The year 2020 has been particularly tough for the white-collar employees, many of whom found themselves out of work amid the global outbreak of COVID-19.
But, now according to a new survey, job seekers especially in the IT sector should be optimistic as the Indian employment scenario in slowly bouncing back to pre-COVID level.
Naukri.com which is one of the leading online job portals of the country recently released a survey report called ‘Hiring Outlook’ wherein they mapped out key trends of how the major industries reacted to the pandemic and how they subsequently adapted to the dynamic situation throughout the months that followed.
The survey report, which took into account data from 1,327 recruiters and consultants across India, noted that while sectors like retail, hospitality and travel intensively struggled to cope, industries such as information technology aka I.T., and BPOs suffered very less when it comes to hiring.
Let’s find out why.
IT Sector: COVID-Proof As Digitization Takes The Lead
The Information Technology sector came out to be as one of the least impacted sectors for hiring because digitisation became the need of the hour for all business types and sizes. This in turn led to other businesses becoming increasingly dependent on IT firms/companies to help them transform digitally and adapt better during the pandemic.
According to the survey report, the IT sector saw a quick recovery in sequential starting from the month of June onwards after it saw a decline during the preceding months of April and May.
Currently, in the post-COVID period, hiring in IT is down by 23% when compared to pre-COVID levels. However, 76% of recruiters who were a part of the Naukri Hiring Outlook said that the sectors show promise going forward.
The survey also highlighted the key IT roles that are in demand as of now. They include Tech Support Engineer, Database Architect/ Designer, ERP Consultant, and Software Developer. The demand for the same, when compared to 2019, has been recorded to be by up 98%, 34%, 20%, and 6% respectively.
Now, when it comes to business process outsourcing firm aka BPOs and Information Technology Enabled Services companies aka ITESs, hiring was observed to be positive as well. All thanks to their cost-effective nature of business and helping other companies become digitally enabled.
Similar to the mainstream IT sector, signs of hiring recovery in BPO/ITES firms were seen from the month of June when the lockdown restrictions began to be lifted in India. Compared to the pre-COVID levels, this adjacent IT sector is down only by 19% when it comes to hiring.
BPOs and ITES firm has actively adapted to the WFH scenario and is currently hiring actively for roles such as Telecalling/Telemarketing with skills that include voice process, lead generation and sales.
All in all, for 2021, if you are a job seeker in the IT industry, the Naukri Hiring Survey report claims the employment scenario will turn around for good. About 26% of the recruiters who took part in the survey climbed that the IT industry will bounce back to pre-COVID levels within the next 3-6 months while 34% said it will take 6 months to 1 year.
