HCLTech doubles down on specialised talent hiring | Bengaluru News

Bengaluru: HCLTech is offering up to four times higher compensation for freshers who specialise in high-demand areas such as AI, cybersecurity, and digital engineering. Ramachandran Sundararajan, chief people officer at HCLTech, said, “Our recruitment emphasises niche capabilities in data, AI, cyber and enterprise technology.” He noted that about 15%–20% of this year’s fresher intake is expected to fall into the premium skill category, subject to candidates meeting company standards.HCLTech aims to exceed last year’s fresher hiring number of 7,850 in the current fiscal. While there is no fixed target for premium fresher hiring, the company sees strong early traction. HCLTech has significantly onboarding 1,984 freshers in the June quarter—double the intake from the same period last year.To support its AI-first approach, HCLTech has trained 127,000 employees in foundational AI, with 42,000 certified in advanced generative AI. Currently, 12,000 professionals are engaged in GenAI projects—a number that is expected to grow in the coming quarters.This large-scale upskilling is central to HCLTech’s transition toward agentic AI, which includes its AI Force platform and integration of GenAI into software and operational workflows. Its CEO and MD C Vijayakumar said, “Our aim is to achieve 18%–19% margins through technology investments and strategic workforce planning.” Despite a sequential decline of 161 basis points in EBIT margin—largely due to premium hiring and skill-location mismatches—the company expects to resolve these headwinds within two quarters. On lateral hiring, HCLTech continues to take a demand-led approach. Sundararajan said, “Lateral recruitment has remained steady over five quarters, focusing on meeting client requirements.”The company believes it stands out through its engineering depth, proprietary IP, and AI-enabled service transformation, even as GenAI adoption becomes more widespread across the industry.Vijayakumar said, “Our focus is on comprehensive enterprise solutions beyond basic coding assistance.” While acknowledging that only 15%–20% of the available talent is currently “AI-ready,” he said HCLTech remains confident in its talent acquisition and development programmes.