Letter of Intent

1. Every one thinks differently and every one have different views on this subject.From my point of view world class employer has been doing excellent works and the company brand image is definately good in competitive business market. And to maintain the brand image is also a difficult task for the entire organization and they have to adopt new innovative technological and strategic changes to compete the market. Due to recession mostly IT company’s are badly affected. Infosys is a good brand image company and they have set a good example in the IT world and that’s why are top in IT sector. Economic meltdown / slowdown is for all IT sector and not for this company only and this is well known to all . So there is no question of loosing “The Best Employer Brand Image" .
The recession is also for temporary period and big IT companies can recover fast once the recession is over
2. At the time of campus interview company’s makes a condition that selected candidate should have first class in final exams and give him / her an offer letter, letter of intent , but after joining if he / she couldn’t get the first class then company terminates him/ her and pull back the letter and in that case there is no question of loosing brand image of the firm or company because of their recruitment policy. Its again the question of reputation of the company eg. for particular company recruits only first class passed candidates. Its totally company’s decision to choose the candidates as per the their required candidates prospectus If we think legally company is not bound to recruit whom they had given offer intent letter but they will loose good prospective candidates and affected candidates will get disappointed. Infosys had not cancelled the job offer they cancelled intent of offer. For some candidates it would be difficult for them to distinguish job offer and the letter of intent
3. As a placement officer I would have adopt following clear cut policies of placements
I – Invite all company’s not only IT sector companies and before inviting one to one discussion with the firm recruitment policies with the respective organization. Discussion with candidates and clear the concepts of job offer and the letter of intent to avoid misunderstanding
II – If and unpleasant decision has required to be taken then company should again consider that candidate when the recession is over with written agreement.
III – Knock out recruitment policies. Once the candidate has got placement in one company he can’t appear for the next company. This would give 100% placement.
IV – I would ask the written bond from the company for fixed period say one year. If any unpleasant situations comes then company should pay compensation to that candidates so that he would not be disappointed and he can search the new job or further higher studies without loosing his moral
4. No one from my friend circle had such kind of experience.

1) The domain of ‘Best Employer Brand Image’ is not limited within the recruitment of freshers or
Keeping promises about recruiting. How a company treat its employees, how they are comfortable in the working environment of the company, how are the employee welfare policies there, how transparent is the organization in any transaction with it’s employees. All these factors mainly decide about the brand image of any organization as a best employer. As far as I understood, due to recession/slowdown these companies rejected the offers of ‘would be employees’. If we see it in a business or legal or in a large scale point of view it does not affect the brand image of the company but certainly affect the beliefs of freshers/students who aspire to join these organizations. It may create a temporary competitive disadvantage. In this context I think Infosys could show tolerance and sustainability by retaining the offers. They could delay it to resolve the issue. In fact I have faced a similar environment where I was recruited by Infosys in 2008 and due to recession they extend the training period but not rejected a single job offer in entire country. They have showed leadership by example in such a tough condition, where companies like Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley fall down. May be Infosys learnt it from its previous experience which helps it to gain competitive advantage in such a tough situation.
According to me such short term issues are not much powerful to hamper any large company’s image though such incidents should be avoided to maintain the honor, values, and promises.

2) Yes, I agree with the statement as they are legally 100% correct. In ‘intent of offer’ there is no obligation present that company is bound to absorb the offered candidates. In that context the Infosys spokesperson is correct. Because by this ‘intent of offer’ both the company as well as students is free to search for better options. It is not observed by any of us that many students among the groups are also selected by other organizations. These candidates choose for more options probably better options for them. If they are not bound to the offer or not questioned about loyalty then why the company? In today’s world there should be back up plan for every situation. It is applicable to organizations as well as to individuals. Blaming other for bad situation is not advisable thing; better prepare yourself for tougher and competitive world. I think those students who have visions and caught two job offers had better and longer competitive advantage over others. Competitive advantage is not only applicable to organizations rather to individuals also.
3) If I were the placement coordinator in IIT, then in such scenario I would definitely tried for other placements by alumni networks and by contacting with domestic companies, govt. sectors. Also preparing gem students of IIT (Who are capable to do anything) for higher studies and off-campus prestigious jobs I might end up with better result than any other year! I would definitely take this as a challenge or a twisting but better result opportunity and would try different plans to fulfill the targets.
4) Yes, my entire batch had faced this situation due to recession of 2008. Where as lucky people like me are not affected by this as Infosys keep its promises, but my friends in Satyam were not lucky enough as their offers are cancelled due to the Satyam disaster.In such situations my friends worked harder for off-campus recruitment, some for govt. jobs, some for higher studies, some for small but efficient farms to get selected. The positive point is all of them were selected one by one gradually and they are progressed even better than us now! Such negative situation actually helped them to understand their hidden but actual ability! According to me tough situations are coming with hidden opportunities. It depends on us how we tackle these.

Questionable HR Practises

A letter of intent is not a contract and cannot be enforced - it does not have any legal binding. Companies always play a very safe game - they generally do hire candidates when the market is doing well, but in adverse conditions they can very well get away by refusing to hire them. The best thing for candidates to do in such a situation is to keep on applying for jobs even when they have a job offer/letter of intent. This way they are assured of at least one job even if the others do not hold good.

Here I would like to mention an Incident – There was a well known computer institute which used to conduct exams and interviews for a particular computer course. The highlight of the course was that the candidates were given offer letters before the course commenced. Various well-known IT companies would select candidates, and on successful course completion, the candidates would immediately start their job with their respective companies. I was a part of the technical team from my company who conducted the interviews. We interviewed a lot of candidates who had come from various locations with only with one hope in their eyes “to get the coveted job”. We short listed quite a few of them and were happy that we were able to get well qualified candidates. Our Manager had appreciated us a great deal by saying that we had done a very good job. A few months later, mistakenly one of the managers mentioned that the interviews were a farce, the company had to fulfil its commitment of conducting interviews and there would be no jobs for any of the candidates. This came as quite a shock to all of us. We really don’t know what the institute or the candidates must have done to get good jobs for them. The company’s reputation of course did suffer but this act really displayed their lack of ethics.

As suggested by many of my batch mates, "Cancelling the Job Offers" would not affect the Brand Image of the firms like Infosys, TIL, SLM Software and would definitely not reduce their competitive advantage. These are all well established companies and a small incident like this would not harm their brand image. Although such a kind of action should warrant a tarnished image, the issue is soon forgotten when the times change and all is well in the job world.

I do agree with Infosys Spokesperson's statement that Infosys had not really cancelled any job offers since what they had given to the students was only "Intent of Offer". The legal jargon in such situations is not understood by the general public and this is where they get stuck in a rut – in this case, the IITians from Mumbai. Infosys was able to get away unscathed by citing “Letter of Intent” instead of Offer Letter but it does put the company in a bad light – at least with the IITians.

If I was the placement coordinator at IIT, Mumbai I would first try to procure jobs for the 120 candidates who were left with no job offers. I would try for smaller companies who were doing reasonably well. I would then try to remove the loopholes in the current placement system by getting inputs from the candidates as well as the management, check for the placement practises followed by other institutes, refine them and put them into practise from here on. I guess this would help resolve the problem to a certain extent.

