The recruitment indices for December 2016 show an inclination towards hiring mid-level professionals, who have 2-5 years of experience seeing 11 percent rise in demand. Professionals with 10-20 years of experience saw 10 percent rise in demand and those with over 20 years of experience saw 9 percent rise in demand in December 2016.
“Professionals with 2 to 5 years of experience have the right combination of experience, energy and passion to adapt quickly, pick up new skills, and capitalise on training and development opportunities to accelerate both their own and the company’s growth.” says Nilanjan Roy, Head of Strategy, Times Business Solutions.
As part of the year-end RecruiteX report, TimesJobs includes a special retrospective ‘Recruitment Practices Survey 2016’ with inputs from over 800 employers to capture how recruitments panned out over the year. The findings of this survey corroborated facts from December 2016 RecruiteX report with 60% surveyed employers claiming that middle level staff was indeed the most hired experienced category of 2016, followed by junior level employees (25%) and senior staff (15%).
Among industries, IT, BPO/ITeS, automobile, BFSI and healthcare sectors mostly hired for the mid-level professionals, while manufacturing and retail sectors hired most at junior levels.
2016: A better hiring year compared to 2015
According to the RecruiteX report hiring posted an average 2 percent rise during Nov-Dec 2016. While November saw a 10 percent rise in demand, December 2016 registered a 6 percent drop. Nonetheless, overall 2016 was a better year for recruitment than 2015, according to the ‘Recruitment Practices Survey 2016’ with nearly 60 percent employers saying that overall hiring has improved in 2016, in comparison to 2015.
Of the 60 percent employers who said hiring had improved in 2016, 75 percent respondents said it was up by less than 5 percent, 20 percent said it was up by between 5-10% and 5 percent said it had grown by over 10 percent.
Industry-wise analysis revealed, 60 percent IT sector and BFSI sector employers stated hiring was up in 2016, compared to 2015, 50 percent employers in the manufacturing sector said it was up, 70 percent healthcare sector employers also witnessed increase.
50 percent BPO/ITeS employers said hiring was higher this year compared to 2015. About 50 percent employers of automobile sector said hiring was stable in their sector, and there were no major changes in hiring volume compared to 2015.
See: Hiring Activity to Grow in India by 10% to 15% in 2017
Hiring grew for core roles, BFSI topped the charts
Demand for Banking, Insurance and Financial Services (BFSI) professionals peaked during December 2016 with a 9 percent rise. Engineering, IT, telecom, sales and business development professionals were also in-demand during December 2016.
Business management, consultants, freelancers and HR professionals saw 12 percent rise last month. Demand for entertainment, media and journalism professionals also grew by 5 percent in December 2016.
Core profiles were most demand in 2016, stated 55 percent employers, while 45 percent hired mostly for support roles, revealed the ‘Recruitment Practices Survey 2016’ retrospective report. Sector-wise IT, manufacturing, healthcare and BFSI sectors hired for core profiles while retail and automobile sector hired for support functions for the most part of 2016.
More women brought on rolls in 2016
Interestingly, 60 percent employers claimed in the ‘Recruitment Practices Survey 2016’ that they hired up to 5 percent more women professionals in 2016 as compared to 2015.
IT and healthcare sectors were the frontrunners in hiring women professionals, with 70 percent healthcare sector employers and 65 percent IT sector employers claiming to hire up to 5 percent more women staff in 2016. BPO, BFSI and automobile employers also stated they had hired more women professionals compared to 2015.
Employer’s hiring channels of choice
Recruitment portals were the preferred hiring channel during the year according to 40 percent employers, which was followed by social media and referrals.
Challenges that remain ahead
For nearly 30 percent organisations the biggest hiring challenge for 2016 was sourcing the right talent, and for 25 percent it was screening talent, another 25 percent felt there were skill shortages and for 20 percent dropouts were the biggest challenge.
Also read: Implementation of GST Will Create Jobs and Promote Increase in Hiring by 11% in India
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