After October lull, hiring returned to full form in November: Naukri

Hiring numbers in India bounced back to their ‘regular’ levels after setting off alarm bells with a steep dip in October, according to the Job Speak Index by Naukri.com.

Hiring numbers had fallen more than expected in October as the usual festive lull in hiring combined with an overall cautious atmosphere in Indian economy to produce to low hiring numbers.

The only exception to the sharp dip in October was among the export-oriented IT outsourcing and BPO segments, which continued hiring on a usual basis.

On a positive note, hiring levels have again returned to the healthy levels in November, according to the latest numbers released by Naukri.com, India’s biggest jobs portal.

After remaining above the 1000-mark for most of the year, the index had fallen to a year-low of 921 in October, or down 16% from September. However, the recruitment index has jumped 30% in November when compared with October, Naukri said.

The index, at around 1,197, is at or near its highest point ever, indicating record recruitments through the portal, and indirectly, in the country. The index is calculated after taking the total number of new jobs posted in July 2008 as a base of 1000.

“The bounce back in the November index is indicative of a seasonal spike. It remains to be seen whether this bounce back sustains or is just a temporary surge as companies make up for the lack of hiring in October,” said Hitesh Oberoi, CEO and MD, Info Edge, Naukri’s parent.

“Hiring activity in the Construction, Auto and Banking sectors was similar to Sep-11 but was 20% , 34% and 21% higher than Oct-11. IT- Software, BPO and Telecom sectors on the other hand exhibited strong hiring trends with the job speak indices moving up by 29%, 18% and 14% in Nov-11 over Oct-11,” Naukri said in its statement.

Demand for professionals in production and software services moved up by 30% in Nov-11 over Oct-11 while that for professionals in sales, accounts and HR moved up by 35%, 31% and 22% respectively.

All top metros of the country witnessed strong hiring trends when compared with the festive month of Oct-11. Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore saw hiring activity pick up by 39%, 37% and 31% respectively in Nov-11 when compared to Oct-11. Chennai and Kolkata saw their job speak index pick up by 18% and 22% during the same time period.

“This trend could be purely seasonal as the three month moving average indices indicate a steady and more stable hiring scenario,” Naukri said.