I have not gone through the experience as the IITians, but yes one of my friends has faced a roughly similar kind of situation. She was already working for an IT firm, got a job offer from a reputed IT Company. She was serving notice period in the current company when the market crashed. On contacting the HR person of the 2nd company, she was informed that taking into account the current market scenario, the letter would not hold good. She would either have to forego the new job or take up the new job on a low pay scale, even lower than the one she was getting in her current company. This came as a shock to her but she had to take up the new job as she had already resigned from the current one and there was no likelihood of her getting any other job in such a short duration. It was quite distressing to see such a kind of a unethical behaviour from a reputed IT Company. Finally when the market picked up, she was the first to resign from that job and landed up getting a really good one!!

Letter of Intent Vs Offer- My Views

1. Do you think "Cancelling the Job Offers" at IIT Mumbai would affect the "The Best Employer Brand Image" of these firms and thereby reduce their competitive advantage?

My answer to this question would be YES, as with this kind of callous attitude and approach, it would not only tarnish the image but also kill the business. By and by would anyway reduce their competitive advantage. The product of IIT are considered to be the Crème de la Crème, therefore playing with them would seriously set a wrong interpretation in the job market it may discourage others not to participate let alone with enthusiasm as it is a direct defeat of the BEST by the BEST and would definitely bring out a disadvantageous environment the job market if not lost its sheen instantly but certainly in time to come.

With the onset of recession if these kinds of cases are reported then it is evident that these sorry stories are the product of recession or economic slowdown, but on the other hand if this kind of an irresponsible attitude continues to be seen or heard PRE - or POST recession period then it is but an excuse and double play by these brands as we can read from the given case, this news was reported before “R” May 2002 while the recession begun by the end, December of 2007.

2. Do you agree with Infosys Spokesperson's statement that Infosys had not really cancelled any job offers since what they had given to the students was only "Intent of Offer"?

It is apparent that the spokesperson of Infosys is not too clear about the entire incidence which is perhaps not true he may be trying to shield his misdoings, in the name of "LOI" these big name just casually make best use of their brain while the students’ career are at stake in the worst situation someone of them have lost the opportunity to apply afresh in the foreign university or at best apply in an equally a good organization as seen in the case of a student.

The actual experiences shared by two graduates of IIT as sufferers, Infosys Spokesperson differs with them and on the contrary presents the case as far from true which is an absolute a lie, he has indeed played with the career of meritorious and bright students, Ashwini Tank from Jaipur and Rahul Joshi of Jharkhand to name a few express their frustration and anger towards the company. Intent of offer has entirely been misused by these big players in fact these confusing terms should be out rightly striked off as this is more suitable or apt in a business deal than in an ordinary recruitment or job placement opportunity as it works against the interest of the student while on the other hand is only helpful to shield their offense culminating into distrust and annoyance amongst the students who toiled hard, along with them the entire family struggled to help excel in their studies amidst a great struggle but the struggle continues when they come in direct contact with those who thinks more about these terminology than students and these big brand mislead and gives out a careless and wrong statement.


3. If you were the placement coordinator at IIT, Mumbai, what would you do to resolve the placement issues present in the above case?

The responsibility lies on the shoulder of the internal policy makers of the institute, as in the case of IIT, it is the onus of the institute to assure students of their jobs, incase of on-campus recruitment, failure by the company as in the case of Infosys would surely attract penalty and not only that, assurance of the right placement should be given with the tangible result immediately in another organization failing it would not only de-motivate the students but also be their waste of time, money and energy. When the internal policy and infrastructure is sound and firm which works for the best of interest for the institute and students the external factor would have least impudence to act injudiciously and could be least a reason for further cause of concern, there would be in fact no room for such kind of a crisis on the contrary the recruiters would think twice before approaching the institute for their Le Crème de la Crème. The system needs to be changed within and prosperity is assured without.

If I were the placement coordinator at IIT, Mumbai I would have appointed an Ombudsman or a Representative who could in turn play a trusted intermediary body between the institute and the organization for the best of the interest of both the parties. I believe in dialogue and shall always advocate that a right communication with timely action definitely go a long way and do help resolve the crisis.

4. Have you or any of your friends gone through similar experience where the job offers or intent of offer has been cancelled by the prospective employer? If so, how did you or your friend handle the issue?

NO not so far, had it been the case, I would have had taken care to apply in other organizations as well as I consider nothing is certain or believable until it is there.

I quote a Sanskrit shlok to best describe my opinion
“Yodhravani parityajya adhravani nishavate dhruavani tashya nashyanti adhra… … nishevate”.
Please do excuse me for little incorrect

That is “In life there is certainty and uncertainty. We swing between these poles, if one chases uncertainty at a cost of a certainty then what may be certain in life is also lost to uncertainty”.

Intent of Offer Vs Offer

Letter of Intent is basically a document illustrating the willingness of the employer to hire the candidate but may or may not turn into successful hiring. When we issue letter of intent that can never be treated as offer of appointment. Offer letter speaks about faith and trust from both sides, as employer you are confirming employee to join with you. If we issue 'Offer Letter' we will be legally bound to keep the employee but such boundation will not be there if we issue 'Letter of Intent'.
1. Intend of offer" word itself implies its only intending-to and not promising-to offer you a job in any of the company or the company in specific which is issuing the intend of offer letter. Thus, cancelling the employment of a selected candidate would not and should not affect "The Best Employer Brand Image" of these firms. Rather, in other case, if a company approves the offer of the selected candidate, it adds up to the image of the company, thus indicating the up-hill movement of the company and its deals. Also it depend upon the Economic situations of the company. During recession they have no choice but to cut jobs. There are circumstances in which layoffs are necessary for a firm to survive.
2. I think Infosys Spokesperson's statement was totally acceptable, as during the campus recruitment, Infosys gave out the Intend of offer letter to the selected candidates and not the offer letter as such. It was the responsibility of the candidates and Placement officer (in major) to look in each and every details of the company's offer and assure their stands on the candidates they select.

3. In that case, as a placement co-coordinator ,I should look at the micro details of these kinds of offer and give more options for candidates who have been selected in such criteria.
More options could include, pool campus, dream options, real offer letter option in case of candidate getting a intend of offer .I should be coordinate with the college(employee) and corporate(employer) and get on to a better solution or a fair agreement which has equal opportunity at both ends.
4. Yes one of my friend face the similar situation. She got the intent of offer letter from one of the company but after two weeks she received a regret letter from the same company .she didn’t lose her patient as she has already one more offer from a different company.

Letter Of Intent Vs Offer

Hi Everyone...

1. According to me it would not effect the brand image of a best Employer or it will reduce the competitive advantage of Employers, as the situation was held when these companies were going through treamendous Economic slowdown.There was no such incident was found in past that these companies have withdrawn employment of fresh employee. They were almost impelled to go throgh the situation to cuscade down their employees, when the whole world was going through tremendous financial turbulance. If the fact is true then they must be going through maximum financial crunch, otherwise they would have never do it, as they have very good HR policies and employee retention scheme. These companies believes that the employees they have are the most valuable resorces they have and they are the main strength of the organization. But it is also true that if it is done repeatedly, the good faith of the best employer may be affected while IIT students are concerned.

