Revival Sign: Hiring Up in Some Sectors

MUMBAI: In signs of revival, hiring has picked up in select sectors and profiles. Industry experts said over the last couple of weeks, they have seen an uptick in hiring compared to the last couple of months.
Although the data is raw, sectors such as edutech, e-commerce, data processing, supply chain management, banking, FMCG, healthcare, insurance, digital experts, fintech and pharma have witnessed an increase in hiring.

During lockdown, recruitment volumes were down nearly 80% for some firms as compared to pre-Covid levels, industry sources said. Aditya Mishra, CEO, CIEL HR Services, which has presence in 39 locations across the country, said these have come back to 50% of pre-Covid levels.
“Hiring is picking up in select sectors, and the momentum will continue. However, sectors like tourism are unlikely to see any major progress,” said Mishra.
Sanjay Shetty, head (strategic account management), Randstad India, said, “By the end of June, hiring should stabilise for some sectors and reach pre-Covid levels. Sectors like aviation, tourism and hospitality would take time to revert to their earlier levels. However, parts of manufacturing and telecom, to some extent, are expected to see a pick-up.”
According to TeamLease Services, the job functions (within industries) that are currently the most in demand or growing include education.
In the immediate run, the firm said, the profiles that are growing include doctors, nurses, paramedics, phlebologists and other professionals in healthcare; production, sales and logistics professionals in FMCG; warehouse executives and delivery agents in e-commerce; housekeeping staff in facility management and cyber security professionals, among others. In the medium-to-long term, digital marketers, sales executives and technology experts in Banking Financial Services Industry are expected to be more in demand.

Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder & executive VP, TeamLease Services, however, said one should be cautious making predictions on whether the hiring growth momentum would continue. “Hiring is happening but in a very need-based, transactional manner. The hiring industry is not even at 30% of what we should ideally be. Companies are very cautious about adding new headcount. One must bear in mind that businesses are not fully functional yet,” said Chakraborty.
On the other hand, with all services now focusing on becoming ‘contactless’, roles in fintech and digital are in demand. Tech, IT-enabled services and e-commerce form a big chunk of the hiring pie. “The overall impact which the lockdown has had will bottom out and a majority of sectors will begin to hire. With a lot of businesses now having a good grip on ‘work from home’, normalcy should return to India Inc. and hiring indicators point to that direction,” said Shetty.

Source: ToI

Image Courtesy: Turesol