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.