Chennai: Hiring for IT graduates in the country would witness a slight difference from this year, as hiring patterns have changed and priorities placed on soft skills and domain-based specialization, said a top NASSCOM official.

"The hiring might not be the same from this year, since the hiring patterns has changed," NASSCOM president Som Mittal told reporters here.

He also attributed the slow hiring pattern to the slow attrition rates in the country, "When the attrition rates are less, naturally hiring rates will also be slower."

As to whether the hiring will be less, he said, "The numbers will not be as big as it used to be. Though, we will be hiring in 2014-15, they will actually be for 2015-16, so that they can go through their training. We spend over two per cent of our revenue for training."

The hiring would happen this year in two phases - September to October and in May to July, he said, adding, in the first phase it will happen in the seventh semester and the other will happen once the student graduates.

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