Recruiters projected to hire in record numbers in next quarter: Report

A survey has found employers reporting the most promising hiring numbers in seven years, with 64% of recruiters saying that they will hire more people in the December quarter. According to the survey, ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook, the employers are expecting the Covid-19 restrictions to ease and demands for products and services to increase in near future, The Economic Times mentioned in an exclusive report.

The results of the survey show that the sectors which are likely to see massive recruitments in the coming quarter include services (50%), manufacturing (43%), finance (42%), insurance (42%) and real estate (42%) among others, the report added.

The survey reported that ‘hiring sentiment’ this time around has improved by 40 percentage points compared to the same quarter last year. In a region-wise analysis, the report predicted that the job prospects in West India seemed to be the highest at 49% followed by East at 45%. On the other hand, the chances of getting employed in North India stood at 43% while the same for the Southern region of the country was 37%, according to the report.

Hiring spree across regions

Manpower Employment Outlook survey covered a total of 3046 employers across the country. In a huge jump in hiring prospects, 64% of participating companies expressed intentions to hire more employees this time compared to only 6% of companies showing intentions to hire more people for the July-September quarter.

Of the 3046 employers, around 20% expected fewer hiring and 15% expected the number of employees to remain the same, and 1% of employers were not sure about their hiring plans for the next quarter. The same survey in the last quarter had reported 44% of people being unsure about the hiring numbers.

The Economic Times quoted Sandeep Gulati, group managing director, ManpowerGroup India, as saying, “An overall positive sentiment is gripping the market…The onset of the festive season, the speed of vaccine deployment, and the probability of the government increasing flexibility of people’s movement are all factors leading to optimism in corporate India. The government’s production-linked incentives to boost domestic production are adding to this.”

Actual hiring may be fewer

However, Gulati did not rule out the possibility of the potential spike in hiring being a limited affair. According to him, the apprehensions of the third-wave coupled with the talent shortage that most industries are facing may result in the overall hiring not being as strong as the projections suggest.

The ET also quoted Deloitte India chief talent officer SV Nathan saying that businesses were seeing strong growth which is resulting in them wanting to add to the manpower, “Last year, companies held back on hiring and were a lot more circumspect…Now the floodgates have opened; no one wants to be late to the party.”