With thousands facing layoffs in Satyam, companies swoop down on its Orkut community with job offers

The first thing on the mind of a Satyam employee these days is a job.

Jolted by one of the biggest frauds in India's corporate history, Satyam employees are now hunting for a way out of the beleaguered firm. Thankfully, help is not far away.

Satyam's Orkut community has seen a significant rise in job postings from Wednesday and many companies as well as placement agents have come forward to recruit these executives. This may sound even more interesting in view of the fact that only two job postings were there on the company's Orkut site in November-December 2008.

Sudhanshu (name changed on request), a junior executive with Satyam, said, "We are jittery. In the time of recession, it is difficult to find jobs and we can be asked to leave anytime now. The company's share prices have plummeted. We are all looking for jobs."

With Satyam founder-chairman Ramalinga Raju owning up to fraud, more than 10,000 panic-stricken employees are facing being sacked. However, the Satyam brand name may help them in getting new jobs fast.

"I know it's a tough time for all of you. I work in RBS, Gurgaon, and there are some opportunities here. So if you are ready to shift to Gurgaon and have at least three years of experience, pass me your CV at viralajmera@gmail.com. Only permanent employees please. Freshers kindly do not send your resume," said a posting on the Orkut site.

"This is Bala from Quest Consulting Services, Hyderabad. We offer search services to leading IT-MNC organisations in India. This is with reference to the openings in Datawarehousing for the post of Asst Manager/Manager /Executive Manager at Hyderabad," said another posting.u00a0

Apna techies at the Hitech City office, who otherwise would have been glued to their terminals all day, wouldn't glance at their systems anymore. I, the TL (Team Leader) of my department, too, can't do much to bring them back to their seats. And so is the case with other TLs. The mood across the bays is "When we aren't sure of our jobs, why slog?" So while the spin-doctors are busy finding solutions, we are living it up. Kya pataa, kal job ho na ho!

I worked as a ru00c3u00a9sumu00c3u00a9 writer before I landed a lucrative job with Satyam BPO. Filling up objectives and fixing educational details were a regular affair until I got into that Yankee yak. Never knew my ru00c3u00a9sumu00c3u00a9 writing skills would be of any use here. Yeah, my colleagues, bosses, workers from other verticals and even other offices have approached me with their CVs for touch-up. Well, it isn't as if the entire Satyam services has come up to me, but whatever I can gather out of it, the scene is grim, man. Blame it on the hysteria, no one wants to take chances. I can't differentiate between Hitech City and Ramoji Film City. Our modest tech den resembles a film's set these days. With hundred of media persons posted 24x7 and click happy photographers all around, there's a starry air that is now surrounding techies. It's amazing to see the photographers go berserk every time someone steps out. Janitor, employee or visitoru00a0they are capturing everyone. My colleague, Mr Samrtpants was called by a TV reporter for a sound byte. And know what? Smartie called up home and shouted at the top of his voice to say he was on "Tallyveeson". Yeah, we heard you.