Non-technology firms say aye aye to AI talent in bid to get ahead of the competition

The mandate fulfilment or conversion rate in India's IT services sector has dropped to an all-time rate, marking a significant decline from pre-pandemic levels in FY20. While demand is rebounding, particularly for specialized fields like Artificial Intelligence and cybersecurity, the hiring process has become more rigorous, leading to prolonged recruitment timelines. IT services hiring likely to stay muted till September.

Hiring mandates put out by IT services cos – that had almost completely frozen recruitments in the last few quarters due to weak tech demand – are improving on a month-on-month basis, recruitment firms said.

There is demand for 40,000-50,000 employees across job roles in 2024, a 25-30% increase over last year, says staffing company Randstad. The sector is expected to see more than 800,000 to 1 million job openings over the next five years.

IT services majors are estimated to hire between 50,000 to 100,000 employees during fiscal 2024, according to data from staffing firm Xpheno, a precipitous decline from the net hiring of over 250,000 by these companies in the previous year.

A report by Mint+Shine.com found that generative AI models, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, are being used by job seekers to reduce workload. Meanwhile, 51% of Indian employers are automating recruitment and hiring processes, and the talent market is growing for salespeople, cloud computing, coding, data science and marketing skills. Start-ups are attracting talent, too, with 61% of respondents saying they prefer to work for a fast-growing and innovative company. The report also found that 58% of organisations prefer employees to work in the office, while 38% allow for a hybrid model of remote and office-based work.

“One of the things that differentiates us is that although we are very proud of our position here in India, we are very much a global company, we are not an India out company and so we practice a very balanced onshore, offshore proposition and we have got a very balanced set of revenues from different parts of the world.”

According to executives at recruitment services firms, Paytms competitors are keen on hiring employees in tech and sales teams and have started sending feelers. However, there are few takers for the legal and compliance professionals, especially at the senior and mid levels.

NITI Aayog Vice Chairman BVR Subrahmanian highlighted that India has a two-to-three-year window to leverage the global strategy of de-risking from China. He emphasized the need for policies and programs that make doing business and shifting to India attractive and easier.

Mumbai, Jun 29 (PTI) IT services firm TCS has acted against six employees after finding them favouring a few staffing companies, Chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Thursday. The Tata Group’s cash cow feels the next few quarters will be volatile due to business uncertainties in the developed world but the company has good prospects in […]

Companies in India are offering their employees additional time off during the festive season to focus on employee well-being and allow them to relax and recharge. Companies such as KPMG, Deloitte, Adobe, WeWork India, and startups like Physics Wallah, Wingify, and Power Play are giving extended breaks, either during Diwali or towards the end of the year.