The Naukri JobSpeak Index for August’20, at 1413, marks an improvement of 12% in hiring activity as compared to July’20, at 1263.

However, there seems to be no respite for the Hospitality & Travel (-80%) industries as they continue to be the most impacted sectors. Oil & Gas/Power (-59%), Retail (-54%) and Accounting/Taxation/Finance (-46%) sectors witnessed steep decline in hiring activity in August’20 Y-O-Y. Industries such as Medical/Healthcare (-1%), Telecom (-9%), IT-Hardware (-25%), and BPO/ITES (-26%) remained less impacted in hiring. Being at the forefront in battling the pandemic, the Pharma/Biotech (+15%) sector witnessed a positive demand for professionals in August’20 Y-O-Y. Interestingly, the demand for roles in the Banking/Insurance segment remains stable.

Referring to the report, Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com said, “It is encouraging to see the month on month progressive growth in hiring from the past three months as a result of the nation-wide unlocking."

He added, "While the Pharma/Medical, IT and BPO/ITES sectors continue to spearhead hiring, other key sectors like Telecom, Retail and Real Estate are also signaling strong recovery in August’20 as compared to July’20. We are hopeful that the recoveries will become more robust in the coming months.”

Hiring trends: Am Industrial view

Sectors such as Telecom (57%), Retail (53%), Real Estate (34%), and Insurance (21%) saw an uptick in M-O-M hiring as industries begin to function because of the unlock guidelines. Hiring in key industries such as Recruitment/Employment (19%), Auto (17%), BPO/ITES (16%) and IT-Software (14%) continues to improve while FMCG (1%) and Hotels/Restaurant/Travel (2%) sectors were flat versus last month. Further, the Oil and Gas/Power sector remains severely impacted and declines by 10% even at a sequential level.

Hiring across experience levels also grew by an average of 10% in August’20 as compared to July’20. This was led by a 14% increase in hiring for entry-level executives. (0-3 yrs. exp.) Even the leadership hiring (>16 yrs. exp.) grew by 11% sequentially.

Hiring trends as per City

From a city perspective, there is sequential growth in hiring across all metro cities led by Kolkata (27%) and Bengaluru (22%). Tier 2 cities such as Chandigarh (8%) and Kochi (7%) continue to see growth in recruitment activities in August’20 as compared to July’20. However, Coimbatore saw a decline of 11% in sequential hiring.

Roles in Demand

Additionally, demand for professionals in Marketing/Advertising (20%), ITES/BPO (19%), HR/ Administration (18%) and Pharma/Healthcare (15%) saw an uptick in M-O-M hiring. It is also interesting to see hiring pick-up for roles in the Teaching/Education sector (14%) in August’20, which was significantly impacted in earlier months.

It is important for leaders and employees themselves to be aware of these job trends and accordingly redesign their career aspirations and invest in skilling and reskilling.