In this tech-enabled age, about 66% employers are looking for skill-match more than anything else as the key quality in a potential employee. This has come out in a Survey conducted by Frost & Sullivan for OLX. 

The survey, which was conducted in the first-half of 2017 has revealed the hiring-trends for jobs across ten metro and non-metro cities in India. The report covers over 4,500 respondents and assesses current trends, opportunities, and challenges faced by job seekers, and employers in the country.

India’s large base of working population is skewed towards the youth. Increasing access to internet and growing aspirations of the young working population, are creating new opportunities where technology is bridging the gap between job seekers and employers. Our growth in the jobs space is a result of the largest and active localised jobs on the platform, which allows job seekers to explore openings in their vicinity. This serves as a source of employment for job seekers to find opportunities nearby and facilitates employers to hire relevant employees within their region," said Amarjit Singh Batra, CEO, OLX India

What Employers Want

Staying close to the workplace has been one of the important considerations these days as the Survey found out that 55% stated that this is important while hiring. 

An examination of the industry revealed that there is maximum demand for candidates in real estate and IT/BPO industries in the metros, while in non-metros, there is greater demand in manufacturing /engineering, FMCG, and logistics/warehousing and automobile industries. 

While scouting for candidates, getting applicants who meet the job-requirements becomes top priority for employers. Hence, ability to get pre-screened candidates and quickly fill positions has become the primary motivator for selecting a particular channel for talent recruitment.  

Even though half the employers acknowledged that online portals offer a large database of candidates meeting employer’s requirements, hiring agencies and referrals remained the most preferred channels to fill positions for them. 

Said Nandini Kelkar, Research Director, Customer Research Services, Frost & Sullivan, “Matching skill-set and relevant work experience of the potential candidate is the key requisite for the employers of temporary jobs. While they acknowledge availability of a vast pool of potential candidates on the ‘Online’ platform, it is their need to frequently and quickly source candidates with verified backgrounds and credentials, that urges them to rely on ‘Offline’ channels, like hiring Agencies and referrals, for recruiting temporary workers.  These, hiring agencies usually fall back on their existing databases which are often out-dated, and their field-agents too are sometimes unable to provide the required profile. This need-gap, provides an immense opportunity for temporary job employers and hiring agencies to access the ‘Online’ platform for sourcing right candidates.  There is a growing talent pool in the ‘Online’ platform, as about three-fourths of such job-seekers have regular access to internet and are aware of online job portals.” 

What Job Seekers Are Looking for

The survey also revealed that more than 60% of the job-seekers looking for grey collar and blue collar jobs are graduates. More than one-third of these job-seekers are between 26 and 35 years of age. As per the survey, Internet adoption and usage is high among the job seekers. Three out of four job seekers have access to the Internet, with a whopping 80% of them accessing Internet over their phones. 

Job referral is the most preferred medium for 34% of the respondents while finding a job, closely followed by 25% who preferred online medium. Job seekers have a strong preference for online channel due to its easy and convenient access and the large number of jobs that candidates can apply to. 

Overall, the key challenges faced by job-seekers while searching for jobs are that they often do not know where to look for jobs (19%), they feel that there are not enough jobs (18%), and the job details are not clear in the jobs that are out there (18%).

Employment Agencies:

Employment agencies prefer their own database for hiring over any other medium. This is followed by the use of field agents, and referrals for recruitment. 

However, the survey also discovered the drawbacks of these mediums. Field agents are often unable to provide fresh and good quality candidates who meet the required job criteria, while the agencies’ own database is often not updated. Referrals do not always work for all job profiles, and often fail to provide complete information on the potential candidate.

Metros versus Non-Metros

The survey also points to some key differences between metros and non-metros when it comes to job trends. Jobs close to one’s home are coveted in metros, and become the most important reason for taking interest in a particular job profile, with 26% of the respondents claiming so. In non-metros on the other hand, it is the reputation of the company that is the primary motivation for considering a job. 

This survey was conducted to assess the temporary jobs market, and all related data from this study are pertaining to 'temporary' jobs, in which, the nature of working arrangement between the employer and the employee is not bound by formal written contracts. Depending on the nature of the job, temporary workers can skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled.