Author: Liji Narayan | HRKatha

Is there a mismatch between talent and role? Clearly, there is. Why else are talented youngsters failing to find the right role? That too, when the job seekers/students as well as the recruiters/HR accept that skill set is the primary consideration during hiring. There seems to be a gap in the way students and HRs view curricula effectiveness. While a very encouraging 91 per cent of students feel their college curricula adequately prepare them for a job, a significant 66 per cent of the recruits feel that skill gap is a major hurdle when it comes to campus hiring. A…

The India Employment Report 2024 suggests five important missions that India should take on in earnest. One is to make production and growth more employment-intensive. It also recommends improving the quality of jobs. Additionally, the country needs to overcome labour market inequalities, and take steps to make systems for skills training and active labour market policies more effective. The fifth suggestion is to bridge the deficits in knowledge on labour market patterns and youth employment. So how can India improve the quality of jobs? The Report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Institute of Human Development puts forward…

At a time when seven per cent of campuses posted achieving 100 per cent placement, a significant 79 per cent of students feel that better opportunities can come their way off campus. In fact, 88 per cent e-school students, 67 per cent b-school students and 88% arts, science and commerce students share this sentiment. The truth is, students are not happy with the outcomes of campus placement drives. Recruiters are not happy either. Both feel hiring platforms give better results than campus hiring drives. On the other hand, most of the university partners (88 per cent) feel that students are…

Leverage Edu has onboarded 50 return-to-work mothers. This return-to-work initiative is part of Leverage Edu’s commitment to building an equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace. The initiative recognises the unique skills, drive and perspectives that women bring to the workplace after taking time away for child birth and child care, during one of the most important phases in their lives. The company acknowledges that giving birth to a child makes women more strong and ambitious. It instils in them “the power to capture the whole world”. Leverage wishes “to be enablers to these rockstar women and provide them the rocket thrust…

When it comes to countrywise hiring expectations for April through June 2024, the highest is for India, with 36 per cent, followed by the US at 34 per cent, China at 32 per cent and Costa Rica at 32 per cent. About 41 per cent of employers, worldwide, expect hiring to increase, while 19 per cent anticipate a decrease. While 37 per cent report no change, three per cent are not sure about hiring, says the latest edition of the Manpower Group global employment outlook report for 2024. The hiring expectations for the Netherlands stands at 32 per cent, for…

An alarming 76 per cent of workers would contemplate leaving their company because their relationship with work is unhealthy, while only 22 per cent of workers with a healthy work relationship will consider quitting their job. This was revealed in HP’s Work Relationship Index. This global study covered 15,624 respondents in total, of which 12,012 were knowledge workers, 3,612 were IT decision makers and 1,204 were business leaders. The survey reveals that only a mere 27 per cent of knowledge workers admit to enjoying a healthy relationship with work. Why is this a concern? Well, strained relationships with work spell…

With International Women’s Day around the corner, suddenly there are more conversations around women and their rights. True, the day is meant to focus on subjects pertaining to women, including gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence against women. However, there are gaps, or rather, chasms in terms of the mismatch between the goals that are much talked about and ultimately achieved. In the corporate world, such a gap continues to exist in gender pay. Unfortunately, some of the recent survey reports reflect the hopelessness that has set in among working women, globally, regarding the same. Most women do not see…

The Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) has announced 9,000 vacancies for technicians. While 7,900 vacancies are for Technician Grade III signal, the rest are for Technican Grade I signal. Interested candidates who are not less than 18 years of age and not more than 36 years old can apply before 8 April 2024, for Technician Grade I signal. For Technican Grade III, the candidates have to be in the age group of 18 to 33. General candidates are required to pay an application fee of Rs 500, while the fee for those belonging to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) or Economically Backward…

About 60 per cent Indian accounts professionals agree that they are “overhwhelmed by the pace of change of technology impacting their job”. Only 29 per cent feel they are not overwhelmed by the same, as per a recent report. Another interesting revelation made by the report is that a whopping 78 per cent of the respondents said they will demand a pay hike in 2024. However, 57 per cent of the accounts professionals, globally, are sure that they will have to move out of their current organisation in order to get a better pay. Accounts professionals in North America seem…

