a colleague of Gupta’s, said that students are concerned over a possibility of salary cuts in the job offers they have already received. “Since the companies have not initiated any communication on the job offers [after the lockdown], it would be an overreach to approach them on this,” she said.

Several institutes, such as Jamia and DTU, have been conducting internal meetings over the issue and are reaching out to companies to “honour their offers”.

Rihan Khan Suri, placement officer at Jamia, said that while no company had rescinded an offer yet, the university administration, along with the vice-chancellor Najma Akhtar, had taken stock of the situation and were thinking of alternative ways to ensure students don’t suffer. “The economy was already struggling before Covid-19, which further worsened the crisis. We had already been discussing the placements and possible job crisis issue. Suggestions were made to rope in alumni networks from different courses on an individual level,” Suri said.

Rajesh Rohilla, head of training and placement at DTU, said the IT sector was likely to continue hiring since more jobs are coming up in the digital arena. “A company revoked some paid internships but no job offer has been revoked till now. Since we have a single-placement policy, which means one student gets one job offer, we will be asking all 220 companies that came on campus, not to rescind any offer. We may ask them to consider delay joining dates, if it looks unlikely immediately,” he said, adding that DTU’s V-C, Yogesh Singh, has also initiated online classes to ensure the academic session isn’t disrupted and employment prospects are not affected.

However, not all institutes are worried about the situation. “Our placement concluded in February and all our students were placed. We don’t think any job offer will be rescinded. However, there is a chance that the joining may get delayed,” said Madhu Vij, placement convener at the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) of the Delhi University.

On Friday, director of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, V Ramgopal Rao, had also appealed to recruiters “to be considerate and keep their promises”.“A few months of delay may be fine. Please do not complicate the lives of these brightest children in an already complex environment. If at all, they are capable of getting you out of recession faster than you can imagine,” he tweeted.