2. I don not agree with the Infosys spokesperson statement that they have not withdrawn any employment. They have coveyed their massage in a very tricky and clever manner. They were trying to escape from the tough situation to avoid to be called as guilty party. Rather they have act ina very assertive way to handle the critical situation. In such conditions they should always be transparent on their views as the whole world was going through the same financial turbulant condition. Their speech was quite clear to understand that they are taking any of the students to whom they have provided Letter Of Intent. Rather this type of statement could affect the Brand Image of a best Employer.

3. If i would have been the place,ent officer at IIt, Mumbai, I would rather follow the below mentioned steps to rejuvenate the student who all are suffering in the situation.

a) I would clarify them term and condition of different companies HR policies and legal agreement of the same to clarify the clear idea of Letter of Intent.
b) Would allow to access HR desk as and when required and would extebd whole hearted support to them to console.
c) Suggestions for future prospective and forthcoming job oppprtunities.
d) Would arrange different training session on HR to strenthen their mental health.

4) None of my friends have gone through this kind of situation ever.

"Intent of Offer" Vs "Offer"a Corporate HR Practice.

(1) From my point of view, by denouncing the "intent of Offer" Infosys's image as "the best Employer does not get hampered nor the company would lose its competitive advantage, because it is one of the precautionary step to sustain in an adverse condition, when economic slow down have already alarmed to every company to take steps to stand firm. Also I agreed with the statement of Ashish with slight modification that cancellation of job offers at IIT Mumbai would not affect the best employer brand image of a reputed IT company like Infosys. About the IIT Mumbai campus, it would rather hamper the reputation of the Institute related to its campus placement, for which they have to face a lot of problem related to parents and students. Also company like Infosys have never a past record regarding the same situation, it is only a situational problem and only for the economic recession pressure and a common phenomenon at that particular situation.

(2) It is just like various advertisements, where companies mentioned the discount amount boldly and the conditions applied with very small fonts in order to biased and harass the customer, here Infosis's " Intent offer" is just like this. Though there is difference between "Offer" and "Intent of Offer", which implies some conditions behind it. I think this conditional offer has no transparency. Rather Infosys should have been more transparent with the students as well as with the Institution. I hope every body were aware about the economic slow down and people will understand the situation and cop with the possible taken steps to sustain in the market.

(3) A placement coordinator plays a vital role in an educational organization. Even if a single mistake related to placement would crash the reputation of the organisation. If I were the placement coordinator at IIT Mumbai, I would first motivate and encourage the students, that this job offer is not an end of the placement process and this job offer cancellation of Infosys will never stop the horses like you to win the race with better job offers and with best jobs. As economic slow down is not a permanent situation, the blue moon will come and they need to make themselves ready to enjoy the situation. For this I could have contact different organizations with different networks to accommodate our students with wel informed the present and future job prospects. As the offer letters are not the Appointment letters, I must try to make our students to get three to four offer letters with them.

(4) One of my friend Mr. Biswajit Nanda faced this type of situation in the year 2008, when he was working with Phillips India Private Ltd. He got an offer letter to join with Melia White House Hotels, UK. He was with a great pleasure informed me regarding his offer letter. But after one week he came to know that the consultancy company through which he got the letter was a fake one. Thank God he was not quit his old Phillips India's job. Now he is also continuing with Philips India at New Delhi.

Manoranjan Behura
PGCBM - 6
U610029

Letter of Intent: Politically right, but ethically ?

What we are talking about here is not about a legal battle between two parties, but about a demi-legal instrument with two sides, Offer letter and Letter of Intent. And how a company can use it to secure its future talent pool, or trim them in crunch even before they are onboarded.

Response to the situations
1. Do you think "Cancelling the Job Offers" at IIT Mumbai would affect the "The Best Employer Brand Image" of these firms and thereby reduce their competitive advantage?

The brand image of a company is built by experiences. It is obvious that the incident of Infosys cancelling the job offers at IIT Mumbai did led to a bad experience for all the students rejected. It makes things worse considering IITs produce the best talents in the country and there is a huge stake on those students. So, I think this incident would take a toll on Infosys's brand image as The Best Employer. Atleast and not limited to the IITs.
While the company could not have avoided rejecting the candidates due to economic crunch ( after all everything is business), it should have tried sacrificing a little to keep the branch image intact. For such a huge debt free company like Infosys with so much cash reserve, it would have not been a daunting task to retain/include such a talented pool from IIT Mumbai. It would have definitely been a good return of investment.
I f the company was not in a position to take those students, it should have assessed the situation beforehand and avoided such an embarrassing situation.

2. Do you agree with Infosys Spokesperson's statement that Infosys had not really cancelled any job offers since what they had given to the students was only "Intent of Offer"?

While the need for "Intent of Offer" as a substitute of "Offer Letter" is debatable, it has been an industry accepted standard to go for the former while recruiting freshers from colleges, to safeguard their legal obligations. I agree with Infosys Spokesperson's statement. The students should have noticed clearly while accepting that it is not the "offer letter" but "intent to offer" letter. He is legally and politically right, may be ethically not very right. While most of the job haunting candidates in the current situation keep their options open by having more than one offers in hands at the same time, the organizations too have to maneuver through rough economic situations.

3. If you were the placement coordinator at IIT, Mumbai, what would you do to resolve the placement issues present in the above case?

As placement coordinator at IIT, I have to devise stern strategies to tackle this scenario
a. Start dialogue with Infy HR Head and leaders regarding this issue, explaining them future impact of their deed on Infy and IIT relationship.
b. Look out for alternates, give student some options, such as revisit salary structure that was promised, or take them in contractual basis. Atleast their interim needs will be satisfied by these options.

4. Have you or any of your friends gone through similar experience where the job offers or intent of offer has been cancelled by the prospective employer? If so, how did you or your friend handle the issue?

Not any of my friends, but my junior colleagues have gone through similar experience during 2008-2009 campus drives. They were issues letters of intent, when they were pursuing their 7th semester. Soon hit the recession, they were put on hold. Now (2010) when they are recalled after 2 years of their selection, they share their stories how did they spend this 2 years.
I find one group of candidates who were optimistic and anticipated a call-back any moment. So they took up teaching jobs in institutes and tutorials.
Other group had little faith in my company and its policies, so headed to market for look out for options with the intent of never return to this company even if recalled sometime.
There were the third category who opted for higher education, preparation for MS, GRE, MBA. They thought this is right time to strengthen their skills and go for higher degrees.

Intent of Offer Vs Offer

1. Market downturn companies follow different strategies to survive. In my view “Cancelling Job Offer” strategy adopted at IIT-Mumbai will not at all affect the brand image or reduce the competitive advantage of the giant IT company “Infosys” because Project based company depends more the market condition, once there is expected future business then only they will hire the guys. So to safe guard the organization image as well as the operating cost this strategy works as indomitable.

2. I agree with the Infosys's spokesperson's statement the Infosys had not really cancelled the Job Offer as they had given the students the "Intent of Offers" not the “Actual Offers". It’s a clear strategy made by Infosys regarding the “Intent of Offer” which include some terms and condition with respect to market downturn or if it really worst market condition then its “rescission”. Infosys were clear and loud or rather I can say transparent in there intent.

3. As a placement coordination I would have used my networking skill to get more companies for on-campus and at a same time I would advise student to have patience and fine tune their vocational skills.

