EY, PwC, Deloitte and the country’s other top consulting and professional services firms such as KPMG, and Grant Thornton are on a campus hiring spree with many set to clock their highest campus intakes this year as their businesses and revenues hit record highs.
According to a report in the Economic Times, these firms will increase their intake of fresh graduates from leading engineering, management and undergraduate colleges by 100-150% vis-à-vis 2019 and 2020 to meet rising demand as the need for consulting support has peaked across sectors amid recovery from Covid-19 disruptions, top industry officials said.
“We look at the campus talent pool as a critical resource to serve our clients and operations’ needs with the appropriate balance between technical capability and executive presence,” the financial publication quoted Prashant Mehra, partner and chief operating officer of Grant Thornton Bharat as saying.
The company plans to hire around 500 graduates, under-graduates and professionals by the end of the year from colleges like SRCC, Kirorimal, Bhagat Singh, Venkateshwara, Dyal Singh, HR College, NM College, Christ College and others. “This also includes around 150 people from ICAI campus and proposed hiring of around 125 candidates for our technology and cyber practices from PG/B tech colleges like IIMs, IITs and other premier management and BTech institutes,” Mehra said.
PwC India is “ramping up campus hiring in a big way”, said Padmaja Alaganandan, its chief people officer. The consulting major will hire about 3,000 from campuses this year spanning a diverse skillset including engineers, management graduates, accountants, designers and those related to areas such as ESG (environment, social, and corporate governance).
“It is a valuable pool of talent that grows with us and brings in energy and diverse perspectives to enrich our culture,” the buiness daily quoted Alaganandan as saying.
Profiles in demand include those in business consulting, managed services, and risk advisory, officials said.
A big focus this year will be on tech roles such as data science, digital analytics, design, compliance services, cyber security, etc. as consulting companies saw a huge spurt in revenue growth in technology advisory and other technology-related practices with most Indian companies accelerating their digital implementation since the outbreak of Covid-19.
“The order book from businesses is steep due to the post-Covid recovery in the market, so we expect hiring to keep pace with that,” the ET report quoted SV Nathan, partner and chief talent officer at Deloitte India as saying. “We hire from across universities across tiers, and the in-demand roles include data science, digital analytics, design, compliance services, and cybersecurity,” he said.
The business daily quoted as saying a KPMG spokesperson, “Our campus hiring is going to see record numbers this year with an over 150% jump in numbers compared to 2019 or 2020.” The firm will hire across skillsets in technology, business consulting, managed services, assurance and risk and deals advisory from almost all the top and tier1 and 2 campuses numbering more than 100, the person said.
EY India partner and talent leader Sandeep Kohli said EY India will hire more than 6,000 graduates from campuses across arts, commerce, humanities and engineering colleges for all its service lines and global delivery centre.
As per industry estimates, top consultancies together hired more than 20,000 people in the last six months, including freshers. Top firms, which ran into cashflow issues mid-2020 due to pandemic-led lockdowns and restrictions, saw demand for consulting support soar after June 2020 as clients tried to adapt to new business models.
