Services sector hiring to see a pick up from July

“The current pandemic situation in India is unpredictable and we cannot draw any clear conclusion on how much growth will scale after the second wave, but companies are optimistic that after July, markets should go back to normal and business demand should pick up. Right now, economic stability is critical for India to combat the third wave that may hit the country," said Deval Singh, business head, telecom, IT& ITes, media, and government, TeamLease Services, a staffing firm.

Healthcare and pharmaceuticals are expected to lead the pack within the services sector, driven by high demand for doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, the experts said. E-commerce, education, IT/ITeS will also offer growth opportunities in the coming quarters on hopes that lockdowns will be relaxed and the economy will revive. Telecommunications and logistics would also add considerable jobs, the experts said.

The top six health-tech jobs currently in demand are big data, engineering leaders with data science experience, mobile technology, UX & UI designers, medical coding and health informatics, and economics and cybersecurity with a cumulative 20,000 data science job opportunities, according to Teamlease.

Telemarketers, software developers, DevOps (development and IT operations) engineers, cloud architects, database administrators, program/systems analysts, and mobile app developers are also in great demand.

In the customer service segment, agents, delivery drivers, and marketing managers are in demand in the e-commerce vertical. In general, sales and marketing continues to have a substantial lead in hiring intent over other functional areas in the sector.

Betterplace, a blue-collar lifecycle management startup, expects manpower demand to rise 15% next quarter with logistics, retail and apparel sectors continuing to drive demand within the blue-collar segment. Salaries are expected to remain stable within the range of ₹14,000 per month to ₹18,000 per month.

“We are optimistic about the next quarter as it precedes the Diwali season and expect the same sectors to continue driving demand. On-demand services, e-comm services and the requirement of essentials will continue to contribute to this trend," said Pravin Agarwala, co-founder and chief executive officer, Betterplace.

Once sectors impacted by the lockdowns reopen, the pent-up demand will increase business for sectors such as tourism, entertainment, retail and hospitality, said human resource consultants.

Lohit Bhatia, president, workforce management, Quess Corp, said consumer spending in these sectors is likely to grow severalfold as vaccination speeds up towards the end of 2021. Hence, in Q4FY22 and beyond, massive hiring is expected in these sectors. These could include in-shop demonstrators or travel and tourism personnel, predominantly in entry and mid-management levels.