4) Fortunately not yet.

Intent of Offer Vs The Offer

1) I don’t think cancelling the job offers at IIT-Mumbai will affect the brand image of employers or it’ll reduce the competitive advantage of employers like Infosys,Tata Infotech etc. As companies like Infosys and Tata have never done anything such in past. This time they were forced to do so due the world wide financial instability or recession. The entire IT industry was affected worst by the economic recession, the whole world was aware of it, in such a case I don’t think that cancelling job offer will affect the brand image of these companies. Both Infosys and Tata Infotech are employee oriented company, at that time they were following various HR practices to maintain an efficient Human Resource. It is the situation that compelled them to opt for such an action. Best employer brand image is created through Strict adherence of HR policies like employee motivation, training & skill development activities, job involvement, varieties of fringe benefits, following employee retention programme etc., I think it is rarely affected by such decisions of cancelling job offers, that are taken due to economic recession pressure.

2) I’m not agreeing with Infosys spokesperson’s statement .As both the term “Intent of Offer” and “Offer” has same meaning. Infosys being an organization of such high repute can’t give such irresponsible statement. Rather they should have made it clear to the students about the actual problem which force them to take such harsh step. There should be clarity in their statement, giving such statement implies that Infosys was trying to justify their decision of not to hire students from IIT. Rather these companies should accept the real situation, as this type of statement would adversely affect the future prospects of the students who have been refused for jobs. The economic recession was global and therefore there is no reason to give such statement just because to maintain the brand image in the corporate sector.

3) If I would have been the placement coordinator I would have tried to pursue various companies’ and try to place some students on priority. I also would have advised student not to panic rather to wait for the things to improve. I think the best alternative would have been to look for other opportunity offered by various other companies as soon as possible, as time is much valuable and waiting for the best possible alternative may badly affect the future prospects of these students.

4) Fortunately none of my friends has gone through this situation.

Intent of Offer Vs Offer

1) No, I don’t think "Cancelling the Job Offers" at IIT Mumbai would affect the "The Best Employer Brand Image" of firms like Infosys & Tata Infotech and thereby reduce their competitive advantage. If this would has been true then firms like Infosys & Tata Infotech might wouldn’t have been the most preferred employer in the present scenario. The period in which this incident took place was most crucial for the IT companies, due to the slow pace of economic movement these companies were going through a very critical situation. They all were in the process of layoffs, cost reduction, retrenchment etc. and recruiting more employees would have more worsen the situation. As we all know that in the situation of economic recession, for the survival of the corporate sectors, cost reduction is a valuable technique. Employee’s Benefit and welfare expenses forms the major part of total expenditure of a company, recruiting more employees in these situations will badly affect the financial stability of the company. If these companies would have recruited students from IIT’s in such a situation, then at a later stage the company might would have retrenched these employees to sustain in the market, which would have a bad effect on the future prospect of these students. These companies have followed what the situation has demanded. In my view, cancelling job offers will no way affect the best employer brand image or reduce their competitive advantage.
2) No, I don’t agree with the statement that “Infosys had not really cancelled any job offers since what they had given to the students was only "Intent of Offer". These types of statement mean that the company is trying to withdraw itself from the situation that has been created by them. Very cleverly they are escaping from being the culprit. But legally these students can’t take any action against these companies because they have only given the “intent of offer”, this means there were no agreement between the students and the company regarding employment. These companies have placed themselves in a secured position by giving this type of statement. I think rather there should be clarity in their explanation regarding cancellation of job offers. Everyone knows that the entire industry is going through a tough phase, all these companies are not in position to recruit more employees, and they should accept the situation rather than giving such absurd statement. If the entire corporate world is passing through a similar situation, then there should not be any hesitation in disclosing the real facts, this will no way affect the competitive advantage of these companies. Delivering such statement only for the sake of showing the corporate world that we are not affected by the economic recession is no way ethical.
3) If I would have been the placement officer, I would have taken the following steps to resolve the present situation -:

a) Offer and acceptance of jobs between the companies and students should be legally supported by agreements.
b) Students are to be well informed about the present and future job prospects through market research’s.
c) Every Student should be provided with secondary alternative job opportunity.
d) Students should have free access to the HR policies of the recruiting companies.
e) Minimum periodicity should be maintained within the date of offer and date of joining.

4) No, none of my friends have ever gone though this type of situation, therefore I think it would be difficult on my part to comment on the issue.

Letter Of Offer Vs Letter Of Intent

1. In my opinion when Recession Approached,companies were affected because
More people on float (people who are for forth coming projects).Because of more people on float resource utilization is less.This put strain on companies to hire people from colleges. Reduction of projects in a company leads to reduction of fund investment. Reduction of contract period with clients reduces forecasting of business and contrary reduces hiring volume. Demand of skilled resource from client keeping view of high productivity and zero failure leads the companies to utilize skilled resource.
This attitude of clients leads the company to reduce or stop hiring freshers.
I agree to Sushi's point that 'Cancel ling the job offers' is not going to put any impact on Brand image of Infosys .

2. I do not agree with Infosys's spokes person's statement .They should take any preventive steps .If company already issued offer letter to the fresher’s, then company reacts to above situation as per the company’s business as follows
Big Size IT Service Company: They will analyze their business and decide when to take the fresher’s to their system accordingly they will inform to the candidates.
Middle Size IT Service Company: they will take actions as above.
If they do not have business visibility then can do 2 things
a.They can ask the fresher’s to take the training and work in project without pay. This helps the candidates to get the technical exposure though they are not getting any money.
b.They will clearly send sorry mail and saying they are the people to get the chance as and when company gets the business.
Small Size IT Service Company: They should send sorry mail to candidates without keeping them on hold.
If company is Product IT company then Company looks its market penetration during recession. Assess the business and returns, accordingly communicate the candidates.
Do not over estimate and give false promise to the candidates. Which will lead to firing of candidate’s later point when company realizes the dryness of business.

3.As a placement coordinator ,I would like to adapt the effective methods of training to make people ready to face any kind of interview.And moreover, I would have concentrated more upon the student and employer's capability .As in the current situation , industry people want smart,hard working , dynamic persons for working in the company forefront.
4.I have a same kind of scenario. I got offers from 2 ITES companies , KPIT CUMINS and DELL INTERNATIONAL in 2006 . BUT KPIT, made delay and asked the result to be on hold, and took one month with a negative answer. I was lucky enough working with Dell.

1. Based on the global market slowdown companies are following different stratergies to sustain in the market. One of the stratergy is "Cancelling Job Offers". In my view this stratergy addopted at IIT-Mombai will not afftect the brand image of Infosys or reduce the competitive advantage in any way. The reason is that the economic slow down hit the entire world and its the time to take the precautionary steps to sustain in this conditions. The companies were going on recruiting to fulfill the expected future business. The Economic slowdown was a surprise to the market and it will change the whole scenarion all of a sudden. It was not certain upto what extent it will go and where it will stop. So companies need to take some steps to sustain. So whatever steps Infosys took is the correct decission at that moment and it wont affect the image of Infosys.

