Upskilling platforms witness spike in enrolment as IT firms delay onboarding

With a tight job market, candidates are choosing upskilling programmes more rigorously.

As major information technology (IT) and consulting firms delay or defer the onboarding of freshers and lateral talent, candidates are turning to upskilling platforms to increase their chances of landing a job.

Platforms such as Great Learning, PrepInsta, and GrowthSchool, among others, have seen a huge spike in enrollment, especially among freshers, due to delays in onboarding by their prospective employers.

One such example is Saptarshi, who got placed at a leading IT company through campus placements. Since he didn't hear from the company for six months, Saptarshi decided to pursue a software development bootcamp course from Great Learning Career Academy to open more opportunities.

Great Learning observed that the demand for its boot camp programmes for freshers had grown 86 percent in FY 23, as the market toughened for job seekers last year. The growth of these programmes in FY 22 stood at 19 percent.

“The surge in demand in FY 23 can be attributed to two factors: Reduction in the number of companies visiting campuses to hire talent and rising concerns among these fresh graduates as companies delay or defer onboarding indefinitely,” Hari Krishnan Nair, Co-Founder of Great Learning, told Moneycontrol.

IT bellwethers, including Wipro, Tech Mahindra, LTIMindtree, Mphasis, and most recently, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), have delayed the onboarding of fresh recruits.

ALSO READ | EV startups on hiring spree with focus on experienced candidates

At the placement preparation platform PrepInsta, almost 50 percent of the total enrolment is being attributed to candidates facing onboarding delays and revoked offer letters. These individuals are now actively pursuing upskilling opportunities to improve their employability.

Atulya Kaushik, co-founder and CEO of PrepInsta, says the prevalence of offer letter revocations by prominent IT companies has instilled a genuine fear among candidates and forced them to recognise the need to adapt and become more competitive in the job market.

Generative AI  

With a tight job market, candidates are choosing upskilling programmes more rigorously. For instance, courses in Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT have gained more prominence compared to other skills just as Python or Virtual Realty (VR).

GrowthSchool’s Generative AI courses are witnessing “crazy demand” right now, founder and CEO Vaibhav Sisinty claims. “The corporate landscape is visibly changing at lightning speed and with experimentation becoming increasingly costly, companies are looking for readymade talent, he said. Now, it's less about companies investing time in training and more about new hires hitting the ground running, he added.

ALSO READ | Fewer than 500 AI researchers active and accessible in India

However, other new-age skills hold somewhat equal importance. At Imarticus Learning, many professionals are taking up upskilling courses in Data Science, Data Analytics, Machine Learning etc.

With the mountain of data growing bigger each day and technology evolving rapidly, it’s going to be important for professionals in every domain to acquire skills to use data and technologies such as AI to drive business excellence, said Sonya Hooja, founder and COO of Imarticus Learning.