[deehunk]

It is tough to handle people of this generation. Maybe Infy's recruitment strategy is not at par with current trends. The thoughts flow from the top, with all recent statements made by NRN; that organization has to do some retrospection. Just a year ago, when one of my friend's wives wanted to quit this same company for unethical work place, her supervisor mentally tortured her for escalating to HR. Her termination was dragged out till legal consequences were included in email communication to HR. If they found out that 700 freshers were not up to the mark within a short period, is it not a reflection of their hiring team? IPO that organisation has lost its charm and no sensible talented fresher would want to join them.

[searacer932]

Originally Posted by NiInJa

This is nothing new at Infosys, going on since last 15-18 odd years as far as I know. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

It appears that all the people who were given deferred joining dates have been taken out.

One question - how did these people clear the interview in the first place if they were not found good enough after joining the organization? Is Infosys openly admitting that their interview process is not vigorous enough?

All in all - worrying times for Infosys going by their Q-o-Q performance of the past few quarters. If they cannot find projects for freshers then how would they place mid level and senior level people?

Originally Posted by deehunk

If they found out that 700 freshers were not up to the mark within a short period, is it not a reflection of their hiring team? IPO that organisation has lost its charm and no sensible talented fresher would want to join them.

Completely agree. It's not a small number like 7 but 700! In my opinion, the Infosys hiring team has to be fired first!

[NiInJa]

Originally Posted by searacer932

It appears that all the people who were given deferred joining dates have been taken out.

One question - how did these people clear the interview in the first place if they were not found good enough after joining the organization? Is Infosys openly admitting that their interview process is not vigorous enough?

We were part of 2008 recession and had similar joining scenario with deferred dates. Some companies even declined offers, some companies did another round of evaluation after offer letters were rolled out. As college graduates, there was nothing we could do. Real revenge was taken when people undertook the trainings, got good work experience, became valuable resources and leave the company at the first opportunity, leaving employers and projects to fend for themselves We used to joke back then that TCS and Infosys are not software companies, but 'training institutes'.

A job offer is just an offer, it is only the first step to being employable. To a fresher, clearing an interview does not automatically mean that he is fit for the job, it only means he has the potential which needs to be evaluated further. Probation periods exist for these reasons.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by searacer932

It appears that all the people who were given deferred joining dates have been taken out.

All in all - worrying times for Infosys going by their Q-o-Q performance of the past few quarters. If they cannot find projects for freshers then how would they place mid level and senior level people?

The same story had played out back in 2007-08 as well. We were 1 year out of college. Infy had conducted evaluations with the intent to fire freshers on the bench and my friend had thus gotten forcibly laid off from the Infy Mysore campus and the experience was pretty much the same back then too - bouncers, close scrutiny...and I vaguely remember him saying they ensured he returned his ID card and that he got on a golf cart or bus which carted all of the fired folks to the gate of the campus.

My friend, though, has tremendous fortitude and he eventually found his way into other better companies and he's a US green card holder today.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by wheelspinner

I'm hearing that it's impossible to get interviews without reference from employee at similar level. Is it true?

From personal experience I would say this is mostly true- Especially in the mid-senior level (15-20 years) and for broad scope roles like Product Management. For every such role on LinkedIn, I see there are 100s of applicants within 2-3 days of posting (assuming LinkedIn Metrics are true). I don't see anyway that resumes are effectively screened like some of the recent posts already mention. I have kept my resume as a mix of reality and buzz words to try to catch whatever resume filters companies use. Still have had 0 success in getting call backs even for roles where I know that my profile is a good match.

I initially had a resume prepared with one of the resume consultants, but it was so filled with buzz words and half truths that I felt it cringeworthy myself. Hence made the changes to make it more real and accurate. Looks like that does not really help.

Even for referrals: What I heard as an honest feedback from friends whom I asked to refer in some of the larger corporates- Their input was that even within the company there are large number of people looking for internal moves and in most cases the hiring managers prefer them as opposed to going external and starting the process from scratch.

Of course, there is also the issue of resumes just getting filtered out if the experience is closer to the 20 year range irrespective of the match in other aspects. Nothing much can be done on that.

In what was a surprise to me, I heard from some of the junior folks in my earlier team (2-8 years exp) that even in their levels, direct application is not working at all and only referrals work.

Final learning from recent job search attempts: LinkedIn postings are mostly useless. Some of them are old and simply repromoted. If you go to the Job section in the company website, many of the jobs shown in LinkedIn are no longer there. So would be good to cross check on the company site before applying.

[wheelspinner]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

In what was a surprise to me, I heard from some of the junior folks in my earlier team (2-8 years exp) that even in their levels, direct application is not working at all and only referrals work.

Final learning from recent job search attempts: LinkedIn postings are mostly useless. Some of them are old and simply repromoted. If you go to the Job section in the company website, many of the jobs shown in LinkedIn are no longer there. So would be good to cross check on the company site before applying.

I'm a junior. I'm literally begging HMs on LinkedIn for interviews. Because lately even referrals are getting ignored. There was a time when companies like Atlassian used to call me directly when I wasn't seriously looking for change. Now their recruiters don't bother to read my emails. I guess, the job market has entered a gloomy phase. Gone are those days of getting easily hired.

LinkedIn postings are mostly ghost postings I feel. It paints a positive picture for outside people that the company is actively hiring and doing well. But reality is different. I saw some senior role posting getting posted continuously for 5 - 6 months. Technically, that's not possible. Either they would hire or just not hire if they don't find someone.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by wheelspinner

I'm a junior. I'm literally begging HMs on LinkedIn for interviews. Because lately even referrals are getting ignored. There was a time when companies like Atlassian used to call me directly when I wasn't seriously looking for change. Now their recruiters don't bother to read my emails. I guess, the job market has entered a gloomy phase. Gone are those days of getting easily hired.

