IT and e-commerce firms lead hiring demand for freshers in H2 2022; Bengaluru top job creator

India is one of the few employment markets globally that sees constant demand for freshers (0-1 year of experience). And 2022 is no different. Despite several fund-crunched startups laying off employees en masse, first-time job seekers have plenty of opportunities coming their way.

Almost 59 per cent of employers across India have hired or plan to hire freshers in the July-December period (H2 2022), according to the Career Outlook Report 2022 by TeamLease Edtech. This is a 12 per cent improvement in hiring intent over January–June (H1 2022). 

“The global intent to hire freshers is just 11 per cent. India outperforms all geographic regions across the world by a large margin for H2 2022,” stated the report.  

TeamLease, which works with 500+ corporations to build their talent supply chains and upskill employees, found that top in-demand roles for freshers include affiliate marketing specialist, site reliability engineer, molecular biologist, UX researcher, and ML Engineer. 

Technology-led skills are at the core of the upsurge in demand for fresh talent. The top domain skills across cities and sectors include product management, machine learning, digital marketing & SEO, blockchain, business analytics, cloud computing, among others.

“We are witnessing a remarkable demand for domain skills such as cyber security & ethical hacking, business analytics, ML, along with the perennial favourites such as cloud computing and blockchain among others,” says Shantanu Rooj, Founder and CEO of TeamLease EdTech. “And, with clarity on high-demand skills and jobs, job-seekers can now strategically navigate the dynamic job market while continuously investing in skill enhancement,” he adds. 

Soft skills such as leadership, teamwork, creativity, adaptability, emotional intelligence, communication, etc. are also in demand.

Who is hiring and where

Most job opportunities for freshers are in the cities of Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Hyderabad, as per TeamLease. 

The IT sector, one of the largest employers in the country, topped hiring intent, with 65 per cent of companies looking to tap into fresh talent. Overall, the sector aims to hire ~100,000 freshers in 2022 to fulfill demand for its robust deal pipelines.

Ecommerce and tech start-ups followed, with 48 per cent of companies keen on hiring freshers as they rush to meet festive demand in the Oct-Dec quarter. Even Tier II cities like Indore and Kochi are seeing demand for freshers in roles such as delivery executives and supply chain managers. 

Telecom companies too are on the lookout for first-time job-seekers, with 47 per cent of them creating new roles ahead of India’s 5G rollout. “Telecom companies are expanding their data centres across cities in India, as they plan to hire for the major job roles like analytics, machine learning, DevOps and tech ops,” TeamLease revealed.

India’s renewable energy space too is expected to create job opportunities for freshers, with investments likely to cross $15 billion in 2022. “As there is a growth in renewable energy, Solar powered companies are investing on solar cell manufacturing units, by creating job opportunities for freshers,” the report explained.

Interestingly, hiring intent of companies are in single-digit lows when it comes to senior talent. Only 4 per cent of employers look to hire workers with 11-15 years of experience, while only 2 per cent have roles for those with over 15 years of experience. 

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