Players in the recruitment industry have dubbed 2008 as ?challenging? and expect hiring during the year across sectors to drop by 20% as compared to last year. While the software sector treads cautiously on hiring, owing to slowing signals from its prime market in the US, sectors like real estate, personal finance and retail have slowed down, and in some cases frozen hiring–as inflation and rising interest rates hurt business.
According to industry estimates, Indian universities produce over 3 million graduates annually. Among the non-IT sectors, BFSI, real estate and retail have been prime employers in the country in recent years.
Recruitment firm Head Hunters India chief executive Kris Lakshmikanth told FE recruitment pipeline in 2008 was dry, compared to 2006 and 2007 that were ?bumper years for jobs?. ?This year is a bad year for freshers. Most real estate companies have frozen hiring citing cost-control and project delays. Many retailers are not doing well in some of their new ventures, forcing them to close down. In software, where 80% of the workforce is from fresh graduates, hiring is staggered and more cautious.?
He said recruiters hoped that the business will revive towards the beginning of 2009.
Chief executive of Mafoi Management Consultants E Balaji said, ?Sectors like information technology and retail, which respectively hire graduates of computer science and humanities, have become more cautious on hiring. Personal finance is another sector we find little challenging. The dampness is owing to factors like high inflation and flux in interest costs-dependent consumer spending.?
Human Capital head BS Murthy said, ?We have some MNC clients in real estate that have continued hiring for vacancies on hold since April 2008. Property sales on retail is weak. We hope that the fresh account in 2009 will be better.? Real estate major Purvankara Projects said manpower requirements for the company had lowered owing to more efficient mechanisation.