Home » Business News • Employment News • India News » TCS Struggles To Fill 80,000 Positions As Skill Gap Widens

TCS Struggles To Fill 80,000 Positions As Skill Gap Widens

By Nithya Bose in Business News, posted June 17, 2024

Tata Consultancy Services is struggling to close 80,000 job vacancies due to the skill gap.

This underscores a mismatch between the skills of existing employees and the demands of the available roles.

Amar Shetye, Global Operations Head of TCS's Resource Management Group (RMG), said it forces TCS to depend on contractors to bridge the gap.

An anonymous employee said: "We were informed that either the skill sets or the aspirations of employees do not align with the project requirements."

Several top IT companies have delayed the onboarding of freshers, leaving numerous new hires without confirmed start dates.

According to the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), over 10,000 freshers have been affected by these delays in the past two years.

Harpreet Singh Saluja, President of NITES, has received multiple complaints from candidates offered positions at leading IT firms such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Zensar, and LTIMindtree.

Infosys, for instance, communicated to candidates that joining dates would be determined based on business requirements, with notifications issued 3 to 4 weeks in advance.

The company hired only 11,900 campus recruits in the financial year 2023-24, a steep decline from the previous year’s 50,000 recruits.

Similarly, Wipro has yet to honour campus offers made two years ago.

During a recent earnings call, Wipro’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Saurabh Govil, said: "The year before last, we went to campus and made many offers. We are yet to honor those. We will finish those offers and then hire new freshers."

Zensar also introduced additional steps for candidates, such as tests and confirmations of continued interest, due to the prolonged delays in onboarding.

This stems from business uncertainties in North America and Europe, where clients are cautious about IT spending amid signs of an economic slowdown.

Need Career Advice? Get employment skills advice at all levels of your career

Quarterly reports from IT firms indicate a significant deceleration in the sector.

Krishna Vij, Business Head of IT Staffing at TeamLease, estimated that 3 to 5 percent of freshers hired in 2022 by top IT services companies are still awaiting onboarding.

He said it is due to project visibility issues and a focus on job readiness and required skill sets.

In the financial year 2023-24, TCS, Infosys, and Wipro collectively reduced their headcount by nearly 64,000.

They had overhired during the pandemic and later switched their focus to productivity without increasing headcount.

Capgemini India’s CEO, Ashwin Yardi, also noted that this year's campus hiring numbers will be moderated, following an intake of around 30,000 freshers last year.

Follow us on YouTube, X, LinkedIn, and Facebook