Apprentice headcount surges 250% in IT firms, employers predict more hiring: Report

City trends indicate that in Kochi, employers prefer females (30 percent) more than males (26 percent).

There has been an over 250 percent annual increase in apprentice headcount in the IT/ITES space and about 79 percent of employers in the sector foresee an spurt in hiring in the coming months, according to ‘Apprentice Skill Trends Report’ by business solutions provider Quess Corp.

The report revealed that BFSI and IT/ITES were the top industries employing apprentices in the past year, considering the high return on investment (ROI) amid ongoing uncertainties and global turmoil. Interestingly, 75 percent of apprentices engaged in the BFSI and IT sectors complete training and are considered for full-time employment, ranking much higher when compared to other industries.

The spike in hiring in the IT/ITES industry has been growing steadily month-on-month as the industry prioritises apprenticeship engagement for its potential to lower the cost of its workforce, create a talented pool, and cultivate staff loyalty and retention, the report said.

Within the industry, key roles that stand out with maximum demand from recruiters include IT support, BPO executive, voice/data entry operator, and associate CRM. Roles such as embedded systems engineer/ design engineer are also high in demand, along with DevOps engineer, data engineer, and blockchain developer.

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Android/iOS developers, AR VR technicians, cybersecurity engineers, and unity 3D developers are a few additional roles that have seen significant traction from recruiters in 2023.

In the BFSI space, roles such as microfinance, credit procurement, debt recovery, and back-office executives are in high demand.

In 2023, cities that paved the way for apprentice hiring include Coimbatore, Hyderabad and Pune. It is very encouraging to see a rise in apprenticeship adoption across Coimbatore, being a Tier-2 city.

Other metros such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad saw a considerable spike in apprentice hiring. In terms of states, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana top the apprenticeship engagement chart. On the other hand, cities such as Lucknow, Chandigarh, and Kolkata saw the least traction when it came to apprentice hiring.

More than 9 lakh youth who are apprentices are in the age group of 23-26 years. As per the Quess report, employers in the IT/ITES sector are likely to pay between 11,000 and 75,000 to apprentices between the ages of 20-24 years.

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However, the stipend pay for other sectors differs depending on educational qualifications.

In the current landscape of apprentice hiring, registration of women candidates has seen nearly a seven-fold increase in the last five years, from 22,427 in 2018-19 to 1.48 lakh in FY 2022-23.

According to the Quess report, over half (51 percent) of employers have no gender preferences when it comes to apprentice hiring on an overall basis. However, employer preference of male vis-à-vis female candidates was skewed in 2023 (33 percent and 15 percent), compared to the previous year (29 percent and 20 percent).

City trends indicate that in Kochi, employers prefer females (30 percent) more than males (26 percent). However, male candidates are preferred most in Kolkata (44 percent) and Lucknow (39 percent).

Around 63 percent of the employers in Mumbai, 59 percent in Nagpur, and 56 percent in Hyderabad have no specific gender preference in apprentice engagement.

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“The IT space in India has seen a drop in headcount and fresher intake due to global tensions. However, apprentice hiring has picked up substantially in the past year across the IT segment, with newer roles emerging that did not perhaps exist a year ago. This is a trend observed across both metro and Tier-2 cities, which is encouraging to see," said Girija S, vice-president of Quess Corp.

"Apprentice hiring in BFSI is also flourishing with the expansion of NBFCs. However, the scope for apprentice skilling and job creation in IT/BFSI sectors is unprecedented, and we expect the creation of approximately 5 million jobs by 2025,” he said.