Chennai: Fresh IT graduates are now willing to prefer jobs other than in the software sector as they are increasingly moving towards various sectors like automotive, electronic and other manufacturing sectors as a result of high pay packages, world class facilities and overseas postings offered by those sectors, reported Business Line.

Though offers are still flooding from IT sector, many of the fresh faces are approaching other sectors also as they don't want to get benched. "You don't get to see the larger picture, you only do your module and that's it; we don't want to be a faceless entity among the thousands of IT industry recruits;" "we don't want to be treated on par with science graduates," some IT graduates said.

"Freshers are increasingly aware of the options and value the quality of job content, satisfaction and career growth,"said, E. Balaji, CEO, Ma Foi Management Consultants.

He further added, "The last 18-24 months have been a challenging phase for the IT industry - it started last year with the rupee appreciation, and this year the industry was hit by the U.S. slowdown, sub-prime lending issues and the BFSI sector globally going through a challenging phase. The slowdown in IT could be a gain for other sectors."

B. Santhanam, Managing Director, Saint Gobain Glass India, sees many themes emerging. "While long term prospects for the IT industry are good, the present slowdown is causing a reappraisal of jobs in the IT sector by students and their families, which have a huge role to play in job choices," he mentioned.

Also, he says, in the quest for numbers, the IT industry recruited in droves, with perhaps many not really fit for IT. "While this reassessment is happening, the manufacturing industry too has picked up steam," he said.