Does your company recruit via mobile?

Understanding how the target audience interacts with the recruiting company on mobile and an effective mobile strategy implementation are essential for successful recruitment in India today. Nearly half (45%) of companies surveyed by TimesJobs said 10-20% of the job applications they received in 2014-15 came from mobile phones. The figure was under 10% in 2013-14.

With almost the entire working population of India accessible on mobile phones, 65% of organisations now have a mobile recruitment strategy. This is 10% higher than last year, according to the TimesJobs.com survey.

Nearly 85% of online operations by job seekers have shifted from PCs to smartphones in the past two to three years. Acknowledging this shift, a quarter of organisations have mobile apps for job candidates, with hospitality, tourism, airlines, recruitment and placement agencies leading in this space. The phenomenon is also opening opportunities in mobile app development and digital recruitment, further spurring hiring and demand across the IT and telecom sectors. 

"With search engines giving higher rankings to mobile friendly websites - mobile-based recruitment strategies are quickly evolving in India Inc. On the other hand, job seekers have already started to search and apply for jobs using mobile mail, SMS, apps, and mobile networking," says Vivek Madhukar, COO, TimesJobs.com.

Momshad Khan, Head of Mobility, TimesJobs.com, noted that TimesJobs.com has mobile apps for recruitment, and pioneered recruitment by SMS as far back as 2006. "These mobile first initiatives have helped to increase traffic share through mobile on TimesJobs.com by 300% in the last one year," he said.

Despite the big shift in job seeker behaviour, nearly 35% of the organisations surveyed remain apprehensive about implementing mobile device-based recruitment, including several big IT, telecom and consulting services companies, stated the survey. This is an improvement over the 45% of surveyed organisations which expressed anxiety over mobile recruitment last year.

While 60% of employers feel mobile recruitment is easy and quick, only 25% organisations have a career section in their mobile apps. Nearly a third (32%) of organisations want to implement mobile recruitment in the next six months, and 25% are planning to target candidates through mobile in the next year.

"Mobile based hiring solutions are an inevitability and will be a core part of recruitment strategies in times ahead, since it not only removes barriers of availability and accessibility but also provides connections with the much larger passive candidate and casual job seeker base," adds Madhukar.

Online hiring continues upward trend in India in January 2015

Online hiring activity in India grew by 11% in January 2015, with IT/Telecom leading the demand, reports the latest RecruiteX by TimesJobs, a career and recruitment portal. This is the first time since 2012 that online hiring has increased for three months in a row, the RecruiteX noted.

"A new energised government, quick policy decisions and reforms are pushing up hiring across key sectors. E-commerce and startups continue to contribute significantly to the growth of the job market in 2015. Innovation and technology interventions are creating opportunities that are set to boost employment by creating new and unique roles and jobs, in times ahead. In order to sustain double-digit job growth, investments in IT and manufacturing sectors should be stepped up," explains Vivek Madhukar, COO, TimesJobs.com.
The IT/Telecom sector emerged as the top employment generator in January 2015 with a 19% rise in demand. The sector has witnessed an average 9% increase in demand in the last three months (November to January 2015).

The demand for IT professionals registered a 17% rise in January 2015. The profile has been witnessing a steady increase in demand since June 2014, resulting in an average increase of 5% from June 2014 to January 2015. Logistics/supply chain management was the biggest gainer in January 2015. The profile reported a 24% rise in demand; it witnessed an average 2% rise year-on-year.

The demand for experienced professionals reported an average 12% growth in January 2015. Candidates with over 20 years of experience witnessed 14% rise in demand. The category registered an average year-on-year growth of 3%.

Bengaluru registered an average growth of 19% in January 2015. The average rise year-on-year comes up to 2%. Other metros reported growth in hiring in January 2015 as well. Among tier II locations, Chandigarh topped the chart with a 17% rise in demand.

Other takeaways:

- The logistics and warehousing sector reported a 14% increase in hiring

- The healthcare industry registered a 12% increase in hiring

- Hiring was up by 11% in the automobile and consumer durables/FMCG sector

- The business management/consultants/freelancers segment witnessed a 17% increase

- The doctors/nurses/medical professionals category reported a 26% increase in demand

- Accounting and finance and customer service/tele-calling needs grew by 9%

- Demand for candidates with 10 to 20 years of experience increased by 11%. Candidates with five to 10 years of experience are even more popular, with a 12% rise in demand recorded. There is healthy demand for candidates with less than two, and two to five years of experience; both of these categories reported an 8% rise in demand.

- Delhi NCR witnessed 16% rise in demand for talent, followed by Chennai (13%). Hyderabad registered a 14% increase in demand.

- Among states, Andhra Pradesh (excluding Hyderabad) witnessed the maximum increase (26%) in demand.

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Positive hiring outlook for India Inc. in 2015

Hiring activity grew by 2% year-on-year in 2014, with retail and banking, finance, securities & insurance (BFSI) leading the charge according to TimesJobs' RecruiteX report. 

"As India's leading career and recruitment portal's data shows, 2015 seems to be a good time to be active in the job market. With a stable government and strong economic cues, the inevitable growth of Indian industry will fuel considerable job growth in the country as well. Companies in core sectors of IT, engineering, manufacturing, BFSI, hospitality, logistics, e-commerce and retail will emerge as leading employers," said Vivek Madhukar, COO, TimesJobs.com.

Key highlights from RecruiteX include:

• Jobs in the HR function posted double digit growth month-on-month (12%).
• Hiring of inexperienced candidates picked up by 8%.
• Metropolitan cities (metros) led demand, including the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai registering an average growth of 8%. Jaipur registered a 12% rise in demand.

The retail sector emerged as the top employment generator in December 2014 with a 6% rise in demand while the BFSI sector reported a 4% rise. Hiring was up by 5% in the automobile sector. The IT/telecom sector reported a 3% per cent increase in hiring, and the business process outsourcing (BPO)/IT enabled services (ITES) industry registered a 4% increase.

The demand for HR professionals has registered a 12% rise after two months of slowdown. It was the only profession to witness a double-digit rise during December 2014. Front office/administration professionals reported 8% growth; customer service/tele calling and professionals for entertainment/media/journalism saw 7% increases in demand, while IT/telecom professionals witnessed 6% growth. Rounding out the picture, demand for marketing & advertising profiles witnessed an increase of 5%.

Experience is in demand as corporate India plans expansion in 2015. The demand for the category registered steady growth from September to November 2014, but registered an average 3% drop in December. Candidates with under two years of experience witnessed 8% rise. Demand for the two to five-year experience segment increased by 7% in December 2014. Candidates with five to 10 years of experience witnessed stable hiring. Demand for candidates with 10 to 20 years of experience reported a 1% rise in hiring. Jobs for entry-level candidates had been witnessing sluggish hiring trends during the last three months but made a comeback in December. 

Metros have witnessed sluggish hiring in the last quarter of 2014, but the market revived in December with positive hopes for 2015. Metros registered an average growth of 8% in December 2014. Bengaluru and Chennai emerged as the top job hubs with a 12% rise in demand. Delhi NCR was at the other end of the spectrum with a 3% rise in demand for talent.
Among tier II cities, Jaipur registered 12% increase in hiring.

TimesJobs' RecruiteX provides detailed insights into the recruitment trends in India to employers, recruiters and jobseekers. RecruiteX tracks both the demand and supply aspects of the recruitment market. Demand for talent is computed by factoring activities of recruiters on TimesJobs.com. The supply of talent is representative of activities conducted by job seekers on TimesJobs.com. This demand and supply data is integrated with numbers collected by offline teams and is further refined according to top industry verticals, functional areas and locations.

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