Demand for talent with functional skills like ERP (enterprise resource planning), automotive design, testing and administration continued to surge in India in the second quarter of this financial year, even as recruitment in the IT sector remained muted, reports HR World, from the Economic Times, citing research from Quess Corp. Hiring remained muted in the IT sector, as organisations have adopted a wait-and-watch approach in light of geopolitical tensions, putting a hold on discretionary spending, the research showed.

"For the first time in recent history, large IT services companies have shown a decline in headcount and reduced guidance values, signalling a collective exercise of caution in navigating the future. We believe this uncertainty will continue for a quarter or two before the next uptick begins," Quess IT Staffing CEO Vijay Sivaram said. However, he said, adopting models such as master service providers (MSPs) and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), as well as the need for pre-assessed hiring, remains the priority.

According to Quess data, 65% of the aggregate demand emerged from the top five skill suites, namely development, ERP, automotive design, testing and administration. In addition to these functional skill suites, the report also found that incremental demand for skills related to Gen AI, Data Science, DevOps, Cloud, Automotive Engineering, Cyber Security, Networking Specialists and more were also noted.