According to Quess Corp, a business solutions provider, “The Skills Report,” digital talents like generative AI and data analytics are in high demand and will only increase, indicating exciting opportunities for India’s skilled workforce. According to the research, in the first quarter of FY24, there was a discernible rise in the need for individuals with technical abilities in development, systems, applications, and products (SAP), automotive design, testing, and infrastructure support.
Popular functional suites
It is observed that just five csuites account for 78% of the total demand. Functional skill suites with the biggest proportion of intent-to-hire in Q1FY2024 were found in development roles (28%). Developers with expertise in more than 65 technology platforms and proficiencies were in high demand. It’s interesting to note that the demand for complete stack skills in the banking, telecom, automotive, and consulting industries has been steadily increasing.
SAP knowledge, which makes up 16% of expertise, is still in high demand for both installation and development aspects. Quess reports that there was a discernible increase in demand for these talents, particularly in the client domains of global capabilities centers (GCCs) and consultancy.
14% of the coveted expertise is in automotive design, which is another important and in-demand ability. The demand for experienced individuals is currently on the rise in both the global and Indian automotive sectors. This increase can be ascribed to the industry’s increasing adoption of digital technologies and the demand for people skilled in technology fields.
Additionally, there is a noticeable increase in the need for testing expertise (12%) for both automated and manual domains. The significant need for expertise with tools like Selenium, TOSCA, Workday, and ServiceNow is especially noticeable.
The need for IT infrastructure support skills (8%) is the same across industries and includes both Level 1 and Level 2 support functions. This requirement covers a broad range of almost thirty distinct categories. Competencies in domains like data science, DevOps, cloud computing, enterprise resource planning (ERP), cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), user interface and user experience (UI/UX) design, and other related fields are needed in addition to these functional skill sets.
Diverse recruitment frameworks are necessary.
According to the research, the industry needs to look into ways to improve the availability of a competent workforce through a variety of hiring strategies in order to overcome the gap between talent need and supply. Using Center of Excellence programs helps speed up hiring processes for traditional technology skills since they keep a pool of qualified applicants who have already undergone assessment.
Companies can use hire-train-deploy programs to enable individuals to improve their abilities and keep current with latest technology in places where there is a lack of available technological talent.
Demand for industry-specific tech skills
The information technology (IT) sector (15%) has emerged as the leader with the highest share when the demand for technical skills is broken down by industry, closely followed by the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector (15%) and the digital engineering sector (13%).
Positive attitude shifts have also been observed in the telecom and healthcare sectors. The need on the oil and gas industry to modernize its business plans and methods of decision-making is growing as the world’s attention turns to renewable energy sources.
As a means of addressing this dilemma, businesses are adopting digital solutions to explore novel opportunities for generating revenue, optimize production efficiency, and minimize operational expenses. Advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) are enabling these organizations to streamline complex procedures and adjust more skillfully to fluctuations in the market, unforeseen setbacks, and other obstacles.
As stated by Quess IT Staffing CEO Vijay Sivaram, “The US and European macroeconomic headwinds are causing a 25–30% decline in hiring in the IT services sector. Nonetheless, this circumstance has created new chances; recruiting is anticipated to rise by 10% as GCCs step up talent acquisition and project an employee strength of 1.4 million.
Hiring for IT is centered on IT hubs
In India, the IT hubs in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Haryana were the main locations for hiring efforts. The rise in hiring activity in Tier and Tier3 cities has been enabled by the increasing prevalence of regulations allowing remote work and the improvement of data services infrastructure.
In the financial services and e-commerce industries, this trend is especially apparent. As an illustration, Quess has placed workers in a number of places, including Jaipur, Coimbatore, Indore, Kochi, Gulmarg, Siliguri, and several more.
