Indian outsourcing giant Wipro has begun recruiting directly from UK university campuses and is reportedly planning a new development centre with 500 staff - a reversal from the usual perception that Britain is losing jobs to outsourcing specialist India.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that Wipro will take part in the "milk round" at Manchester and Warwick universities, as well as at the Cranfield School of Management.
Wipro confirmed to IT PRO that it is looking to recruit from the top business schools in the UK and Europe, and has already attended career fairs at France-based business school INSEAD, the University of Manchester's Business School and Cranfield. More university visits are scheduled in coming months, the firm said.
Wipro, which already has 1,800 employees in Britain, said it is looking for graduates in technology and business areas, especially in client facing roles such as consulting, sales, and programme management.
The Telegraph report also said Wipro is expected to announce a new development centre in Birmingham which will employ 500 people. Wipro could not confirm the Birmingham location, as it has not yet finalised plans for new expansions, but said it is considering opening new centres which would be located near client locations.
The firm announced in January plans to hire 500 new UK employees. "United Kingdom has been a key part of our global services vision from the beginning," Sudip Banerjee, Wipro's president of enterprise solutions said at the time. "The expansion of the UK facility is part of a strategic initiative to build a strong local presence and also ties in with our aggressive growth plans."
