Predicting growth: The state of talent acquisition in India

India is on its way to becoming the third-largest economy by 2030. To support that growth requires the right people in the right roles – so attracting and retaining top talent is more important than ever.

With the market continually changing, we gathered thoughts from leading HR and talent acquisition experts in India and around the world to help you make sense of the current environment. Read on to learn about the region’s hiring landscape and some of the most pressing TA challenges:

India's hiring landscape and TA challenges

Jaspreet Bakshi – Partner & India HR Leader, Marsh McLennan
“Job growth will continue in India because of the quality, depth and variety of talent and the relative cost/value advantage India offers for global organizations. As for attracting candidates, the concept of competitor baskets has changed. Today’s talent is industry agnostic, so building a strong employer brand is more critical than ever before.”

Dan Bates – Senior Vice President – Global Talent Operations, Cielo
“Reporting and insights for talent acquisition teams remain essential for TA success. They help leaders determine what needs to go into building a great hiring experience and feed into sourcing strategies and employer branding plans.”

Bhavna Batra – Executive Director – People & Global People Planning Leader, S&P Global Market Intelligence
“Hiring is no longer just an HR priority, it is a business priority. There is a visible shift in the conversation from “employment” to “employability,” and talent needs to be upskilled continuously to remain relevant. The biggest opportunity in talent acquisition is workforce planning. Done in a timely and thoughtful manner, it will help hire organizations to be future-ready and enable meaningful diversity.”

Marissa Geist – CEO, Cielo
“New job growth is still ticking along in India, with 68% of organizations showing a positive hiring intent for FY 2023, and demand for strategic talent acquisition services continues to rise. Once summer rolls around, we’ll know if the hiring markets will pick up speed again. One thing’s for sure: People with a high capacity to learn know they’re in high demand – and being able to attract this talent is a key differentiator for organizations.”

Dipankar Ghosh – Group Head – HR (APMEA), Apollo Tyres
“There’s continued hiring demand in the Indian market, even with considerable resignation numbers. This isn’t necessarily triggered by growth but rather led by attrition. And it’s new skills, not traditional ones leading to job creation across industries.”

Shilpa Narang Jerath – Chief Human Resources Officer, Oppo
“Niche technical skills like artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud computing are relatively new and have been in high demand, making these roles very challenging to fill in with the right fit. In the agile and buoyant industry that I come from, it is equally tough to find mid- and senior-level leaders who have a growth mindset, strong resilience, and people skills. It is imperative for organizations to invest in developing their existing talent by cross-skilling, upskilling or reskilling.”

Samrat Sarkar – Director – Human Resources, Boston Scientific
“India is a growth engine for the world today. With a 500 million workforce and almost every skill that organizations may require, there is vast talent supply. However, with disruption led by technology, many current jobs won’t exist in the future and many skills will be redundant. Reskilling the workforce and enabling agility are key for organizations today. When hiring talent, the emphasis should rather be on sourcing quality, not volume. And it is organizations with a distinguished purpose and differentiated value propositions that’ll attract and retain the best talent.”

Vaishnavi Shukla – Head HR, Comviva
“The Indian technology market will continue to thrive as other sectors experience growth and look for digital solutions. We’ll also see continued investment in current employees by skilling and upskilling them. Assessments are important for both external and internal talent to address quality of hire and avenues for talent development.”

Manpreet Singh – Director – The People Office, FIS
“Doing more with less is the focus for leaders right now. Between the build and buy approaches to talent, build is currently the preference for organizations. Buy is relevant for “T” skills – when an individual has depth in core function with some cross-functional breadth. Further, hiring teams must focus on skills which aren’t in job descriptions but are essential for the roles to evolve.”

Shailesh Singh – Director – India, Cielo
“About 75% of Indian corporates have expressed a strong hiring intent for FY 2023. To attract this talent, recruiting teams must plan sourcing efforts strategically and know the best sources and pools for specific skills. Otherwise, they’ll keep looking for the needle in the haystack.”

Jaya Suri – Leader HR India, Centum Learning
“Industries like education technology grew rapidly during the pandemic, creating immense demand and skyrocketing compensation ratios. Job growth will continue once they’re out of the current consolidation and correction phase.”

Manoj Tewani – Human Resources Director, LifeWorks
“The current economic climate means more movement of jobs from western markets into India. As salary expectations normalize and getting the right candidate within budget remains vital, India will continue to be the market of choice for talent.”

Shailaja Venkat Iyer – Executive Vice President, CHRO & India Country Head, Incedo
“The current slowdown in IT isn’t just because of macro-economic scenarios – over-hiring has also contributed. Organizations must build strong predictability around business demand and talent supply. It’s crucial to find and assess talent that fits long term into organizations. Hiring talent for the short term isn’t sustainable.”