Recruiters shift focus from IT as hiring remains slow

The slowdown in IT sector hiring has pushed recruiters to bank on other industries like retail, auto and manufacturing to make up for lost business. The development has effectively swivelled the job market 180 degrees from an employee’s market to that of the employer.

Anshuman Das, chief executive and co-founder of Careernet, a talent solutions provider, said that a middle management position in the top four IT firms takes almost three months to close these days, compared to a month less than two years ago.

“For a job posting in the middle management level of IT sector, there are more than 100 applications of candidates who have more than eight years of work experience,” added Das. About a year and a half ago, Das had to line up 20 candidates at most to close such a position, indicating the protracted sifting process at companies.

IT’s loss clearly has been the other industries’ gain. Recruiters say candidates with digital skills are most wanted in retail, EV (electric vehicles) part of the auto business, manufacturing, core sector companies, and in the FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) industry.

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