IBM had recruited 70 out of 500 respondents in a similar off-campus drive held last year. “This year, we expect about 1,000 students for the two-day drive,” said Shitalkumar Rawandale, president, FTPO.

Students from 30 engineering colleges in the city, who are also members of FTPO, can take part in the drive.

This is the first off-campus recruitment this year. “It has come as a surprise as students were not expecting any company to hire at this time of the year,” said Rawandale, who is also the training and placement officer with PCCOE.

Off-campus drives are held when the company needs people considering the projects in hand. “The drive is being held directly by the company.”

When questioned about whether IBM will honour all the offers, a company representative replied in the positive. “We are looking for more people and will honour the offers we make.”

The drive is meant for students of IT, computers, electronics and telecommunication, electrical and instrumentation engineering and MCA. They will have to go through an aptitude test, technical test, personal interview and group discussion. “The company is hoping to fill positions like senior developers, associate system engineers and so on,” he said.

Friday is designated for freshers; students who will pass out this year with more than 60 per cent in the last semester. Saturday will have those who have passed out in 2006-07, 2007-08 and have lost their jobs or whose offers were not honoured by companies. “Students coming on this day must have 1-18 months of experience in JAVA, Unix, CC++, Oracle, Mainframes, DBMS, software testing and SAP,” Rawandale said. It is estimated that companies had not honoured their offers to 1,500-2,000 students who passed out in the past two years.