Is it common to wait for months before date of joining?

[Santa Maria!]

I passed out this year, 2011 from a real crappy UPTU college. I got placed in a fairly well known company in Jan. 2011... it was one of like three companies that considered our college for recruitment.

I did not attend the few other placement opportunities for our college after getting placed, since package offered was really low, and bond conditions were not fair.

My offer letter stated joining in August... but when the time came, we just got informed (indirectly via the college TPO) that joining was being done in batches, so our joining was postponed till further notice.

Through other sources, I found that the company first called the students who belonged to more reputed colleges. So it was true, batch-wise joining, preference to the 'good' colleges.

All that the company told the rest of us is that when time of joining comes, those concerned will be notified 2-3 weeks in advance.

Is this common? Do companies like TCS, Accenture etc do this too? Man, I wish those companies visited my college... or at least invited us It seems they want nothing to do with my college.

It's feeling a bit weird sitting around idle. I got an interview call from one other good company, but I blew it after reaching the last round. It was my second interview ever... I guess I showed a bit too much attitude/pickiness in the HR questions.. Oh well.. live & learn.


What do you think? Just getting an opportunity for an interview is seeming near-impossible (UPTU = instant fail-stamp?). Should I start considering applying for those 8k-15k per month jobs?

[pulkitpopli2004]

yeah its normal generally these category of collg have to suffer a delay of arnd 3-6 months after course completion..

TCS gives joining in december or november..

[Santa Maria!]

I see. :/

So should I wait around till like January? If I get a job now that pays like 1.2-2.4 LPA, I wonder if I would regret it later.

It also feels weird because, the company I am placed in... at the time of placement, everyone's interview only lasted for like 6-7 minutes each... only by 2 HR people. They had my resume in their hand, but I had to actually push THEM to talk about my accomplished projects mentioned in the resume. They were just asking stupid questions like family background, what sports I like etc... Seems they only chose people who could speak normal or almost-normal English.

Some random people in & around my college also told use to forget about the company, since the placement & offer letter were apparently all for show and they won't consider us because my college didn't pay them money/bribe etc.

Yeah... lotsa conspiracy theories going around.
I almost wish that the company tells us that they won't take us... at least then I can move on with certainty. Just tell us SOMETHING definite

Bah

[crazylamhe]

^^ If you do have the skills, try for any other offline recruitment ! Be prepared really well so as not to blow it up . . Not bad to have a back-up !
Is it an IT company which you joined ? In my college Cognizant alone recruits >90% IT students, their joining date is fixed . . . Yes exact date of joining remains unaltered otherwise, for all of them !

The rumours may be true, coz there are colleges which have tie-ups with companies, giving them training for about 6 months and then throwing them bcoz they are not 'fit' for the job . . . U know what I mean ! !
However, very frankly, if your skills are not upto the mark, consider going for higher studies or value-added courses that can add another feather to your cap ! ! Hope this helps

[it_waaznt_me]

HCL and MSAT are notorious for this .. Even after joining you'd be lucky if you aren't benched ..

And by the way ... Dont believe the conspiracy theories .. Companies hire people in anticipation of some big projects and if the offers fall through, the candidates are benched .. This happens all the time ..

[rhitwick]

Actually this is a bad time for companies.

Many companies slowed down recruiting. Whoever recruited, now asks the persons to join few days later.

So, yeah, it happen that ur company is waiting till things settle a bit more.

I think, HR contact details are mentioned in your offer letter...why not drop a mail?!

[Santa Maria!]

Originally Posted by crazylamhe

Is it an IT company which you joined ?

Yeah, it's an IT-company. I'm yet another one of the countless CS grads.

Originally Posted by crazylamhe

If you do have the skills, try for any other offline recruitment ! Be prepared really well so as not to blow it up . . Not bad to have a back-up !

I don't claim to be a genius, but I do believe my skills are above average compared to the average non-IIT, non-NIT type graduate. My percentage is only 68%, but my primary selling point is the hobby projects I do/have done on the side.

So far, I have been approached a few times for jobs that pay upto 1.5 LPA, but I rejected them, thinking my placed-company's joining date would be around the corner.
Other than that, as I said in my first post, I got one other good opportunity but I blew it after reaching the last round. Guess I got nervous and wrongly worded some of my responses. (Found later that there was just 1 vacancy).

Besides these, it's been so damn hard to find opportunities. All the big boys like Infy, TCS, Accenture, etc. did not even consider my college. You mentioned Cognizant... I registered for off-campus like last year, still no word of written test.

Also, I guess it doesn't help that I live in the Delhi area... all the IT opportunities are down south :/

Originally Posted by crazylamhe

However, very frankly, if your skills are not upto the mark, consider going for higher studies or value-added courses that can add another feather to your cap !

And no higher studies for me. I decided that the day I was born.

Originally Posted by it_waaznt_me

And by the way ... Dont believe the conspiracy theories .. Companies hire people in anticipation of some big projects and if the offers fall through, the candidates are benched .. This happens all the time ..

I guess... The company did provide us with a proper CoCubes.com portal ID for communication... it's just the communication part that is a bit lacking.

Originally Posted by rhitwick

I think, HR contact details are mentioned in your offer letter...why not drop a mail?!

I did. All they replied was that when the next batch starts, those concerned would be notified 2-3 weeks in advance.
I looked online, and I find lots facebook posts by others who have been placed in the same company and are worried about lack of info about joining date. So that means there has been no other info given out.


All said, one of my biggest worries is that I join a low-pay job, sign some kind of bond.. and poof joining date for placed-company comes, and I sit there cursing life for playing with me.
OTOH... I'm already 24 yrs of age... waiting = dangerous & losing possible industry-exposure.

*Bheja fry*

[arsenalfan001]

Santa,
Dont worry. It is common for IT companies. If they hire 1000 people, they wont give training to all of them at a time. Most companies do not have that infrastructure.
They will ask you to join in batches, may be within a month or two.
My gf joined CTS this year. And they created a batch of say 50 people to join on a specific date. Next batch to join after 15-20 days. This is the way it works for most companies.

[coolpcguy]

Yeah as others mentioned, it's pretty common to wait. I remember some of my classmates didn't get to join for like 7-9 months. See if you can grab a temporary job - write for a blog, teach in your college, do some freelancing - just to keep you occupied

[Santa Maria!]

Thanks for your thoughts, guys.

Originally Posted by coolpcguy

Yeah as others mentioned, it's pretty common to wait. I remember some of my classmates didn't get to join for like 7-9 months. See if you can grab a temporary job - write for a blog, teach in your college, do some freelancing - just to keep you occupied

Wow... 7-9 months, eh
Any advice on where to start with freelancing? Are there like India-specific sites for that... or just stuff like RentACoder etc?

[coolpcguy]

Ask people around your area If you're on twitter you could ask around there as well. Otherwise check RentACoder or Freelancer.com. I'm not aware of any India specific sites, perhaps you could find something on craigslist.

[komalpateledu]

Yes this is most common scenario we get to see these days in IT Industry. Usually these companies hire lots of students at one go and giving training to all of them together is quite not feasible. So they sometime make batches and ask some students to join earlier and some latter. So the joining is been delayed. You can try some temporary job to utilize your time efficiently.