Online hiring activity picks up 5% in Sep, outlook bullish

Online hiring grew at a clip of 5 per cent in September, mainly driven by sectors like IT/ITeS and banking, and the outlook appears bullish with the festive season round the corner, says a report.
The Naukri Job Speak Index for September stood at 1,888, a gain of 5 per cent in hiring activity over the same period last year.
"After an impressive 22 per cent and 10 per cent year- on-year growth in July and August, respectively, the September index seems to have slowed a bit, but the good news is the sustained positive momentum in key sectors like IT/ITeS and banking," Naukri.Com Chief Sales Officer V Suresh said.

Suresh noted that "with the festive season round the corner, we can expect the index to move further north in the next few quarters. Good times ahead for jobseekers across sectors".
Industry-wise, while IT openings -- software/software services -- grew at a moderate 6 per cent, it was an impressive 20 per cent for ITeS/BPO industry in September.
In contrast, IT-hardware saw jobs declining 20 per cent in September this year compared with a year earlier.

Banking/financial services jobs rose 25 per cent while insurance clocked an even more impressive 43 per cent yearly growth in September.
In terms of profession, IT-software expanded at 6 per cent, but IT-hardware jobs fell 5 per cent. Pharma/biotech was in a better shape, clocking 12 per cent growth.

Traditional functional areas like sales and marketing and advertising continued to show stable growth.
The report further noted that among metro cities, all except Delhi saw either a flat growth or a dip when it came to jobs expansion.
Delhi NCR recorded a 10 per cent annual increase in jobs. Bangalore jobs were flat at 2 per cent while Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata saw a modest yearly gain of 5 per cent.
Mumbai and Chennai jobs actually went down compared with the previous year by 2 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively, the report added.