2. I am agree to the Infosys's spokesperson's statement the Infosys had not really cancelled the Job Offer as they had given the students the "Intent of Offers" not the "Offers". Its fully distinguish that there is some terms and condition behind it. As Infosys is a highly rated organisation in IT industry, it maintain its stratergy clear before producing any documents. So the "Intent of Offers" always includes the global market conditions and economic slow down. Infosys maintained the transparency in using the name as "Intent of Offers" not the "Offer".

3. If i were the Placement officer at IIT Mumbai I would have informed the students to have patience. Make them understand to the current market situation. Made them to do some more exercise and to utilise the time to enhance the knowledge, because the economic slowdown is not forever. Again the Blue Moon will come and they need to make themselves ready to enjoy the blue moon. In the mean while i could have contacted differnet companies and also uses different networks to accomodate in different organisations.

4. One of my friend faced this situation. She got the intent of offer from a consultancy. She left her old job and prepared for the next offer. In the mean while the economic slowdown hit the market. Now the consultancy was not ready to pay that amount of money and the salary become 1/4th of what was decided. She spent 2 days and took the decission to join the company with a condition that once the market is ok the salary will be the same as decided earlier. She took a written proof for that and continued with the company til now.

Intent of Offer Vs Offer -An epitome of corporate HR practice

1. In my view, by denouncing the 'intent of offer' Infosys's image as 'the best Employer' does not get tarnished nor the company would lose its competitive advantage any way because the organization adheres to the rules and regulations perfectly and as many of our friends have already put forward their perspective, it is not ' offer' but just the 'intent of offer' which clearly means that there is some cushion of time for the hiring decision. Again it is the candidate's responsibility to be well aware of the general practice and to be clarified if there is any confusion.
2. The Placement coordinator has a bigger role to play in an institute where all are freshers and there could be error on the part of the candidate.However, such mistakes could be associated with quite costly consequences like the one mentioned in the case.Therefore, the placement coordinator has to take a step beyond being just a silent spectator.He has to assess and ascertain every individual case, should carefully co-ordinate with the corporate house about the specific decision that they are going to take, whether there is any hidden meaning in the communication and get it clarified,guide the candidates about the so called corporate jargons and provide alternative choices to the dicey cases.
3. It is an epitome of present day corporate HR practice where one has to be very very alert and cannot take any thing for granted because the communication is made so diplomatically that knowingly it contains expressions/words to protect the interest of the employers always and at the same time adheres to all legally valid norms.The case has undoubtedly created scope for more careful understanding of delicate yet important HR issues both from an employee's as well as employer's perspective and made the subject more interesting.

Intent of Offer Vs Offer

1) Cancelling the Job offers at IIT Mumbai would not affect the best employer brand image of big companies like Infosys.If I talk about the IIT Mumbai Campus, yes it would hamper the reputation of the institution as regards of its campus placements, which in turn will get them lot of dissatisfied parents and students.Moreover the company's offer is does not compel it to employement of the candidates,its just an "intent of offer" and not an Appointment Order or a Job Contract and the Company holds all the right to cancel the same.

2) I do Agree with the statement which has been given by the Infosys Spokesperson that Infosys has not really cancelled any job since it was just an intent of Offer,which is well within the reach of the organisation to cancel the same.

3)If I were the placement coordinator at IIT,Mumbai, then I could have handled the situation in a different way. I would have educated my existing resource i.e. the students that the Offer is not an Appointment letter and they should always have 3-4 Job Offers ready with them.I would then come to the employer coming to the campus with a much better selection process and a agreement has to be signed with party about their intention of this Interview so as to have a clear picture about the selection.

4) Actually, this question reminds me of 5th Jan 2005 when i got an Offer Letter from American Express ,I was very much delighted seeing the Offer,as usual a typical Indian Mentality, I told to every possible human being whom i knew on this Earth,but to my surprise I got another letter dated 21st Jan2005,wherein there was an appology letter from American Express,stating that they have put the current opening on Hold and I was one of the Lucky Ones.Thank God, that I had AVIVA Life Offer as well as appointment letter with me.

Intent of Offer Vs Offer

I don’t think cancelling the job offers at IIT-Mumbai will affect the brand image of employers or it’ll reduce the competitive advantage of employers like Infosys,Tata Infotech etc. The reason being this was a temporary phenomenon on the recruiting company’s front. The company’s were forced to cancel the job offers keeping in view the uncertainty in external business environment. The economic slow down has hit the entire world economy. When the company’s visited IIT campus to recruit people they have their future business plans in their mind and that’s why they were recruiting people to meet their future business demand. But nobody would ever thought that the economic slow down will hit the world economy and whole business scenario will change. Looking at their past records these company’s has never done anything similar. They are forced to do so due to some factor which was beyond their control. During the economic slow down period everything was uncertain nobody was sure about what’ll happen in future, since how long it’ll continue. The need of the hour then was to survive till the time situation improves. So during that period the steps taken by Company’s like Infosys etc. in cancelling the job offers made was appropriate and need of the hour. I’m sure this will never affect the competitive advantage of Infosys nor it’ll cause any damage to the best employer image of Infosys.

But I’m not agree with Infosys spokesperson’s statement .Infosys being a such highly rated organization among job seekers they should have made it clear to the students of IIT how the changing business environment has forced them to take such harsh step rather it seems Infosys was trying to defend itself by saying they had given students only “Intent of offer”. Infosys should have been more transparent with the students and every body was aware about economic slow down and people will understand the criticality of the situation.

If I would have been the placement coordinator I would have tried to spoken to various companies’s to accommodate our students. I would have utilized my connection or network to accommodate our students even in small quantity. Also I would have spoken to the students make them understood about the criticality of the situation and would have told the students to have patience and wait for the situations to improve, they have their entire career lying ahead. They should not take any step immediately which will affect their career in future. In the mean time I would have utilized my resources to accommodate maximum students in various organizations.

Fortunately none of my friends has gone through this situation.

1. Best employer image of these organisations was developed over the years & on account of the best practices adopted by them. Recession has affected IT industry most badly because of the economic slow down in the countries they are doing business with. Hence decision of not employing the new people goes with the current business scenario & will not affect either the company image or the competitive advantage these organisations have. (This fact was underlined by the huge response these organisations receive whenever they announce any job vacancies.) World wide economic slowdown was known to most of the people in India as well, hence by solely depending on the jobs in these industries students themselves are to be blamed for not keeping the backup plan ready & in some cases blowing up the same (by shelving the plans of further studies).
2. Since it was intent of offer & not the offer letter for the job Infosys has clearly escaped from the situation which might have been foreseen by their HR. Yes, legally they are not bound to accommodate the new people whom they have issued intent of offer letter but the act will certainly disappoint the prospective good candidates.
3. It was difficult to control the policies of the organisation coming to your campus for selecting the students. As a placement co-ordinator I am suggesting following measures A.) Guidelines for the students to help them in making the right decision. B.) Delaying the process of campus recruitment as suggested in the article will give less time to the respective organisations for rethinking the decision made by them. C.) Inviting more & more organisations to campus & categorising them in different groups (A,B,C etc) based on the market status, salary offered, no of jobs offered by them etc. D.) Students to be allowed to accept one job per group & maximum of 3 jobs so as to accommodate all students of the batch. This way student will have jobs in best & moderate companies but it will at least ensure them the job.
4. Yes, one of my friend has faced similar situation but instead of getting disappointed by it he decided to continue with the further studies. After completing his MBA from the reputed institute he was able to secure a better job than what he was offered before. Here I must agree that unless you have strong financial background it is not possible to continue with the further studies, which was not in some the cases of the students mentioned in the article.

