TCS for agile recruiting, says automation will lead to more on-demand hiring

IT services major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) would go for agile recruiting, or on-demand hiring, owing to increased automation in the software delivery process, a company official said today. This year, the company had already given out job offers to 20,000 on-campus candidates which had been the same as in the previous year. Off-campus hiring had been 4,000, the official said. "Analytics, IoT (Internet of Things) and automation is changing the entire delivery process. We are going for hiring in an agile way which is on-demand," Global HR head and EVP of TCS Ajayendra Mukherjee said.

TCS has a total headcount of 3.94 lakh globally with presence in 50 countries and delivery centres spread worldwide. Referring to hiring in the US and other developed markets, he said TCS had been facing challenges as younger generation was not taking STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects as their choice in these markets.

"We have started two CSR programmes named 'goIT' and 'Ignite My Future' to encourage students in the ninth standard to opt for STEM subjects," he told reporters at a news conference here. He said that the problem is a temporary one and the hiring in the US had not gone down.

For TCS, it was more cost-effective to give training for re-skilling people in-house rather than hiring from outside. "So far, 2.10 lakh people had been trained and skills upgraded," he said.
However, Mukherjee ruled out any chances of lay-offs, going forward.

In the last quarter of FY'18, TCS' dollar terms growth had been 11.7 per cent and margins stood at 25.4 per cent, which were lower than guidance due to currency fluctuations, he said.

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Asked if increased automation would lead to slow-down in the hiring process in the future, Mukherjee said that would be determined by growth.