Advertising & Public Relations Tops in Intent to Hire

 foundit, one of India’s leading talent platforms, today published the foundit Insights Tracker (fit) for December 2022. The job trajectory for the month has summarised the hiring sentiment for the year 2022 by exhibiting a steady increase (2%) in e-recruitment month-on-month (MoM). This re-affirms a positive hiring outlook in the upcoming year. However, a marginal dip (-1%) was observed year-on-year (YoY).

Commenting on job trends for December 2022, Sekhar Garisa, CEO – foundit (previously Monster APAC & ME), a Quess company, said, “It has been a roller coaster year for the Indian economy amidst increasing global headwinds. The government’s efforts to arrest inflation held the economy in good stead amidst geopolitical tensions, rising inflation and disturbances in the global supply chain. This month’s data emphasises that while companies are becoming slightly cautious with economic uncertainty, we expect hiring in sectors such as telecom and banking and finance to do well. We are also optimistic that the Union Budget 2023 will enable substantial job creation in most sectors.”

Advertising, MR, PR and Telecom Sectors lead hiring intent with the highest demand for talent

The Advertising, Market Research (MR), and Public Relations (PR) industry registered significant growth (+9%) YoY as well as (+13%) MoM driven with the increase in marketing efforts and adoption of Artificial intelligence (AI). Businesses are increasingly leveraging data to make marketing decisions and invest in newer digital formats to meet their branding and sales goals. The key skills in demand for the industry include social media engagement, JavaScript, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Google analytics, and MYSQL, with demand for social media managers holding the highest share (17%) among all job roles in the sector.

The Index reported that the Telecom sector saw a 9% YoY and 3% MoM increase in white-collar hiring due to the adoption of 5G. In December 2022, almost 70,000 jobs were generated, focusing on professionals with skills in enhancing network infrastructure and security. This could be due to the expansion of telecom networks, the adoption of new technologies, and the replacement of ageing infrastructure. The growth of 5G networks will also diversify hiring from the telecom sector to the healthcare, retail, and automotive industries.

Despite a muted MoM performance, the Banking/Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) sector has experienced impressive growth (+7%) YoY due to the thriving FinTech industry, robust credit growth, and the increased financial inclusivity in the country. In addition, the insurance sector is also rising due to a structural shift from Indians’ traditional preference for real estate and gold to financial products for savings.

Hiring dries up in the metropolitan cities of India

Hiring seems to have come to a standstill in the metropolitan cities of India, with cities such as Kolkata (-19% YoY), Bangalore (-12%), Hyderabad (-6%), Chennai (-5%) and Delhi (-5%) showcasing steep decline in hiring activity. However, Mumbai demonstrated a positive trend with a steady growth of 7%

Cities such as Coimbatore, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad have invested significantly in their infrastructural development, education and health, leading to a much higher standard of living at a lower cost and a tremendous influx of talent. This has led global corporations to establish their set up in the smaller hubs of India, which holds tremendous promise for growth with favourable government initiatives and skilled talent. Ahmedabad (+14%) is the only city to register double-digit annual growth, with the elevated demand in the pockets of Advertising, MR & PR and Media & Entertainment industries

Hiring Trends by Functional Area Display Mixed Results

Professionals in Accounting and finance were in high demand maintaining resolute growth rates, with an increase of 27% in December 2022. A rise in demand was seen for HR and administrative positions (+3%) with a sharp increase particularly in Delhi/NCR region After continuously charting negative growth since June 2022, the demand for Sales and business development roles (+3%) improved on an annual basis. On the other hand, the demand for Engineering/production, Healthcare, and Customer service industries fell by 19%, 18%, and 16% respectively on YoY basis.

2022: Year in Review 

According to the foundit Insights Tracker (FIT), the top 3 industries for the year 2022 have been the BFSI sector with an annual growth of 25%, followed by the Telecom (+15%) sector and Production & Manufacturing (+11%). The industries that didn’t hire a lot are, however, are Healthcare (-2%), FMCG (-4%) and Education (-4%). The slow death of the pandemic, the increased consciousness among people to eat healthy, and the ed-tech industry losing its sheen with dried-up funding and pressure to show profits, respectively, have led to the slowdown of hiring in these sectors.

Among cities, Mumbai led the hiring trajectory for tier 1 cities with an annual growth of 15% in hiring activity, followed by Hyderabad (+8%) and Chennai (+6%). Among tier 2 cities, Coimbatore showcased the highest hiring intent (+14%), followed by Pune (+7%) and Ahmedabad (+7%).

Period for the report

The period considered for the foundit Insights Tracker (fit) data is 1st to 31st December, 2022.