Is the fresher species nearly extinct? Here's more about this trend that has caught up in 2011.

"The job market is well favourable for fresh graduates than any time over the last few years. Today, every company is seeking to recruit fresh talent directly through campus recruitment drives. In most of the IT companies, each project is a mix of fresh as well as experienced employees. Internship at the graduation level makes a ‘fresher' well equipped with the nuances of a software job," agrees Kalyana Rao Konda, VP, AppLabs.

New-Age Education

Today, on the job training and internships have become a pre requisite for any course. "In order to bridge the gap between students' academic experience and the requirements of employers, institutes make great efforts to send students for Industry internship," says Astrid Lobo, HR manager, UEI Global, Berggruen Education Pvt Ltd. CP Krishnan, Whole time Director Geojit Comtrade Ltd. opines, "Business schools and other educational institutions are competing each other to fetch higher price for their students in the campus markets. While the former has been necessitated by a paucity of time available for a fresher to get productive in the fast-evolving business environment, the latter attempts to bridge the gap between education and work place requirements."

Giving ‘Freshers' their due

However, a more pressing question is, does the industry really give students their due for not being totally inexperienced? Or is all that effort of juggling a job with a course in vain? "We understand that no one is a complete fresher in today's time. The job trainings and summer internship helps student to familiarize with corporate processes and work culture. It helps them in preparing for tomorrow's real challenges," says Satyakam Mishra, manager HR – South East Asia and South Africa. Tanuja Abburi, director – HR, Intelligroup agrees, "When it comes to freshers, the new generation is maturing faster and quicker and is more responsibilities at a very young age. An average youth before passing out of the college typically would have multiple certifications and skills besides the basic degree." Anupama Beri - Head HR, Snapdeal.com assures, "A lot of the talent coming in from management institutes have done relevant work in the internship programs and hence are a boon to organizations. They have clearer understanding of the industry and type of work they can do, want to do and may be doing."

Freshers, be warned!

The primary reason why organizations hesitate to give freshers their due is the frivolous manner in which internships are sometimes treated. "While most professional education institutions are now making on-job training and internships a part of the curriculum, the seriousness with which these are executed by the trainees is quite questionable. In our interviews with ‘freshers', while we always find almost all candidates have some projects on their resumes, they seem to be quite short on rigor. At our company where we take candidates for internships, the level of professionalism of interns is mostly low and the intent is more to get the certificate and less to get some real-life experience. We are now moving our internship programs to rolls where the outcome is highly measurable and where interns know clearly the outcomes they have to produce to successfully complete their internship," explains Sundeep Holani, founder and CEO, Channelplay.

Dealing with existing employees

While freshers may believe that they deserve to be hired at high positions, this may not be received too well by existing employees. "This is a great challenge and is the main reason that a company may induct a fresher even with a professional degree or on the job training at the same level as other fresher's but an organization will defiantly given them quicker growth and skip level appraisal which are accepted by even older staff as they are due to performance on the job. The right attitude for a new joinee is to smile and take the jealously in the stride. Concentrate on work and perform as nothing talks louder than performance," suggests Sanjiv Bajaj, MD of Bajaj Capital and the promoter of International College of Financial Planning. "This should be dealt with by getting it right early on. I think as part of appraisal process a percentage should be defined for the number of years the person is with the company and reward them for the loyalty shown and balance should purely be a performance based appraisal. This will pre-empt the negativity and will be fair proposal for everyone in the organization," advises Himanshu Mody, founder and CEO, Tekno Point Multimedia India Private Limited.

Of course, not everyone agrees. "The differentiation between fresher and experienced professionals exists as much today as it did till a few years ago," affirms Sangeeta Lala, co founder and VP, TeamLease Services. JM Prasad, Head - human resources, ING Vysya Bank echoes her feelings, "We are witnessing a trend with ‘freshers' being exposed to on the job training as part of their education curriculum. But that is not enough, especially when you are in a service industry, like a bank. For me every employee is a representation of our brand promise. For some specialised businesses this training is as long as a month!"

Whether they recognise undergraduate experience or not, organisations can prepare to be pleasantly surprised by today's brigade of freshers!

Ankita Shreeram