Who’s Hiring And Who Isn’t

Hiring data is one of the best indicators of business sentiment. Companies that expect good growth in the near future tend to recruit aggressively. And firms that expect their business to remain stagnant or lacklustre generally cut back on fresh hiring. Job data for different functions and different sectors also gives a good idea of which skills are in high demand, and which industries are optimistic about their immediate future.
 

Unlike the US government, the Indian government does not capture job creation or unemployment data in a systematic manner. Its data on jobs is not real-time, and even the data captured is confined to job creation (or the lack of it) in the government and public sector. Given that many of the new jobs and opportunities in the past decade and a half have been created by private companies, this is a huge lacuna in the system.
 

Three years ago, BW joined hands with leading job portal Naukri to create an index that would reflect the hiring sentiments of different industries. Every year, we look at the trends of vacancy postings on Naukri, and also conduct a survey of job seekers to gauge their sentiments and expectations for the year ahead. The data is collated and analysed according to industries and sectors, and measured against the previous years’ data to see how the mood has changed.
 

This year, the sentiments expressed by recruiters and job seekers have been the dullest since the first survey. Few industries are planning to recruit in large numbers. In fact, many companies are just focusing on deploying their existing staff better. Others are hiring, but very cautiously. The information technology sector, which used to pick fresh graduates in large numbers from engineering colleges, is now hiring as and when projects come up, and not at the beginning of the year. There are still a few sectors that expect to create jobs  in large numbers. But they are more the exception than the rule. 
 

Special correspondent Shrutika Verma and senior associate editor Chitra Narayanan coordinated the job survey with Naukri and also spoke to HR managers across sectors for our cover story this issue. For specific sectors and issues facing the job market, senior associate editors Raghu Mohan and Venkatesha Babu focused on BFSI and information technology, associate editor Anup Jayaram on the telecom vertical, senior editor Prasad Sangameshwaran on ageism in the workplace, senior assistant editor Shailesh Menon on aviation and principal correspondent Swati Garg on the auto industry.