The Most in Demand Jobs in India-July -Sept 2020 Onwards-Worst seems over for India’s formal job market

The unemployment rate in India has probably peaked with medium and large companies are looking forward to starting recruiting and hiring after the lockdown has been lifted and unlock 1.0 has started with some restrictions in place. PM Modi has made it clear to the state Chief Ministers that there will not be any lockdown further. The unlock phase has already begun and there is no going back and there will not be any fresh lockdown anywhere in the country. From 1st July 2020, we’ve to start thinking about the next phase of unlocking period-unlock 2.0.

For unlock 2.0, it has been discussed and decided the following:

1.    The economic activities that have been already resumed, we’ve to give more momentum to them.

2.    Increase business by bringing in investments and to generate employment opportunities.

3.    Fight against Covid-19 must continue seriously. Since it has become a new norm, we have to be careful always and learn to start living with it.

4.    Get People out of Stigma due to fear of getting infected. Citizens must be made aware of the number of patients who have recovered and are getting recovered. The recovery rate is increasing.

5.    We must continue with our three-pronged strategy and fight against COVID-19-Track, Trace, and Isolate the infected patients.

6.    The helpline must be helpful to the citizens not helpless.

7.    More and more people should be educated and we must ensure that more people download Arogya Setu App. We’ve data to suggest that in the states where the Arogya Setu App has been downloaded and updated regularly by the people, we have seen very positive results.

8.    The spread of Covid-19 is more in some specific pockets of a few big states and cities. We have to keep those areas isolated and keep a real-time track on the situation.

9.    Apart from forming a team of expert senior doctors to guide and educate patients via telemedicine and providing them with correct and authentic information, we also have to raise an army of young and energetic volunteers who can help government agencies to run helpline effectively for the affected public.

As Covid-19 the lockdown has been lifted, the job-seeking has surged back to pre Covid-19 levels. There is still a substantial demand for several jobs and hiring and recruitment have just resumed.

Different companies have already started planning and resuming their hiring and recruitment processes for their requirements in July, August, and September. According to most of the recruiting companies are getting a sense that the worst period of the job losses is behind us.

Worst seems over for India’s formal job market. We can see some light at the end of the tunnel and bend in the road and expecting bounce back in recruiting and hiring in sectors like financial services, health care, Insurance and last-mile logistics will be quick and sharper. Workers in the informal sectors are most vulnerable to the economic shock of the lockdown.

Employers must learn about the hottest jobs: it is good to know where you’ll face stiff competition and can help manage expectations and inform compensation decisions. The outlook from the job market claims after Prime Minister Modi’s move to allow some of the businesses to resume operation starting from unlocking 1.0 that India’s largest private-sector employer providing everything from sales staff at supermarkets to trainers for technical industries.

Before unlock 1.0 period started, a record more than 122 million people were forced out of work in April 2020 due to the lockdown period.

Some of the large corporate houses and multinational companies with a stronger balance sheet has shown the indication that they will go ahead with at least 70 % of their planned recruitments in the quarter starting July 2020.

However, these companies account for just 15 % of India’s workforce or providing employment. The major employment which accounts for about 40% or more of GDP comes from and concentrated in the so-called parallel or informal economy.

Informal sector workers, comprising mostly of the people who have migrated from rural India to bigger cities in search of work and employability were and are the most vulnerable sections to the economic slowdown and lockdown due to Covid-19.

Having suffered and lost their incomes and work/jobs, workers in hundreds of thousands in numbers decided to leave the cities they use to work and started moving to their hometown since 22^nd March 2020. This was and is a very painful exodus for many workers due to the mishandling and unplanned move taken by respective state governments and central govt. of the situations arisen by Covid-19 lockdown. Many of them had to move to their hometown on foot. Most of them are now reluctant to return soon and are getting very watchful of the situation and frustrating the plans of the businesses trying to restart operations after the unlock 1.0 started. The textile industry of Gujrat and Maharashtra is an example. Some of the industries have not started because of the unavailability of workers.

This has pushed India to the deepest recession ever in the second quarter and the effect of it will be seen in the coming months and years too. This will result in some of the companies backed by venture capital money will go out of business.

What is the solution? Demand has to be revived in large cities to revive the economy and that is the key step. Bring migrant workers back to the big cities.

