Business sentiments rebound; junior level hiring to gain momentum

Tier II cities will see maximum hiring, says TeamLease Services

An improved macro economic condition coupled with India Inc’s plans to ramp up capacity and enter new markets seems to be having a positive impact on the hiring sentiments. Job growth is expected to be in double digits for half of the sectors and most of the cities indicating good times for employees, said a report.

According to TeamLease Services, India’s largest composite staffing company, Employment and Business Outlook Report for the half year (HY2) period from October 2014 to March 2015, tier II cities will see more hiring as business sentiment rebounds and the biggest impetus will be for junior level hiring as job growth rate touches a 24-month high.

The report also said that the demand for mid level talent is muted, the biggest gainer in the coming half year (Oct ’14 – Mar ’15) will be the junior and senior level profiles with a five and four per cent increase respectively.  Kunal Sen, Senior Vice President, TeamLease Services said, “We are seeing increased hiring mandates. After year-long fluctuations, the overall business and hiring sentiment seems to have stabilised and is seen moving towards growth. We are confident the trend will translate into action on ground.”

From a sector perspective, except for infrastructure, all the other sectors have expressed a healthy growth in their hiring intentions. While IT, Healthcare & Pharma and Retail seems to be the primary drivers, Telecom, FMCD, FMCG and Financial Services also contributes to the upward movement in the hiring sentiment. However, despite a 14 per cent increase in the business sentiment, the hiring outlook in Infrastructure seems to be on a downward trajectory.

Looking from a city perspective more than half the cities have indicated a significant increase in their hiring sentiments. Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad seem to be topping the charts with a six to seven per cent increase in their hiring intentions.  

According to the report, due to increasing globalization and the growth of consumer technology Indian employers are looking at a paradigm shift in the way their businesses are going to be run and the profile of talent they would be acquiring. They are increasingly stressing on hiring superior technological expertise as well as better skilled employees. While profiles like Voice processes, Administrative / accounting, Quality control, etc were widely sought after earlier, the coming half year will see a drop in their demand. Some of the profiles that are in demand in the coming half year are Product /project management, New Social Media Management, Big Data and Predictive analytics, etc.

Elaborating on another key organisational aspect of attrition, the report states that expectation mismatch seems to be the biggest cause of concerns for employees and employers alike. This could be because of the increasingly complex and challenging business environment that been created over the past year or two. The growing stress on candidate centric approach in talent acquisition and retention amongst employers will help bridge this gap and bring in more stability.

KEY FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

* A 24-month high Job growth rate is likely to favour Information Technology [+1.47%], FMCD [+1.08%] and Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals [+0.85%] the most, among sectors, and Mumbai [+1.57%], Delhi [+3.79%], Bangalore [+2.69%] and Ahmadabad [+2.29%] among cities.

* Junior- (1 - 3 years' experience) [+5%] and Senior-level [+4%] profiles are likely to be in high demand

Top three sectors (by city) in terms of employment outlook growth

* Bangalore: Retail (6%) / Financial Services (5%) / Healthcare & Pharma (3%)

* Pune: Financial Services (6%) / Healthcare & Pharma (5%) / Manufacturing & Engineering (4%)

* Ahmedabad: Infrastructure (6%) / Telecom (4%) / Retail (3%)