New TeamLease jobs study a pointer to India Inc’s quest for COVID proofing; hot jobs on offer

After reeling under the long shadow of COVID, hope seems to be rearing its head, at least in the job market, if one is to go by the findings of the latest study put out by TeamLease Services.

Called the ‘Jobs and Salaries Primer’, it covers a universe of 4.1 lakh employee records across 17 sectors nationally to come up with industry-specific insights that have led or are now leading to job creation. Talking to Financial Express Online, Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder and executive vice president, TeamLease Services, says, “I do not see a reason to get too conservative or pessimistic . My outlook is that this is promising time. There are signs of optimism, there is salary growth and essentially we are resuming lives if you will and looking ahead.” In other word, there seems anticipation and hope for better time.

That this is despite all the uncertainties around the Ukraine war, the challenges of inflation and concerns on growth, seems significant.

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Referring to the findings of the study, she says, “the corporate India seems to be getting far more resilient at dealing with the unknowns than ever before.”

In the preface to the study, she says, “the worst seems to be over for the Indian labour market. The third Covid wave receded without a whimper, consumers are up and about, business sentiment is rallying up, employers are suiting themselves to varied configurations of office and remote work, and jobs are being created at a frenetic pace.” However, while she also points out that “there hasn’t been much to write home about as far as salary growth, in general, is concerned, expertise – in the form of superspecialized roles – continues to attract enviable increment. Roles that are highly specialized, and solve for complexity in an increasingly complex world, are in unprecedented demand and are being rewarded more handsomely than ever.”

The study points to nine out of the 17 sectors new “hot” jobs getting created and six sectors creating new “Upcoming” jobs this year. This is as against corresponding numbers for the 2021 edition of the study that found ‘hot’ jobs in seven of the 17 sectors; ‘Upcoming’ jobs in five of the 17 sectors.

The “Hottest Hot jobs”:
Field Scientist – (Agriculture and Agrochemicals)
EV Technical Expert – (Automobile & Allied Industries)
KYC Analyst – (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance)
Digital Marketing Manager – (Ecommerce and Tech Start-ups)
Curriculum Developer – (Educational Services)
Food Technologist – (Fast Moving Consumer Goods)
SaaSops Engineer – (Information Technology and Knowledge Services)

At first glance, some of the jobs may not seem new but apparently, some of the jobs were subsumed earlier under some other job but when the activity per se got increased prominence it triggered a need for specialization and with it the carving out of a new job role. SaaSops for instance, is very loosely a combination of skills that a company may need when dealing with a SaaS (software as a service) scenario.

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Finding employers having learnt from the COVID experience, Chakraborty feels, this is leading to more jobs becoming COVID-proof – or companies better prepared for scenarios where an employee is not able to come to work or operate out of a physical premise of an office. The focus of these jobs is to ensure business continuity and this trend seems to be picking up, according to the study.

In terms of salaries, she says, “the IT and sales jobs continue to have an above average salary growth.”

Then, there are off course sectors that are standing still or de-growing. Across 17 sectors, the study also points to job profiles that may see de-growth and these depending on the sector in question could vary from a billing executive in certain sector while it could be a documentation assistant in another sector. The study lists out a range of job profiles.