The Opening of the Job Market. Be Prepared. Keep Upskilling

According to Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the plight of salaried employees worsened since the lockdown began as by July, their losses had swelled to 18.9 million. The think tank also quoted that “While salaried jobs are not lost easily, once lost they are also far more difficult to retrieve”. According to it, a total of 11 million job losses were recorded. But since the past few weeks, things have started coming out of the bleak. 

Last month, Google launched Kormo Jobs in India to help job seekers find and apply for positions in India. On the other hand, a survey by Sulekha.com based on visits and searches by over 5,49,000 users across India that landed on its platform in July reported that job training and placement consultancies were among the top three online searches that witnessed a considerable spike. Cities that lead in these searches are Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad. 

Yet another report by Board Infinity revealed that Q1 FY2020 witnesses rising job opportunities in IT, Finance, Media & Pharma sectors. The survey was conducted amongst 2320 freshers and working professionals, and also included 235 startups, mid-large companies and SMEs. The study also mentioned that there was a 20 percent jump in hiring in data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence, digital marketing, SEO and social media positions. According to the company’s research there are job placements in various sectors - 28.3 percent in IT & Services, 14.3 percent in Media, 19.8 percent in E-Learning, 11.9 percent in Marketing & Advertising, 11.1 percent in Pharma, 7.9 percent in Civil & Social, 9.5 percent in Financial Services and the least of 1.6 percent in Automotive Industry.

“Although the hiring has picked up pace, there has been a dramatic change in the process for many companies. Initially full time offers were the norm but in these testing times, HRs have started opting for an internship to PPO model for better conversions and long term association with the candidates.  Today we are seeing new age companies finding hackathons, and virtual scalable hiring models as a better means to shortlist appropriate candidates in this unbalanced supply and demand market,” said Sumesh Nair, Co-Founder, Board Infinity when talking about the changing hiring behaviour.

The Good Days have just Begun

With the sudden rise of companies going online post the pandemic, IT companies have received huge orders to fulfill. To fulfill their commitment and the new orders that are pouring in, companies are hiring new professionals while even honoring the offers made to graduates during campus hiring. While hiring almost froze in the Q1 FY2020 due to lockdown, unlock 1.0 saw a little surge in hiring while today, almost over one lakh job openings are available on various hiring platforms.. In July, just a day after the Delhi Government launched a job portal to connect potential employers with people who lost their jobs during the lockdown, the state’s CM Arvind Kejriwal announced that the website received over 100,000 vacancies posts. Similar portals are launched by corporates and governments to connect job seekers with employers. 

Not just in India, hiring has picked up globally. Infosys alone has increased its hiring commitment to 25000 jobs by 2022 in the US, with a commitment to 12000 new American jobs in the next two years. The company will target experienced technology professionals and recent graduates from major universities, liberal arts colleges, and community colleges apart from preparing the workers for the 21st century careers through various training and reskilling programs. “Our commitment to creating 12,000 new American jobs comes at a critical moment as the COVID-19 pandemic has created economic turmoil,” said Ravi Kumar, President, Infosys. 

With the industry opening up, and various government initiatives taking precedence, the employment scenario in the country and the world over will improve in a period of a year. The only need is constant reskilling and upskilling.