Talent demand in India grew by 4% in December 2021 when compared to December 2020, and up 5% when compared to the previous month, according to the TimesJobs RecruiteX.

TimesJobs RecruiteX is a monthly recruitment index that records the demand and supply of talent at India Inc.

Pushed by the emergence of Omicron, talent demand for the Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals sector grew by 87 to 98 basis points, recording the highest month-on-month increment of 12% in December 2021. The BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) sector grew by 8%, while IT/Telecom rose by 7%. Manufacturing & Engineering saw growth of 3% while the Automobiles/Auto Component sector grew by 1%.

The Retail and FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) sectors noted a monthly decline of 4% and 1% respectively.

By functional area, demand for the Doctors/Medical Professionals job role superseded the talent intake for all other roles in Dec 2021. The talent demand indices grew from 103 basis points in November 2021 to 144 points in December 2021, clocking over 30% improvement in monthly demand. The top talent demand gainers in December 2021 on a monthly basis were: Front Office/Administration (21%), Marketing & Advertising (14%), Banks/Insurance/Financial Services (12%), and Sales/Business Development (12%).

By city, Indore grew from 92 basis points in November 21 to 133 points in December 2021, a growth of over 30%, and was the top city for talent demand in the study month.

Among the metro cities, Chennai saw 10% monthly growth. Mumbai reported no movement in talent demand while Delhi-NCR saw a dip of 5% over the month.

Professionals with 2-5 years of experience were most in demand. This work group recorded a growth of 41 basis points over the month and noted 12% monthly growth in demand. After this, freshers were the most sought after work group, hinting that most corporates were adding to their executing tier in December 2021. The demand for senior professionals with over 20 years of work experience saw a decline of 20% in the month.

The top gainers for talent demand among work experience groups are as follows:  2 - 5 years of experience: 12%; Freshers (less than 2 years of experience): 6%; 5-10 years of experience: 4%.

Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig said, “Omicron has halted the global recovery from Covid-19. News reports suggest that about 30-35% of businesses had reopened offices in December 2021 and were planning to get back to office in full swing by March 22. These stats are the same for India too. However, Covid-19’s resurgence has put a temporary stop to such plans. Healthcare and wellbeing is a top priority and I foresee this sector to be bullish on talent intake for some more months. A silver lining though is, most of us are already attuned to virtual working, hence there will be less hiccups in business continuity.”