According to an employment outlook survey by Manpower Group, India is likely to maintain its pace of hiring in the next quarter, unfazed by a poor show by the economy. The Manpower study showed a net employment outlook of 41 percent for the coming quarter, which is only one percent lower to the first quarter of 2011. However, compared to the October-December period, it is an increase of seven percentage points. Two other job indices for November, including TimesJobs’ RecruiteX, showed a recovery in the domestic jobs market after the lull in October. Further, as per the survey of prospective employers conducted by recruitment tendering platform MyHiringClub.com, the country’s net employment outlook - an indicator of hiring intentions - stands at 29 percent for the quarter ending March 31, 2012. The Monster Employment Index India, which rose by 7% YoY, also shows continued positive growth in recruitment activity from an annual perspective, led by key industries like telecom, IT, and financial services.

The job market is set to bounce back in 2012 with companies maintaining their growth and expansion plans for the year despite the global slowdown. According to industry estimates, the January-March quarter is likely to see the creation of over 3 lakh jobs in traditionally top-hiring sectors like information technology (IT), business process outsourcing (BPO), healthcare, education, banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) and energy. Sectors that are likely to show caution are auto, construction, engineering, FMCG and telecom.

Further, according to Nasscom, the IT and BPO sectors alone will create as many as 2.5 lakh jobs next year, most of which will be created by March 2012. The expansion of the IT industry into tier-II and tier-III cities will create the maximum thrust in newer jobs and there may be more demand for quality talent. In fact, after IT, most of the jobs are said to be created in the healthcare sector. Hospital chains like Fortis, Apollo, Max and Manipal are adding beds across the country. Some of the other big names of India Inc have plans to hire in larger numbers. Future Group plans to increase its hiring by 40 percent to 7,000 jobs in 2012 compared to 5,000 this year. Aditya Birla Retail plans to hire 1,100 people in the forthcoming quarter.