Talent shortage making it difficult to fill vacancies: survey

According to ManpowerGroup Talent Shortage Survey, 13% of Indian employers are echoing the sentiment

About 58% of India employers report difficulties filling job vacancies due to talent shortage,  a ManpowerGroup survey revealed. Their annual Talent Shortage Survey said that there was a year­over­year decrease of 6% as compared to 2014 (64%).

The survey said that 9% of Indian employers recognise that talent shortage is having a negative impact on their businesses, but few employers are putting in place talent strategies to address the problem.

Employers in India are having the most difficulty filling jobs in accounting and finance, IT staff and secretaries, personal assistants, receptionists, administrative assistants & office support staff as compared to last year when IT Staff, Accounting and Finance staff and sales Managers were the most difficult positions to fill.

According to the survey, 13% of India employers say talent shortage is having a serious negative impact on their ability to meet client needs. Consequences include reduced competitiveness / productivity (29%), increased employee turnover (17%) and low employee engagement/ morale (14%). When asked why they are struggling to fill certain jobs, employers cite a lack of available and a lack of employability or lack of 'soft' skills.

A G Rao, Group Managing Director, ManpowerGroup India said: "Amid speculations and apprehensions, people are hoping for burgeoning job opportunities across sectors. Professionals who have strong domain knowledge and hands-on experience are preferred. Big data, data analytics and SMAC (social media, mobile, analytics and cloud) are the buzzwords."

Jobs most in demand in 2015 in India

Accounting and Finance staff

IT Staff

Secretaries, PAs, Receptionists, Administrative assistants, and office support

Teachers

Engineers

Marketing/Public Relations/Communications Staff

Sales Managers

Management / Executive (Management/Corporate)

Legal Staff(Solicitors, Lawyers, Legal secretaries)

Researchers (R&D)