January 2024 was witness to seven per cent growth in marketing and communications jobs, compared to the previous month, says a report. In fact, there has been a 12 per cent increase over the past six months. This growth can be attributed to a surge in demand for digital marketing and analytics professionals. This surge is highest in Delhi/NCR stands, where the increase has been five per cent in the last one month, says the report. There has been a seven per cent increase in demand for legal professionals over the past month. This surge in demand has been evident…

X is trying to uphold its commitment to battling child sexual exploitation (CSE) online. As part of this, X will hire 100 people for its content-moderation team. As part of their responsibilities, the moderators will also be looking into matters related to fraud and spam, and offer relevant support to customers. The company was recently criticised for the way it handles explicit content and has been under the scanner for some time now. Linda Yaccarino, CEO, X, is expected to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the end of this month, that is, 31 January, where she will reveal…

A significant 59 per cent of organisations from across over 48 countries and over 50 industries, benefitted from hiring gig workers. As per the Mercer Mettl Talent-Acquisition Insights 2024 report, these organisations admitted to hiring one or more freelancers or contract workers last year. Freelancers have played a major role in the rapidly-evolving nature of work, providing firms with much- sought-after agility and cost-effectiveness in fulfilling the demands of their projects. The report highlights how the gig economy has come to be an essential part of modern workforce strategies. It also reveals how more organisations and employers across the globe…

If you think job sites are not as significant any more, there is news for you. A good 65 per cent organisations continue to rely on job sites, such as LinkedIn, Monster, Indeed, Glassdoor and others, for effective hiring. These sites score high in terms of their reach and target audience. Are job sites the only source of reliable hiring? Not really. About 11 per cent of the over 7,500 human resource leaders from across 48 countries and over 50 industries who were part of the Mercer Mettle survey admitted to depending on referral programmes. About seven per cent said…

40 per cent recruitment leaders admit to finding it tough to attract top-tier talent. With the problem getting aggravated due to the climbing demand for specialised skills. So, what were the other challenges for organisations in 2023? As per the Mercer Mettl Global Talent Acquisition Insights 2024, the bygone year presented many other challenges for hirers, in addition to attracting top-tier talent. These insights from over 1,000 CXOs or those from even higher ranks can be valuable for HR leaders in the new year. At least 37 per cent of the 7500 HR leaders who were part of the study,…

That happiness is extremely important for individual wellbeing and the prosperity of the society is a fact that is accepted by all. However, the fact that work also plays a significant role in a person’s happiness is probably lesser known. A survey reveals that 58 per cent of employees assert that work plays a significant part in their overall happiness. About 11 per cent feel that work may affect their happiness as well. That means, Indian workers or professionals derive satisfaction from their work or jobs and this does affect their quality of life. What do the employers feel? Well,…

If you are wondering why every second youngster and even working professional is pursuing an MBA degree, here is your answer. Those who hold an MBA degree are amongst the demographic for highly employable resources in terms of domain across all states, in India. This is revealed by the fact that a whopping 71.16 per cent of candidates who scored over 60 per cent on the Wheebox National Employability Test (WNET) were MBA degree holders. Computer science graduates were the second most employable with 66 per cent from this domain found to be highly skilled. While 64.67 per cent of…

Employees who are satisfied with their current managers are likely to stay on with their organisations. A latest BCG survey of over 11,000 employees —from Australia, Japan, UK, Canada, India, France, Germany and the US—posed four questions the answers to which reveal that managers do play a significant role in employees’ intention to stay on with their organisation. As per the report, 28 per cent of global employees surveyed across these eight countries do not see themselves staying on with their current organisation in a year’s time. The employees surveyed were asked whether they were satisfied with their current managers;…

