Rise in hiring intent of SMEs and educational service sector: Report

The educational service sector appears to be keen to strengthen its talent pool, as is clear from its intent to hire, which has grown by 7 per cent in the Oct-Dec quarter. With the economy trying to slowly limp back to normalcy, small businesses or SMEs have experienced significant growth in the Oct-Dec period and their hiring intent has almost doubled (increased by 6 per cent) as compared to the April-Sept period. This was revealed by a TeamLease study, which analysed the hiring intent across different sectors, cities and hierarchies in the country.

The intent to hire has shown a 3 per cent increase. All the 21 sectors reviewed have shown a positive hiring intent, which is a good sign as far as the employment scene is concerned. The intent to hire is highest in the healthcare and pharmaceuticals (39 per cent), educational services (34 per cent), e-commerce and technology startups (31 per cent), as well as in the knowledge process outsourcing area (31 per cent). In IT, the hiring intent is 29 per cent, followed by FMCG with 27 per cent, telecommunications with 24 per cent, retail with 23 per cent, financial services with 18 per cent and BPO/ITes with 15 per cent. The hiring intent is not bad in the manufacturing, engineering and infrastructure space either (12 per cent).

Over 30 per cent of the respondents showed intent to hire talent at senior ranks. While 20 per cent of those surveyed seemed to be keen to hire at the middle level, 18 per cent seemed interested in hiring at the junior level. However, the biggest growth in hiring intent is for the entry level. While only about 14 per cent of the respondents expressed the intent to hire entry-level talent, the section has witnessed a growth of 8 percentage points from the period April to Sept, 2020.

With a five per cent increase in hiring intent, it is clear that metros and tier-1 cities will benefit the most from the unlock initiatives. Amongst the cities, Bangalore leads with 29 per cent, followed by Hyderabad at 22 per cent, Chandigarh at 20 per cent, Mumbai at 17 per cent, Ahmedabad at 14 per cent and Chennai at 11 per cent.

As per the functional trend, the intent to hire is highest for blue collar workers (32 per cent), followed by sales people (20 per cent), IT professionals (18 per cent), marketing (16 per cent) and engineering (13 per cent). Therefore, overall the hiring sentiment remains positive.

Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder & executive VP, TeamLease Services, feels “India Inc is on a gradual recovery path. Though we are yet to reach the pre-covid levels, the economy is rebounding and this cautious optimism is reflecting in the hiring scenario as well. Most of the sectors intend to ramp up their hiring.”