30% increase in demand for CXOs & senior professionals

Demand for those with over 20 years of experience has seen a tremendous rise in March, whereas overall hiring rose by a mere one per cent.

Amidst a slow yet steady rise of one per cent in overall hiring in March this year, interestingly the demand for senior professionals grew by over 30 per cent. TimesJobs’ latest RecruiteX reported that the recruitment index has been steadily growing since February.

Healthcare, consulting services and real estate were the key sectors to report significant rise in talent demand during the month. The travel and hospitality sectors saw stable talent demand and the BFSI industry registered a drop of four per cent. Doctors, nurses and medical professionals saw the highest rise in demand, followed by hospitality and engineering professionals.

Here are the key findings from the latest RecruiteX, which gives a consistent, realistic and reliable snapshot of the genuine state of hiring activity in India, with a complete analysis of demand in relation to experience, sectors, functional areas and locations.

Senior professionals in demand

As per the report, the demand for senior professionals with over 20 years of experience was on a rise with over 30 per cent during March, this year. Professionals with 10–20 years of experience also saw a three per cent rise in demand, during the month. Those with 0–5 years of experience witnessed a rise of three per cent in demand. Only demand for professionals with 5–10 years of experience registered a four per cent drop this March.

Explaining the diverse figures, Nilanjan Roy, head of strategy, Times Business Solutions, says, “Led by a business-friendly government and corporate India’s expectation of policy stability over the next 10 years, organisations are gearing up for growth, which is reflected in the increased demand for senior managerial talent. Whenever organisations get ready for growth, we have seen a marked increase in demand for senior managerial talent. We do not see such demand for senior profiles in the case of ordinary replacement hiring.”

Healthcare top employment sector
Healthcare sector has been the top hirer in March with eight per cent rise in talent demand, followed by consulting services and real- estate, with five per cent rise each. Petrochemicals posted a four per cent rise in demand while the IT & telecom industries reported a three per cent rise. The manufacturing sector also saw a rise of two per cent in talent demand. On the other hand, the retail and BFSI sectors saw a drop in demand of five per cent and four per cent, respectively.

Doctors and medical professionals in demand
Doctors, nurses and medical professionals saw a 17 per cent rise in demand. These professionals had witnessed an average rise of two per cent in demand since January 2017. Hospitality professionals posted a rise of six per cent in demand, followed by engineers with a five per cent rise, IT & telecom professionals with a three per cent rise and business management, consultants and freelancers with a meagre two per cent rise in demand for talent.

Hyderabad & Ahmedabad: Best performing locations
Amongst cities, owing to growing infrastructural and corporate development in these areas, Hyderabad surged as the best performing location with 21 per cent rise in talent demand and Ahmedabad posted a 21 per cent rise in talent demand, in March. Following the two, Indore saw a rise of 16 per cent in demand. Among metros, Chennai was the only city to report growth at eight per cent in talent demand. No other metro reported an increase in hiring activity in March. In fact, Delhi NCR posted the highest drop (-8 per cent) in talent demand.