Fresher hiring up 3% in H2 2023 amidst slowdown in IT sector

Amidst a challenging hiring scenario, the Indian job market indicates an uptick, albeit marginal, with a 3% increase in hiring of freshers, as per the Career Outlook Report H2, 2023, by TeamLease EdTech. In H2 of 2023, overall freshers' hiring now stands at 65% versus 62% in H1 of 2023.

Interestingly, the report notes that the overall hiring intent for all categories of jobseekers has risen to 73% from 68% over the same duration. Such sustained growth implies an optimistic job market in the coming months, especially for freshers. “This 5% improvement showcases employers’ confidence in their businesses has gone up,” Shantanu Rooj, founder and CEO, TeamLease Edtech tells Fortune India.

The survey covers 737 small, medium, and large companies across 18 sectors across 14 geographical areas (metros, Tier-I & II) reflecting the hiring sentiment.

The report’s primary driving force is to address challenges apparent in the academic world. Most educators and members of academia have not experienced working in an organisation and naturally do not possess the practical understanding and innards of a tangible working office.

The TeamLease report aims to provide answers to some questions that keep popping up: What are the challenges for a hiring manager? Which areas do they want to hire in, or for which roles they are looking? How are different industries like IT, startups, telecom, and others changing? How will this impact demand and which skill sets are majorly sought after?

“We created this report to ensure that the world of academia understands the voice of the employers, and then they embed this learning into their course curriculum and create courses which ultimately fosters graduates with those skill sets,” shares Rooj.

The report notes the IT sector is witnessing a slump in the intent to hire freshers; it recorded 49% in H2 2023 in comparison to 67% in H1 2023 which demonstrates a decrease of 18%. While the IT industry sees an overall decrease, some new and trending sectors like Travel and Hospitality have emerged with an increase of 5% in H2 2023.

Effect of Covid-19

Several interesting trends peaked during the Covid-19 including the resignation phase wherein every employee was seeking different job opportunities, and every employer felt the inexplicable need to hire at 2-3X salaries without assessing if the candidate possessed the right skills for the role or not. However, six months down the line, the hiring sector took a sharp downturn and the epidemic of layoffs began across industries as companies realised, as the funding winter set in, that they had over-hired.

“Then started the course correction phase under pressure to ensure that bottom lines become healthier,” opines Rooj. But he also notes that during this period employers became cognisant of the fact that it's important to build long-term talent substitution instead of investing in short-term incompatible hires.

“Be it a startup or a large player, all of them are looking at a backend supply chain system to collaborate with education institutions to create custom-made, skilled candidates specifically for their industry,” the CEO adds. In turn, this also enables students to run a shorter runway into becoming productive and trained individuals for the precise role they have been hired for.

The pandemic further acted as a catalyst into bringing transformational digital changes and job opportunities across industries which probably would have been cropped up a decade later. As Rooj puts it, “The pandemic was no regular passing shower, it was a heavily-impactful climate change for industries across the board.”

Roles such as DevOps Engineer, SEO Analyst, Cybersecurity Analyst, Digital Marketing Specialist, Artificial Intelligence Engineer and UX Designer across industries signals a promising landscape for the young talent entering the job market.