Companies increase diversified recruitment efforts in campus recruitment to attract investors and impress the public

Placement officials at at least four universities in India have hinted that apart from general admissions of engineering students, diversity recruitment for the 2025 batch has also increased over last year.

German engineering firm Robert Bosch Ltd, software provider IBM Corp and Noida-based Coforge Ltd have launched diversity recruitment on campus this year, ranging from people of different genders to people with different abilities. Internships for Engineering students usually begin in the seventh semester, the first semester of their final year.

“Companies are looking to hire more women for mechanical engineering positions as there are fewer women in the field,” said Ranganath D, internship dean, RV College of Engineering, Bengaluru. “A total of 26 students have been recruited for the project.” So far, at least We were approached by 15 companies. “

Another placement official said diversity hiring has increased as companies seek to close the gender gap in their workforces.

“Diversity recruitment has become more frequent now compared to last year as companies look to improve the gender ratio,” said Savitha Rani M, training and placement officer at Ramaiya Institute of Technology, Bengaluru.

Ramaiah has received 800 offers from the current batch of students and expects a surge in diversity hiring this year. The college has received about 1,300 job offers in 2024, and that number is expected to increase this year.

“Last year, there were about 14 companies doing diversity hiring, but this year, we have found more than 20 companies and expect eight more,” Rani said.

Not just recruiting

There has been an increase in gender diversity recruitment for niche roles, a third role leader said.

Sridhar KS, director of placement and training at PES University, Bengaluru, said: “IT companies are keen on recruiting for gender diversity this year and we are seeing this trend mostly for niche roles in software and mechanical engineering.”

More than 1,600 students at PES University are seeking employment this year, and about 60% of them have found jobs.

College placement officials say companies are offering $600,000- $From software development to manufacturing and mechanical engineering, the jobs can pay up to Rs 12 lakh. But recruiting isn’t the only thing companies are doing to encourage diversity in their organizations.

Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI) offers scholarships to a small number of female students pursuing Mechanical Engineering in their second and third year. They can then apply for permanent employment with MBRDI and go through the admission procedures as normal after completing their studies.

Information technology companies have also been looking to increase diversity in their workforces over the past few years.

Tata Consultancy Services, India’s largest software services company, said in its second-quarter financial report released on October 10 that as of September 2024, the company had 612,724 employees, of which women accounted for 35.5% of the total number of employees.

Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Group, said: “While the proportion of women in our company is 36 per cent, we want to increase this further and we want to see more Women are coming to the top of the company, so we are working on that,” Sons said at the TCS Annual General Meeting in May 2024.

As of the end of 2023, women will account for one-third of IBM’s 282,200 employees. As of 2020, one-third of IBM’s workforce is made up of women.

“We continue to attract talent from diverse backgrounds with relevant skills, regardless of gender. To build a truly inclusive and dynamic workforce, we are focused on the long-term career development of women,” IBM said in an email response .Mintinquiry on Wednesday.

Brand promotion

According to Accenture’s annual report, women accounted for 48% of Accenture’s 733,000 employees in the 12 months to August 2024. Accenture’s share of female employees has increased from 45% in August 2020, and the company aims to have an even split between men and women by 2025.

Emails sent to Accenture, Bosch and Kofogui on Monday were not responded to.

Employment officials also said companies are hiring more people of varying abilities for intern and permanent positions.

Anjani Kumar Bhatnagar, Head of Campus Recruitment, Amity Education Group said: “This year, more and more companies are looking to recruit candidates with physical disabilities, hearing and visual impairments for various engineering roles, including software engineers. “At least 30 people of various abilities have been recruited from Amity students this year,” Bhatnagar said.

One staffing firm executive sees the company’s increase in diversity hiring as a way to enhance its brand.

“Companies with strong diversity initiatives are seen as forward-thinking and responsible, which helps influence investor confidence and public perception, thereby enhancing their employer brand,” said Krishna Vij, vice president of IT staffing at TeamLease Digital. ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) standards help them assess the sustainability of a business. “

Shriram Subramanian, managing director at proxy advisory firm InGovern, said: “Companies engage in diversity hiring primarily to get a good environmental, social and governance report card and to show investors that they are performing well on the social front.”

The trend in India contrasts with the situation in the United States, where some companies and universities are scaling back their diversity, equity and inclusion policies out of concern that the approach could violate anti-discrimination laws. Following JPMorgan Chase and Starbucks, Walmart has become the latest major U.S. company to scale back its DEI efforts.Reuters Reported on December 10.