Online hiring among startups sees significant increase in April led by edtech and fintech
Online hiring activity for white-collar jobs declined in April compared with the year-ago period amid a challenging environment for businesses, according to a report.
The report also suggested that despite economic uncertainty, hiring activity among startups increased significantly in April.
While there has been a 6% decline in e-recruitment for clerical jobs in April, compared to the same month last year, the market for new and emerging job roles was up, according to foundit Insights Tracker (fIT).
“The current global economic uncertainty has created a challenging environment for businesses, forcing them to navigate a rapidly changing environment. Although hiring has slowed, there is still an abundance of job opportunities in emerging industries for job seekers,” foundit (formerly Monster APAC and ME), a Quess company, said CEO Sekhar Garisa.
He said the Indian startup ecosystem has taken a turn, showing resilience in hiring intent despite the prevailing job market challenges.
“While we expect cautious hiring sentiment to persist, we remain optimistic about job opportunities for graduates, especially as startups continue to drive demand for talent and innovation,” Garisa added.
The Foundit Insights Tracker is based on data on the platform from April 2022 to April 2023.
Startup’s trend
In the startup ecosystem, while edtech was among the top five hiring industries, the sector had a much larger share last year, the report said.
Other segments such as BFSI/fintech and media and entertainment also accounted for significant demand in the startup rental space, it said.
On the other hand, healthcare and BPO startups showed a negative hiring intention, it added.
Job postings from startups have been driven by increased hiring across cities, and robust hiring has also been noted for external roles.
Bengaluru (33%) accounted for the highest share of startup jobs, with Delhi, Mumbai and Pune also hosting notable demand trends, it added.
Meanwhile, the report revealed that retail sales have grown by 22% year-on-year (YoY), which is encouraging for job seekers in emerging industries.
The report noted that e-commerce has contributed significantly to this growth, with India now home to some of the largest online retailers.
This expansion has increased the demand for skilled professionals on the shop floor, providing great opportunities for retail job seekers, it said.
Furthermore, employment in travel and tourism has also experienced growth of 19% year-on-year, as domestic and international travel increased this summer, it said.
The telecoms sector’s labor market grew by 14% on an annual basis, which places it among the three most actively employing sectors, the report states.
It also added that cyber security professionals are in demand attributed to the growing reliance on technology and digital platforms, which has consequently led to an increase in cyber attacks and data breaches.
Other sectors that have shown annual growth include voluntary organisations/social services (11%), advertising, market research and public relations (7%), oil/gas (3%) and shipping/marine (2%).
However, on the downside, the BFSI (4%) and BPO/ITES (13%) sectors continued to witness a decline in hiring as companies looked at their spending on talent acquisition.
Other sectors such as healthcare, biotechnology and life sciences (16%), import/export (19%), agro-based manufacturing (20%) and IT hardware/software (22%) also saw a significant decline in hiring patterns in April compared to the previous year .