Letter of Offer Vs.Letter of Intent

I think that the cancellation of such an offer from a big brand like Infosys would not much hamper its brand image as we are not in a suitable position to firmly comment on the same,because its not too clear what was in between the lines.Yes, discouraging Mumbai IIT students is not a good thing to feel about but if we look the economy all over the world,Infosys cant be blamed for the same,people in huge numbers in the US lost their jobs and even offer letters in some organizations were cancelled,but we need to be professional and act matured to believe that the reason was the economic slowdown.If the organization would have been into such a practice in regular then no doubt the reputation goes on for a toss but it was seen once in the history so brand image getting hampered is not a proper comment to be made."If Sachin Tendulkar leaves the cricket field on a duck for few times regularly that does not mean he is not the best batsman in the world" The students from a reputed institution like IIT Mumbai should not be discouraged as its just the beginning of the career and hence look for better opportunities futher as they have a huge brand name(IIT MUMBAI) under their belt.

And if we look on the spokesperson who states that they have not cancelled any job offer as the students were handed the INTENT OF OFFER and not the letter of appointment.Also it seems to be a clear misunderstanding between the placement coordinator and the Infosys paraphrasing,the students are just beginers and also inexperienced,so they should not take this as a huge blow rather should grab better opportunities.

If i would have been the placement coordinator at IIT Mumbai,i would have got in touch with the senior officials and sought out ways of getting the students fit into the system in near future,or look for a differnt employer which best suits their profile,as in the economic situation its hard for anybody to be jobless.

As of now luckily niether me nor any of my closed ones have faced such a situation.And hope none of us face this kind of unhappy situation.

Letter of Offer Vs.Letter of Intent

The Letter of Offer and Letter of Intent has same meaning as it has been issued by company to the Prospective candidate. The offer or letter of intent has been issued to candidate after completing the rigourous selection procedure in campus. Once the Letter of Intent has been issued and accepted by candidate it is the obligation from the company to abide. Yes the Company may extend the date due to Economy slow down which is always a temporary phenomenon in todays political scenareo in Developed and developing country where Government is aware of the economic situation and how to comeout of the same.

A-1 - I do agree that Company's Brand Image will be affected by cancelling the Letter of Intent due to slowdown. Since to built a strong Brand it takes years time but frequent happening of above will definitely hamper the Brand image. Word of mouth , Press release will go against the company's image. It may loose the competitive advantages. Good Talent may not choose the Company as Best Employer to Work with.

A-2 - I donot agree with Infy's spokeperson comment on Letter of Intent and Letter of offer. Legally both the terms are same. If the letter of Intent is accepted by the candidate than it is same as letter of offer.

A-3 -if I would have been the placement cordinator of IIT Mumbai , I would have strongly communicate to the company about the Placement policy of Institute. Yes it is true that due to slowdown the requirement of the company is not so urgent as it is required during the boom period but the date of joining can be extended and I would like to convince the company about the same. Next year I will be very cautious and careful to invite company whose policy of selection is not matching to the placement policy of IIT Mumbai.

A-4 - None of my freind has faced such type of situation

Q1:- The cancellation of job offers at IIT, Mumbai would affect the Best Employer Brand Image of the IT firm and thereby reducing its competitive advantage. The applicants at IIT had an image of the IT firms as some of the Best Employer in terms of pay packets, future opportunities, prospects, terms & conditions. But letter of regret from Infosys provided the greatest shock as company is now headed by Mr. Nandan Nilekani, IIT Mumbai's most famous alumnus. The letter of offer was given in January & within a span of 3 months letter of regret was delivered. The letter also came at the time when there were hardly any more companies coming to recruit and it was also too late to apply for US Scholarship. In short the letter of regret came when there was hardly any time to look for other options.

An employer's brand image is the sum of the company's efforts to communicate to existing & prospective employees what makes it a desirable place to work. Employer brand management expands the scope of this brand intervention beyond communication to incorporate every aspect of the employment experience, people management process & practices (often referred to as 'touch points' that shape the perceptions of existing & prospective employees. In other words, employer brand management addresses the reality of the employment experience and not simply its presentation. By doing so it supports both external recruitment of the right kind of talent sought by an organisation to achieve its goals & subsequent desire for effective employee engagement and employee retention.

The image of the Best Employers has got damaged as the students have to search for jobs without any option. It would be necessary for the companies to review the recruitment policy at regular intervals so that the students are not affected especially during the period of recession.

Q2:- It is agreed that Intent of offer means an offer of employment to a candidate in future when vacancies are likely to arise. It is not a letter of appointment. However, since the offer came from a company like Infosys which is headed by Mr. Nandan Nilekani, IIT Mumbai's most famous alumnus, the students cannot be faulted for treating it as a letter of appointment. It was not imagined that it will be followed by a letter of regret. They also missed out the opportunity to go US Scholarship. They were left with no choice to search for another job & that too at the time of recession.

It is expected that a company like Infosys fulfill its commitment both in letter and spirit. So, they had given only intent of offer, they had not followed their commitment in spirit. Hence, I do not agree with the statement of Infosys Spoke person.

Q3:- As a placement Coordinator, I will call meeting of IITians who are affected by the cancellation of letters of offers and explain to them the reasons. I will explore further opportunities of advanced courses in IIT. I will promise them as and when things improve they would get priority for placement.

It was only with the coming of the IT boom that they were forced by companies to start the placement process in June / July. In view of employment uncertainty it is proper that the placement process should start late. I will prevail upon the companies to start the placement process in October.

IIT is a leading educational institution of talented & brilliant students and Infosys is also a leading company in IT industry. As a placement coordinator at IIT, I will convey to Infosys HR that when such events take place the reputation of both i.e. IIT as well as Infosys can get affected. Besides Infosys, I will also prevail upon other companies to review their placement process so that the students are not affected much.

Q4:- One of my relatives Sushant received Intent of offer with a salary of Rs. 4 lakh from a reputed software company in 2009. He was looking forward to the job with a good starting salary. After one month he received a regret e-mail cancelling the job offer. His dreams got shattered. His father is retied and his elder sister is the only earning member in the family. She is also of marriageable age and good marriage proposals are coming from all sides. But she was waiting for her brother to get placed before her marriage took place. Now Sushant has completed his education and because of recession there were no immediate opportunities for him.

But Sushant didn't allow the circumstances to deter him. He forwarded his C.V. to many software firms. He was called for interview in small company where the nature of job didn't fully match his educational qualification. Also salary offered was around 60% of that offered in earlier job. He accepted the offer. Now he is trying till today with hope that he will get a golden opportunity. He is appearing for some competitive exams for fellowship. His sister also got married in May 2010. She encouraged him to struggle for golden opportunity. Now, with a positive hope he is making hard efforts to be competent.

