Headhunters specialising in IT recruitment spoke of a spurt in the number of applicants since the day after the Satyam fiasco. “In a single day the number of job applicants has gone up 7-8 per cent at the middle and top management levels, and 16-17 per cent at the lower levels as such employees are more insecure,” said Ankusha Barghav of Mokasha HR Placement Service.

“All applicants who approached us are ready to relocate if there are suitable openings,” Barghav added.

“We don’t have much choice. I have been in Pune with my family for four years but now job security is more important,” said Reuben, a Satyam employee.

Barghav said many rival companies of Satyam already have a database of prospective employees and many from Satyam feature in it. They are directly in touch with those companies.

Ravi Mirchandani of Career Placements said things could worsen. “Many employees might still be in shock and they too could approach placement agencies later. But the worry is that since the economic slowdown, recruitment in the IT industry too has slowed down,” he said.

Ganesh Natarjan, chairman of Nasscom, conceded that in the present IT scenario there might not be scope for a mass exodus from Satyam.