Freshers Makeup 53% of Startup Jobs in India: foundit Insights Tracker Between April 2023 and April 2024, startups in the IT services sector observed a consistent rise in employment, going from 20 percent to 23 percent. However, recruiting for startups in the media & entertainment, Internet, and BFSI/Fintech sectors slightly decreased.

By Minakshi Sangwan

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Sekhar Garisa, CEO of foundit

The latest foundit Insights Tracker on hiring trends reveal that April saw a 9% increase in overall hiring activity, both month over month and year over year, suggesting a rebound in job possibilities.

According to the foundit (formerly Monster APAC & ME) tracker for April 2024, the hiring index increased from 276 in March to 300 last month.

Since last year, the number of startups in the startup ecosystem has increased by 37%, which has resulted in a 14% increase in employment. Fresh graduates are the target audience for over half (53%) of all startup positions. April saw a 23% increase in sales employment in the industry, indicating a rise in startup recruiting.

Sekhar Garisa, CEO, foundit (a part of business services provider Quess Corp), said, "Startups are increasingly leaning towards recruiting fresh talent, with over half of their job postings targeted at newcomers. Additionally, the production and manufacturing sector has witnessed a remarkable 31% year-on-year surge in hiring. This growth will go a long way in contributing to realising India's vision to emerge as a global manufacturing powerhouse."

Hiring Revival

Last month, hiring in India's production and manufacturing sector increased by 31% year over year. This indicates notable growth in the sector and is in line with the nation's overarching goal of becoming a global manufacturing powerhouse, with a focus on the food processing, chemical, pharmaceutical, and automotive industries.

The home appliance industry is another one that has done well; hiring increased by 27% year over year as a result of heatwaves boosting demand in the field.

The healthcare industry has shown a 10% year-on-year increase and a 6% monthly increase in hiring.

Agro-based industries (-22%), shipping/marine (-19%), FMCG (-6%), and printing/packaging (-7%) are among the industries that experienced a yearly decline in hiring.

Hiring growth was observed in the retail (18%), automotive (15%), real estate (11%), technology (9%), and oil/gas/power (14%) businesses.

With schools shut for summer breaks, the hospitality sector is gearing up to cater to the growing influx of tourists. In keeping with that, jobs in these industries saw a 23% year-on-year increase in online hiring activity.

Other career roles that have seen encouraging hiring growth include marketing and communications, where the tracker showed increases of 6% per month and 12% per year.

Customer service (-26%), sales and business development (-12%), and finance and accounting (-7%) are the job roles where hiring has trended downward. Job roles experiencing moderate to mild growth on an annual basis include those in engineering/production, software, hardware, telecom, and HR & admin, where hiring has increased by 2%.

Companies across India are seeking to expand their workforce to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, given the massive talent available in smaller cities. Jaipur leads the growth metrics with a whopping 24% yearly increase in hiring, followed by Kolkata with a 23% increase in hiring. Other cities that have showcased an optimistic trajectory include Delhi-NCR (12%), Coimbatore (12%), and Bangalore (12%).

A few cities, such as Chandigarh, Mumbai, and Pune, faced a decline in hiring, dropping by 17%, 11%, and 3%, respectively.

Minakshi Sangwan

Junior Writer

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