Hiring in general has reduced over the last 18 months; especially with regards to lateral hires. In fact, I would say that hiring is now more based on actual demand and rather than based on future anticipated business; so the profiling of the candidates has become more specific and requirement-based.

If you have got rejections in referrals, ask your contact(s) to get you feedback; that should be your prime focus to understand on what basis they are rejecting you.

LinkedIn postings are mostly ghost postings I feel. It paints a positive picture for outside people that the company is actively hiring and doing well. But reality is different. I saw some senior role posting getting posted continuously for 5 - 6 months. Technically, that's not possible. Either they would hire or just not hire if they don't find someone.

Not really. That's the other side of this coin - the positions remain open in the market as they the hiring firms don't get the right profile. I am aware of a few cases where this has happened and the job posting has been re-posted again; some even 2-3 times. For some of these cases, the hiring manager has told me specifically that they had to sift through tons of profiles; none of which are matching their requirements and they have had to repost the open position again. But they can't relax the requirements so the ask remains the same; even if the timelines are delayed.

[sinharishi]

This is how I have been applying for jobs. Identify the company where your profile fits in, go to their career portal and search for positions relevant to your experience and apply. You will promptly get a confirmation email about application being received. Couple of days, you get an email from the staffing resource - either they will ask for a quick call or inform the application is rejected for xyz reasons. Working perfectly for me so far!

IMHO, there are just too many folks applying for one position, you need to make yourself stand out by having one or more skillset that separates you from the herd. I have landed 4 interviews in last 2 weeks vs my colleague applying for the same position - difference is I have 4 certifications over my degree and work experience and he has zero.

[searacer932]

This is unfortunate if this had happened. Instead of doing this it will be much better if organizations have vigorous interview process in the first place to avoid these kind of issues. If Infosys had no intention of taking these people then they should have just withdrawn the offer letter rather than taking people and then firing them within couple of months.

Tears running down her cheeks, a female trainee from Madhya Pradesh pleaded with Infosys officials on February 7, "Please let me stay the night. I will leave tomorrow. Where will I go right now," after she was asked to vacate the Mysuru campus immediately , according to another trainee who, too, was fired by the IT services giant.

"We don’t know. You are no longer part of the company. Vacate the premises by 6 pm," was the response from an Infosys official, as claimed by the trainee.

Hundreds of trainees scrambled to find taxis and buses to head back to their hometowns. Many had joined Infosys nearly two and a half years after graduating, only to be terminated just months later. Fear and uncertainty loomed as they grappled with how to break the news to their parents on returning home.

Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/technol...-12935279.html

[Jimnyuser]

The whole layoff scenario is a mess.

The issue starts right at the outset - IT service firms issue an offer letter, without a joining date. Then the candidates keep asking HR for a joining date.

Quite a few times, joining date is never confirmed. Some times joining date is given 6-9 months later.

If one is lucky to get the joining date and then joins, then the training starts and tests are given every month, and 3 strikes you are out scenario occurs way too often.

[LakeWalker]

Originally Posted by ZenMaster

I would say companies have brought this upon themselves by using Applicant Tracking Systems and Resume sorting softwares that rely heavily is these same keywords.

Couldn't have said it better. I was shocked when I learned recently that many of these ATS tools outright reject beautifully designed Resumes by Designers with illustrations. As a designer myself, if a Junior designer's resume is just a white paper with black text, it is an instant turn-off. But it looks like some of the good designer Resumes are not even getting through because the stupid tools are giving importance to the keywords instead of actual substance! Sad state of affairs.

[Samurai]

https://m.economictimes.com/tech/art.../118605501.cms

Above claim tells me that their codebase must be really simple, and didn't really need 80% of their developers in the first place.

I am using Copilot pro since couple weeks and I don't see how it can do anything complicated by itself.

[AltoLXI]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I am using Copilot pro since couple weeks and I don't see how it can do anything complicated by itself.

Working with CoPilot can get as frustrating as working with a mediocre developer. At least, humans will just throw up the hands and accept they cannot help - CoPilot frustrates by asking if it can help you anything else.

Spent a weekend trying to get solution to a complex issue which we are facing. After several iterations, using various combinations of prompts, ended up with nothing. Felt more like talking to a customer care chatbot without any productive outcome !

One positive takeaway was reflecting about my way of thinking itself. Whether it is a human or an AI system on the other side - defining a problem, without being judgmental, without any biases, asking the right questions, providing feedback become so important to work together.

CoPilot, I feel, is more like an obedient child, which only does what it is told to do !

[JohnyBoy]

Originally Posted by AltoLXI

...
CoPilot, I feel, is more like an obedient child, which only does what it is told to do !

That itself is a big thing. If only today's children do what they are told to do.

[that_sedate_guy]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Hiring in general has reduced over the last 18 months;

None of which are matching their requirements and they have had to repost the open position again.

The situation is very dire, indeed. I myself am staring down the barrel of a notice period right now. Been searching fruitlessly for jobs for nearly 6 months now. Anywhere in my friends circle or peers circle that I ask for help, it's always the same 'hiring freeze' going on. Referrals barely work anymore. I'm yet to get a single call-back. It's been quite a BAD few months. Like, seriously bad. I'm running out of time, out of a job of course, out of money and out of peace.

Most of my rejections are because they want more years of experience (for whatever good that will do) instead of looking at valid experience and skills.

Also, I've applied to some positions that were more or less an exact match and still got the same "Unfortunately" emails and hey, after two weeks, the same position pops back up on my recommended notifications.