Employees in India are far superior and way more optimistic than their global counterparts in many ways. For instance, India employees perceive digital and green skills to be more important than their global counterparts in the near future. A good percentage (79 per cent) of India employees are extremely confident that their employer will provide the tools, resources and opportunities needed to build upon their analytical and data skills within the next five years, compared to just 59 per cent of their global counterparts. These interesting facts have been revealed in a recent survey undertaken by PwC. The ‘Workforce Hopes…

A survey has revealed that more women have joined the active workforce because of the availability of safe ride-hailing services. After all, a whopping 82 per cent of women riders (and a similar percentage of male riders) are using ride-hailing for work, because it allows them to travel at any time of the day, and provides the flexibility that no other transport options do. According to a report by Oxford Economics and Uber India, four out of 10 working women owe it to the availability of safe ride-hailing services for their joining the workforce. About 41 per cent of male…

That the job market is becoming highly competitive is very clear. No wonder, 40.23 per cent recruiters are struggling to manage competing job offers, and at least 33.33 per cent of recruiters are struggling to find cost-effective ways of recruitment. This indicates a need for efficient management of resources, as per the latest foundit survey. And one of the challenges being faced is lack of adequate professional and contact details! Challenges faced by recruiters Given the competitiveness of the job market, are recruiters able to find talent? It appears not, because 52.3 per cent of the recruiters surveyed are finding…

Are Indian professionals ready to embrace artificial intelligence (AI)? A PwC survey last year did reveal that professionals in India were expecting the impact of AI to be positive with 51 per cent believing that it would improve their productivity and 47 per cent believing that it would help them learn new and important skills. About 37 per cent believed that it would create new employment opportunities. A year later, in terms of awareness, Indian employees are found to be well aware of the skills that will be needed in the future, with a good 62 per cent admitting that…

In India, 81 per cent employers are finding it difficult to fill vacancies. Maximum challenge is being faced by employers in Japan, with 85 per cent of them finding it challenging to come by suitable talent. Germany, Greece and Israel follow with 82 per cent each. In Ireland and Portugal, 81 per cent employers are struggling to find talent, says the Manpower Group Employment Outlook Survey for Q1 of 2024. According to the employers who participated in the survey, the top five skills that are most difficult to find are: information technology (IT) and data, followed by engineering; sales and…

Ever since the pandemic and the surge in remote work, organisations have been working on altering the workplace design. Now, with hybrid work becoming more popular, the primary reason for organisations to transform workplaces is to cater to new technological advancements, with 59 per cent of the organisations, worldwide, doing so. The second driver is adapting to changing employee expectations, with 55 per cent firms attempting to cater to the expectations of employees and their reasons to come to office. About 53 per cent are going for redesigning to enable hybrid work. Not surprisingly, technology and collaboration spaces are the…

The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for men in Delhi was 54.5 per cent in 2021-22, says the ‘Women & Men in Delhi – 2023’ report. Why is that figure worrisome? Well, that means very few women are pariticipating in the economy as compared to men. The WPR for women was only 8.8 per cent in 2021-22. The data was derived from the key gender statistics obtained from the administrative records of state and Central government departments, reports of various surveys/Census and so on. At the all India level, the WPR for men was 54.8 per cent and for women it…

Chandigarh saw 22 per cent drop in hiring year on year (YoY) and three per cent drop month on month (MoM), as per a foundit hiring trends report. While Delhi showed one per cent rise in hiring demand YoY, there was a one per cent fall MoM. Jaipur witnessed two per cent rise in hiring demand, YoY as well as MoM. Ahmedabad posted a two per cent rise in hiring demand YoY, but a one per cent dip MoM. Vadodara saw a five per cent rise YoY, while Kochi posted nine per cent rise YoY and four per cent rise…

It is true that the market for jobs is tough, especially for talent in the software, hardware and telecom domains, with hiring dipping by two per cent. However, the demand for hires has seen a six per cent growth in the areas of purchase, logistics and supply chain. Finance and accounts have also witnessed a growth of about five per cent in the demand for talent month-on-month (MoM). According to the November 2023 foundit Insights Tracker, the IT- hardware, software space registered a drop of six per cent in hiring activity, not just yearly, but also in the last one…