Good times are set to roll this year for workers, young and old alike, who have been finding it difficult to get suitable jobs.

A cross section of HR consultants, staffing and employment experts have revealed positive hiring trends across sectors, with appointment of blue collar workers set to tip the scales this year.

“Hiring sentiment would trend upwards this year. Though in the last two and half years, the employment outlook has been dull with hiring in the slow lane, companies are now gearing up to seize the moment,” said Sangeeta Lala, Senior Vice-President and co-founder of TeamLease Services, a recruitment company.

“Jobs in retail, hotels and hospitality are picking up right now. Fast moving consumer goods and consumer durables are also speeding up, as are hires in the engineering and manufacturing sector. Only jobs in the infrastructure, construction and real estate sector are bound to be dull,” Lala told Business Line .

Upcoming elections The upcoming national elections coupled with the improvement in the global economic conditions are also expected to mobilise corporates to come out and invest in business again, automatically leading to talent search.

“Three years is typically the base time by which most businesses speed up on their hiring. Given the good year (2013) for the economy, businesses are stable now, and productivity is better. Though many companies are exercising caution, several corporates are eager to invest on people and increase their manpower,” she added.

Confidence levels are also rising. A Randstad global workmonitor report noted that confidence has increased when it comes to finding a different job, especially in India. The report, released last month, noted that most people from India believe that experience, social skills, digital skills and education have became more important to employers over the last five years, and would continue to be more important.

In tune with the tempo, job portal Monster launched a new campaign ‘Wake Up' to push passive jobseekers into action. Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, Monster.com, said the global survey conducted by Monster and Gfk strengthened confidence that India needed a wake up call and that people need to make the most of the opportunity that exists.

Reward to retain Retention would also be a priority. “Talent retention would be key this year. Corporates would take several steps to retain top talent, with retention initiatives concentrated around rewards and recognition,'' said Mahninder Singh, recruitment specialist at executive search firm, Varghese International.

“Organisations have already moved to performance evaluation mode and the outcomes are all about how valuable talent needs to be rewarded and retained. Seen in conjunction with the aggressive talent hunt, organisations would be keen to retain top talent. This is bound to get more aggressive this year over the next six months, far more than in the previous half years,” Lala added.

However, Raj Agrawal, Director, All-India Management Association (AIMA), said that employers seem to be in the mood to cherry pick great talent at bargain rates of salary. He said that employers are in a consolidation mode as attrition rates have been steadily dipping across industries and cities.

To ensure that workers are skill-ready, AIMA has set up a new division, Centre for Skill Development and Learning, to enhance employee productivity through capacity building for corporates and employees alike.

Upping skill sets “Industry body Nasscom has said that the IT sector is set to reduce its new hires to 1.5 lakh in the current fiscal year, dragged down by low attrition. The AIMA centre could be a catalyst in job creation and upping certain skill sets, though we are focussing more on training of personnel in the public and private sector.

“There are several gaps in the functional areas, say in procurement or supply chain management. We are identifying and plugging these gaps,” added Agrawal.

amritanair.ghaswalla@thehindu.co.in

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