Respective state Govts. And central govt has announced steps to support migrant workers and farmers through providing cheap credit and ration and eatables. Many state governments have eased labor laws to allow the companies to hire and fire staff at will and extended working hours to revive industrial sectors. There is and always has been a need for better and more equitable reforms to curb the exploitation of the workers.

In Demand Jobs for Third quarter (July-September,2020) In India-Include frontline roles responding to COVID-19.

Fresh LinkedIn data on the job posting from the past month shows how the employers in India and all over the world recognize frontline jobs as essential to operational roles that can help to bring businesses and the economy on track. Only one most sought after the role has not changed since before pandemic-Software Engineer.

The Most in Demand Jobs in India and the world focusing on the up and coming roles are based on the overall volume of job posts:

According to LinkedIn, the following list of roles had the most job postings in May 2020:

1.    Software Engineer

2.    Nurses

3.    Sales Persons

4.    Drivers

5.    Supermarket Department Specialists

6.    Certified Accountants

7.    Project Planners and Managers

8.    Store Managers and Associates

9.    Supply Chain Professionals

10.  Food and Service sector workers and employees

Out of the above most important job-generating fields- Nurses (Second Most In-demand as hospitals across the world continue to battle Covid-19), Drivers, retail and food service workers, and employees have always been essential but the Covid-19 pandemic has made their importance even more obvious.

Software developer and software engineering jobs often list at the top as companies across every industry need tech talent. According to the LinkedIn survey, 85% of the software professionals agreed that they are effectively working from home or remotely. This explains the demand for these jobs has not affected.

Fastest Growing Monthly Demand for jobs related to the following fields:

 

While the previous list was ranked according to the volume of the job posting, the following list will show the biggest monthly increase. The most in-demand jobs.

 

Accounting, Training, learning, Cashier, Supply chain, Free-lance Engineering, Food and Services, Translation specialists, Marketing Strategy Consultants and Retail.

 

Interestingly, the two major jobs showing the fastest growing and most in-demand are for Freelance software engineers and Marketing Strategy Consultant. This could indicate that companies are still not ready to commit full-time employee jobs yet.

Most in-demand Job Views Returns to Pre-COVID-19 Rates in few Industries only

 

Job viewing and postings declined tremendously after the pandemic started. Job posting and recruitment rate has not recovered yet buy job seeking is surging back to pre Covid-19 level.

With few job openings and millions out of job, view per job has almost doubled as per LinkedIn.

Highest views-per-job post have fewer jobs:

Education, Hardware, and networking, wellness and fitness, entertainment, legal, corporate services, Software & IT.

Education has seen the largest increase in views-per-job because educators are facing steep layoffs.

 

Most in-demand jobs: What to consider when you’re getting more candidates:

 

Instead of thinking about the cultural fit of the candidates, look for the candidates keeping in mind that the culture adds. Generally, it happens that after each big recessionary trend, organizations tend to treat candidates poorly.

 

Most in-demand jobs-The fewer views per job have more opportunities:

 

Few opportunities-more job views per job and more jobs-less views per job. The Industries with the biggest drops in views-per-job. Non-profit, Recreation & Travel, Public administration, health care, public safety, transport & logistics, and Retail. (Based on Global LinkedIn Data)

In In the past two weeks, we’ve seen the signs of recovery. Has been noticed recently in some countries of Europe and China where economies reopen and have remained open. This is what global hiring shows. That is a positive shift towards the recovery of recruitment & hiring.

Finding and understanding our new normal will be taking us towards the recovery of the job market. We must understand how the jobs and skills will be changing the near and long-term. Digital skills are most important and are table stakes and soft professional skills will become important in a virtual world. So, skill development and retooling the workforce will be the key to recover from the recession and economic slowdown. Keep hunting for most in-demand jobs.

Rajesh Rai Sharma is a working management professional having 28 years of experience in leadership roles, Marketing & Sales, Exports, International Marketing, Management, and Business Development. Worked in Asia-India / Bangladesh, Africa / West Africa as PCH / GM / Marketing /BD /Commercial / Operations. Core Areas of Expertise – Textiles / Fabrics / RMG / Fashion / FMCG - Food & Beverages /Soap /Chemicals /PET / Polymers.