From Rajesh Nerurkar (U610040)

LETTER OF INTENT

In my opinion The Best Employer Brand Image of the firm will certainly be affected by these type of incidents, but the impact of these incidents will depends on how big is the brand image.If this type of incidents occurs repeatedly in a firm then definitely the firm will loose its competitive advantage in job market. The brands like Infosys and TCS will have a small impact and for short duration. While going through the blog I read about the organisation ethics, I do agree that the cancellation of job offer is against the organisation ethics and it will damage The Best Employer Brand Image and thereby reduce the competitive advantage. But in the economic slowdown if all the other firms are cutting cost to get the competitive advantage in the business then one has to take this type of unpleasant decision to be in the business even though these are against the ethics.

In second case Infosys spokesperson is trying to safeguard his firm by taking the help of legal terminology " Intent of offer". They could have avoided this misunderstanding if they had explained the difference between the letter of Intent and job offer to the candidates at the time of recruitment.

If I was a placement officer, I would have worked on three options to resolve the placement issue. First convince the existing placement firms to stick to their commitments or take at lease some of the candidates.Second - invited other firms for placements. Third - would have analysed the past data of effect of slowdown and boom of economy on the employment market of different industry sectors and then would have decided the campus recruitment dates.

No none of my friend had gone through such type of experience.

Business Perspective to the Cancellation of Intent of Offer

During the time of the 2000 slump, CEO of Veritas Software Corp, a storage software maker, Gary Bloom bravely declared to the media that in-spite of economy downturns, he did not plan to slash expenses. The company would remain fully invested in research and development and sales operations. This defying statement and action resulted in a 26% drop in the stock prices.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to 10th Mar, 2000, the day of dotcom bubble burst. Till then, world economy saw investors, blindly grabbing every new dotcom issue without even looking at its business plan. But, fairy tales have no place in the stock markets. Companies started realizing that they had over estimated the internet phenomenon and began applying brakes to their ambitious investment plans.
Unfortunately and unexpectedly, newsmakers Infosys, a global consulting and IT services company, was also caught in the whirlpool of market recession.

The rationale behind cancelling job offers for IIT, Mumbai could be sending the right signals to the market. Had Infosys not declined the offer letters, it would have projected the image of a highly risk prone organization and would have lost on popularity grounds among the investors.
On the other hand, regarding its image as “the Best Employer”, I completely go with Arup. This is an exceptional episode and shall not individually tarnish the image of Infosys as Great Employers. Infosys has emerged as one of the toughest recruiters of its time. It is a well-known fact, that out of more than 1 million applicants, it recruits less than 1% every year. The number of applicants, keep growing every year which signifies that such small incidents hardly affect the image of the company.

Extract from the case,
“Another student, who was also picked up by Infosys asks:‘‘Why did they present themselves as unaffected by the slowdown when they sent us offer letters? Why are they recruiting fresh students in the first place when those recruited from the last batch are simply sitting on the bench?’’
If we see the milestones achieved by Infosys in the past, we realize that the years 2000 and 2001 were as instrumental as any other year. The company opened offices in Honk Kong and France. It set up development bases in Canada, UK and US. The spectacular growth process continues in the subsequent years and it doubles its revenues every year. (Refer http://www.infosys.com/about/who-we-are/pages/history.aspx). So the claim by the student that Infosys is pretending to be unaffected by the slowdown is unauthenticated. We can only conclude that the reasons for job offer cancellations were strategic business requirements.
Another reason for job cancellation could be the company’s need for different talent during the critical world expansion plans. May be they wanted experienced hands than new comers.

The response by the Infosys Bangalore office regarding the cancellation of the offer is a highly professional piece of rhetoric and completely acceptable. Unfortunately, the candidates have become a victim of non exposure to the general professional practices.

As a IIT course coordinator, I would rework the career planning strategy with students. Instead of banking solely on one prime recruiter, I would ask them to keep their options open and have a back up company or choice as well. The change in campus placement date is a vital step in this regard.

The effect of recruiting 60 new candidates on a company who hires on an average 40 new employees per day, would be minuscule. Yet Infosys takes the decision which speaks about it’s stringent HR practices. Yet I feel, that the stature and credibility that Infosys carries with it’s name, demanded a more innovative handling of the situation rather than cancelling the job offers as an instant cost cutting measures.

Economic Slowdown Spill over

Appears quite unfortunate that renowned companies like Infosys resorting to vocabulary tricks to overcome the effects of unpredictable economic slowdown. Despite this I really do not think that the cancellation of offers or 'intent of offer' would actually going to effect their competitive advantage, though it would certainly impact their 'Best employer image' adversely

The attempt at discouraging new recruits from joining is aimed at retaining the existing talent that they already have. With the Economy Slowing down and profit lines declining the available resources would have to be employed gainfully in the existing people rather than creating new avenues for expenditure which cannot be gainfully employed on any projects as these 'Projects' are simply not there.

On the second point as to whether the letter was an offer or an intent of offer one would actually have to look at the contents of the letter to form a legal interpretation but prima facie it seems that it was an intent of offer, which usually is the normal practice. Once the candidate signs on it and submits it, the company will issue an Appointment letter which becomes an acceptance of the offer given by the candidate.

As a placement coordinator at IIT I would have asked companies to issue Appointment letters rather than offer letters to the candidates who accept their offers. This would help in demonstrating the seriousness of the companies recruitment requirements

Two of my friends have faced a similar scenario and both had to resort to looking for new jobs to overcome the same

Letter of Intent

To answer question no. 1 , I wouldn't feel that by cancelling the job offer a company's competitive edge would reduce . But yes , In a situation like this company's should be very clear on there policies that they adopt and should take great preacaution in taking each step towards employement to keep there reputations high as every individual will be keeping a close watch on big and reputed company's like Infosys . The point that I wanted to make as regards to my answer -As there was a economoic melt down across the world , India too was not left out . As a result the first industry which always get badly affected is the IT industry as the IT companies has a large bench strength and during these situations when projects starts declining the utilisation of the employees reduces drastically and therefore the companies have no option but to issue pink letters to her employees .

To answer question no.2 , Infosys is correct on the legal front as it was only a letter of Intent .But as I mentioned in Ans 1 ( above ) that during these situations when the chips are down , one need to be very carefull. A company like Infosys should have been very carefull a the first place to issue so many Letter of Intents when they know that the markets are down . Once they have issued the Letter of Intents , they should have been prompt in responding to the students about the present market scenario and there unability to take them . I think in this situation , Tata Infotech and SLM software did a good job of issuing regret letters quickly . Tata Infotech went one step ahead and promised them that as and when things improve , they would be the first people to get the position. This statement from the MD of the company will definitely give a competitive edge to Tata's over others . Infosys didn't handle this situation very well .

To answer 3 , If I was the placement coordinator in IIT Powai , I would have changed the process of placement from July to October as the first step and secondly I would have held a seminar for the final year batch as regards to the situation arising out of the economic melt down and informed every one of the present scenario , so that students like Ashwini Tank don't suffer .

I won't be able to answer , no.4 as , luckily I or people that I know, have gone through this experience .

