Jobs Are Back

Emerging from the pandemic-induced slump, India's white-collar job market is buzzing with opportunities as industries find newer applications for technology. But, hiring new people has become a showstopper as the gap between required skill-sets and available manpower widens

- Vidya S.

IF YOU'RE LOOKING to change jobs, now may be a good time because the Indian white-collar job market has well and truly shed its Covid-19 blues to turn red hot. In April 2022, job portal Naukri. com’s JobSpeak Index grew 38 per cent year-on-year to 2,863, hovering around a lifetime high. A revival to the pre-pandemic levels also seems well within reach. In the same month, competitor Monster.com recorded the highest level of engagement and job activity on its portal seen during the two pandemic years with its Employment Index hitting 295. It was 296 in March 2020.

The frenetic pace of digital transformation across organisations after the first wave of Covid-19 and the ensuing rush for IT talent in the country drove most of this hiring demand. The IT/tech sector saw 74 per cent hiring growth on Naukri. com during September 2021-February 2022 compared to the year-ago period. “Digital skills are the hottest and demand far outstrips supply. This is one area where there is a gap, despite efforts to upskill and reskill,” says Richard Lobo, Executive Vice President and Head of HR at Infosys.

It also brought to the fore a macro trend that IT/tech has gone from being a separate vertical to horizontal across industries. For instance, HDFC Bank found customers willing to accept a digital meeting versus a physical one to discuss financial products. “That puts demand back on the organisation for tech talent, cloud engineering, business applications developers and people who can manage hardware, software and the whole nine yards around it,” says CHRO Vinay Razdan.