Trouble for job seekers! Fresher glut leaves thousands, including engineering & management graduates, stranded on the job market

Thousands of job seekers, including graduates from top-tier engineering and management institutes, are finding themselves impacted by what market experts are labeling a “fresher glut”, according to an ET report. This glut results from a surge in the talent pool of young professionals, comprising recent graduates and those with one to two years of experience.
Recently, a fresh Vellore Institute of Technology graduate secured a placement with an American e-commerce giant in January, boasting a promised cost-to-company (CTC) package of approximately Rs 50 lakh post-confirmation. The CTC encompassed all perks, benefits, and restricted stock units. However, a few months into the internship, the pre-placement offer was abruptly canceled with the company citing role unavailability, the report quoted S Pasupathi, the chief operating officer at HirePro saying. The recruitment firm is now aiding the graduate in securing alternative employment.
This year, the pool has notably expanded due to a higher-than-usual influx of candidates from the 2022 batch of engineers and B-school graduates seeking job changes in sectors like consulting, IT services, and startups. This influx compounds the situation for the 2023 batch of freshers whose final job offers face delays or cancellations.
According to data from HirePro, nearly 45% of candidates from the 2022 batch are currently actively seeking employment, compared to the usual 25% in a typical year. The uncertain global macroeconomic climate has compelled companies to trim jobs and tighten recruitment processes to cut costs. S Pasupathi stated, “Our estimates suggest nearly 20-30% of the offers from the 2023 batch are delayed or revoked.”
This scenario leads to direct competition between the 2022 and 2023 batches, with the looming presence of the 2024 batch entering the job market in a few months. Furthermore, previous batches hold an advantage, having gained on-job experience for a year or so, a factor valued by recruiters, he added.
Experts predict that this situation will pose significant challenges for fresher placements in the Class of 2024. Many recruiters seek candidates with a few years of experience who can quickly adapt to their roles, particularly in technology-related sectors and startups, where maintaining a non-billable bench is unsustainable.
This predicament unfolds just ahead of the upcoming placement season at business schools and engineering institutes. Tier-1 institutions may experience a milder impact, while tier-2 and tier-3 institutes are likely to be more affected, according to experts.
Ciel HR Services CEO Aditya Narayan Mishra noted, “Our estimates show a decline in hiring of freshers by about 15-20% for the batch which graduated in June-July 2023 compared to a year ago.” He attributed this decline to companies’ focus on cost optimization and efficiency improvement. “We see many people who graduated in 2022 and 2023 have not yet found the jobs they aspired for,” he said.
Sonal Arora, country manager at GI Group Holding India, observed an abundance of entry-level talent compared to pre-Covid times. She explained, “It is indeed more than regular years. While 2022 was an exceptional year for fresher/entry level talent with high resurgence in demand, even compared to pre-Covid levels, the supply of talent is more than demand in many sectors like IT services, ITeS, startups, professional services, and consulting, which have been impacted by macroeconomic headwinds.”