Letter of Intent

Answer to question no 1:

I am agree with Satya that present competetive scenario force people to think differently. The legal and ethical part of business has been kept fully secured by the management still I fill there will be an adverse effect during the time of new employment. Each and every candidate (not only the candidate from IITs ) who are aware of the fact that the organisation treat the candidate during employment so diffrently and that fear factor force the candidate to prioritise such organisation in the lowest rank if option (job opportunity) are available in the same industry or ecconomy where they want to continue their carrier. Unfortunately in india, most of the candidate go by opprtunity not by choice and there is an upperhand and utmost benefit which is exploited by so many organisation and hence there will be a little effect as we have abundunt of resource than the employment


Answer to question no 2:

Yes, Infosys did not cancell the job offer they cancelled intent of offer. Technically they are very correct the only differnce is that the intent of offering 'letter of intent' should be clearly defined. Here most of the organisation keep their rescue option open every time. As a new comer in the industry most of the candidate could not able to differentiate between 'job offer' and the 'letter of intent' and so people blame the employer only. Here the Institution (IIT) has a role to guide their student to understand such very simple yet very sensitive issues. If we understand the intent of the organisation very well then probably one can limit there expectation accordingly and hence there will not be any desaster.



Answer to question no 3:

If i was the co-ordinator I would have negotiated with them even at lower pay package. Other than the negotiation part I woud have opted for other company in the market. Only MNC's and big corporates are not the option during the downstream of market condition.

Answer to question4: No, I do not have such friend of similiar experience hence no comment.

Letter of Intent

1. Yes i agree if pulling back of Letter of intent is happening repeatedly in a perticular company it may effect on the brand Image of the Comapny, But in special cases if the company does so it would not duce the brand image.
2. At the time of Campusing if any company select any student and give him/her The Letter of Intent, but unfortunately the student does not through the final exam of the collage then, the company may pull back the Letter of Intent and in such cases brand Image does not been effected.
3. I have such practical experience with one of my friends. When he got the Letter of Intent the company was going through some critical situation and they had lost their upcoming project. They have pulled back the Letter Of intent and informed him that they will not be able to give him the offer Letter due to to this reason.

This case can be described as, they company had thought of the boy not giving him a change in their company, as their company is already in trouble and they would be able to pay him in proper time, Which has results positive to him, he got a job immediately.

So, it may be case that some time Comapny expects more than they have or sometimes they think of the Candidate. But repeated pull back may obviously pull back the companies reputation and brand image.

Effect on "The Best Employer Brand Image"

Infosys has issued ‘Intent of offer‘ to the selected candidates. The Infosys spokes person has informed that, they have not really cancelled any job offer. In this process Infosys is justifying their position on records basis.
Now the question is how the intent of offers was being perceived by the candidates and placement coordinator? If in the past Infosys was converting all the intent of offer in job offer, the perception must have been that intent of offer is a job offer. The candidates and placement officer was getting assured after receipt of intent of offer.
After cancelation the perception got diluted. Further candidates who were getting assured and reluctant after getting intent of offer will not stop and they will sincerely try for other options. This will lead to less turn up from the selected candidates by Infosys and it the process they may lose more talented candidates to their competitors.
However the issue which we are discussing is a recruitment process and it is one of the components of being a best employer not the whole thing. Therefore how much weightage it will carry to effect on the best employer image is doubtful. And also best employer image comes with experience felt by the employees working in company after recruitment.

LETTER OF INTENT

Question 1:
Ans: In my view I feel that cancelling the job offers by Infosys at IIT,Mumbai can definitely lead to a negative impact on the company and effect its ’ Best Employer’ image .This is because I feel IITians are supposed to be the most eligible candidates for jobs in any company among a group of students from different colleges. Denying job offers to IITians can in fact make other people lose hope on the HR policies of the company, not only in the case of job offers but also in the case of other employee policies. The candidates can be forced to think that if a company can take away the job offer then it can very well fire them in future when it can’t afford to, even if they were recruited in better times. This will make the freshers to opt for other company thinking about their job security in future.This can in turn create bad image for the company.

But lets not blame just the company .The students have to be more careful in such cases. From the article its been made very clear that there was no clarity in the offer letter and this has been highlighted by many of my friends but Arup has pointed it out rightly that it was the students job to get things clear if there was no clarity in the letter. And also Manjushree has mentioned that all options should have been kept open from the students side. But here I have a difference of opinion as this statement would not have been valid for students who had no other options open.

Even if the Infosys image will be affected in future due to this issue, candidates who don’t have any other choice, will not mind opting for Infosys when the company offers a job despite it’s past history. Whereas for students who have ample opportunities they can have a second thought about joining Infosys. So I feel it’s a matter of situation which each person is facing.

In terms of ‘Best employer’ image Infosys’s competitive advantage can be affected. People expect ethical behavior from the company they work with and vice versa. Though the company ‘s spokesperson has justified that the offer letter was just a letter of intent and not the final offer letter ,there was a better way to present its decision to take away the jobs. They could have assured the candidates of job in future in the company once the situation gets better. But instead they sent a letter asking the students to look out for jobs elsewhere. This would have given the students a crippled feeling altogether.




Question2:
Ans: I totally disagree the statement made by the spokesperson. In the letter it is clearly stated that the students should stop expecting job from the company and start searching elsewhere. This statement clearly tells that Infosys had promised to offer jobs earlier.

The spokesperson has denied offering any offer letter. He has justified the mistake in front of the media by telling that it was just a letter of intent. My comment is that if it was a letter of intent ,the letter should have contained the certainty in terms of the date of joining or at least if Infosys was not able to mention the date so early they should have mentioned a tentative date.

If the company’s HR was refined in their behavior and really caring about the employee’s future they would have mentioned that they were not sure about the date when they could recruit and also would have given them a hint of not being able to recruit stating economic slowdown in the worst case. This would have given the students a better clarity on what to do and take a safe step ahead considering other options. Instead of being humble enough, the company recruited many when they really dint need and also sent them the letter of intent igniting their hopes all the more. This may be because they dint want to lose their brand image of ‘Best Employer’ in the market whichis quite clear.

All these possibilities which were not mentioned in the letter of intent clearly shows that the company cancelled the job offers when they could not afford for the extra resource during the economic crisis.

Once the letter is sent from the company whether its letter of intent or offer its well understood by both the employer and the employee that the job is secure .In the Infosys case also the letter was sent and ignoring the fact that it was just a letter of intent and nothing more than that is something which needs clarity in every organizational HR policy.



Question 3:
Ans: If I was the Placement coordinator I would have negotiated with the company for lower salaries with the jobs in hand, provided the students accepted. Though the IITians would never go for such low salaries ,still thinking about the opening they got in the initial years of their career I feel they would agree to it.

If that din’t work out I would have discussed with the management and tried to accommodate few unemployed students in the college for various jobs till they got jobs in the market or till they explored someo ther opportunity with a fixed time perios say 6 months.This cannot be afforded every year as themanagement may get crippled with the additional expenses. So this could be avoided in future by reviewing the placement methodology and keeping it in a period when the students have time to work for the other opportunities in hand.This would not leave many unemployed .

As the economy is facing crisis and when larger companies like Infosys are cancelling the job offers I would not be able to help the students to face interviews from other smaller companies. May be hunting for vacancies in MNCs in places, where the effect due to the economic crisis is less or rather negligible would be the other option I would consider. Also I would hunt for job vacancies through the strong alumni association at IIT.


Question no: 4
Ans: None of my friends have faced this situation. So I cannot comment on this issue.