Vicky Jain is one of the Founder of uKnowva, a cloud-based HRM software that happens to be the brainchild of Convergence IT Services. Vicky along with his co-founding members Abhay Talekar and Priyanka Jain has played an active role in the development of the software, which provides a 360-degree solution for HR Automation and People Management. Vicky has been responsible for the software’s exponential growth & operational excellence that has merited uKnowva the badge of a trusted brand.
The job market in India took a major hit with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation was further worsened by the second wave of the pandemic which led to massive disruption across all sectors of the economy. Sales plunged, losses peaked and businesses were shut down leading to a rise in unemployment rates. As per reports by Naukri.com, hiring activity was reduced by 15% in April 2021.
With the economy showing signs of improvement and growth once again, hiring across different sectors like ecommerce, retail and automobile are witnessing a spurt, especially for blue-collar jobs. As per CMIE (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy), the unemployment rate declined from 11.9 per cent in May 2021 to 9.2 per cent in June 2021.
Hiring Spree to Continue Across the Ecommerce Sector
The COVID-19 pandemic led to massive transformation and growth of the ecommerce industry in India fuelled by a change in consumer behaviour. More acceptance and higher penetration of ecommerce shopping across metro cities, tier-II cities and towns are not only facilitating direct employment but indirect employment across kirana stores and seller partner locations.
Additional hiring will also continue across ancillary sectors like warehousing, logistics, support services and technology, as businesses optimise and expand supply chains.
Recruiters are of the belief that ecommerce will create 300,000 to 500,000 seasonal jobs as there’s been a surge 35% surge in demand for temporary staff compared to the previous year. While there will be a demand for positions at the junior level such as delivery personnel, packers, pickers and sorters, vacancies are also expected to show up in mid-management levels in operations, finance and digital marketing.
Retail to Witness Increased Rates of Hiring
The festive season in India results in a significant rise in shopping across the domestic market which creates more opportunities for hiring or recruitment in the retail industry. A survey by Manpower Group has revealed that among 3000 employers, nearly 64 per cent would be eyeing to expand their recruitment during the last two quarters of this year.
When the festive season approaches, retail companies usually require more workers on board to meet the rising consumer demands. As a result, there is more focus on hiring gig workers during this period. Though these positions usually don’t require much-skilled talent but quality talent remains essential. While the hiring rate in the retail sector during 2020 was only 20 per cent that of 2019, this year it is expected to be around 40 per cent.
The arrival of the festive season is forcing retail companies to up their game when it comes to hiring new talents. From using AI-based HRMS tools for efficient hiring to increasing hourly wages to sign-in bonuses, retail companies are leaving no stones unturned to attract the right talent.
Hiring will improve Across the Automobile Industry
The automobile sector in India is the 4th largest in the world and is expected to reach $300 billion in the next five years. Though the industry suffered critical challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, it has growth potential for the future with 65 million jobs expected to be created by 2026.
By the end of 2020, the Indian automobile industry was showing good signs of recovery and both two-wheelers and passenger vehicles showed a recovery in month-over-month sales. As per Naukri.com, hiring in the sector has continued to improve with 29% sequential growth in September 2021.
As new trends like connected cars, autonomous driving, shared mobility and electrified vehicles offers the ideal opportunity for automobile manufacturers to drive disruptive changes across segments, it is also expected to create new job opportunities in the sector. The top roles that automobile companies would be focusing on include industrial engineer, production manager, service maintenance engineer, sales/business development manager, accountant and design engineer.
Advanced analytics and digitisation are other areas of focus for automobile companies to increase consumer experience and productivity improvements. To use technology to make efficient, system-driven decisions, it would again require manpower well-versed in emerging technologies to drive the change.