Actual hiring of new talent to remain subdued in 2023 even as hiring intent remains strong: Report

The IT industry is predicted to see an overall decrease in the intent to hire freshers

Hiring of freshers in India will increase by only a marginal 3 percent in the second half (H2) of calendar 2023 on increased competition and limited number of jobs for newcomers, according to the Career Outlook Report by TeamLease EdTech, a subsidiary of leading staffing company TeamLease.

Demand for new talent may have increased by a negligible amount in the first six months of 2023 but the Indian freshers’ job market should pick up a bit to 6 percent in the six months to December 2023 over the same period of the last, said the report.

Additionally, the overall hiring intent for all categories of job seekers is anticipated to rise by 5 percent to 73 percent from 68 percent over the same duration, showed the study.

A TeamLease EdTech official highlighted that the intent to hire new recruits has been showing a consistent increase over the last 12 months and most businesses and sectors have demonstrated increasing confidence in their outlook.

As per the report, the top three industries with the highest hiring intent are e-commerce and technology startups (59 percent), telecommunications (53 percent), and engineering and infrastructure (50 percent).

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“With the digitalisation wave sweeping most businesses, e-commerce is witnessing a wave of high growth. Employers agree that only hiring lateral talent becomes expensive and does not provide the expected ROI (return on investment); hence, they would now want to balance this with hiring fresh talent who can be trained and put to new job roles,” Shantanu Rooj, founder and CEO, TeamLease EdTech, told Moneycontrol.

This also helps companies create long-term talent supply and manage employee attrition.

The IT industry is predicted to see an overall decrease in the intent to hire freshers compared to H1 2023 (49 percent in H2 2023 vs 67 percent in H1 2023, a decrease of 18 percentage points), while some new and trending sectors like travel and hospitality are pegged to see a rise of 5 percent over the same period.

Roles such as DevOps engineer, chartered accountant, SEO analyst, and UX designer are in high demand across industries.

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The report also has included a new segment on degree apprenticeship and its growing popularity among students and employers. The top three industries planning to hire degree apprentices in July-December 2023 are manufacturing (12 percent), engineering and infrastructure (10 percent), and power and energy (7 percent).

Reflecting the market sentiments, some in-demand courses that freshers can undertake to increase their employability include certification courses in digital marketing, business communication, data science, blockchain and postgraduate programmes in artificial intelligence and machine learning.