TeamLease views that pharmaceutical and healthcare industry will continue to be among the primary drivers of hiring qualified personnel in 2015 also, especially in the areas of research, manufacture and marketing operations.

Although the year 2014 started on a sober note as businesses were uncertain about the future, the pharmaceutical sector showed positive indications in hiring personnel. Such a sentiment was largely seen stagnated for some sectors. The overall net employment between October 2013 and March 2014 declined by three per cent . Hiring for entry and junior levels also remained flat as companies were interested in engaging a more productive workforce, said Ashok Reddy, managing director & co-founder, TeamLease Services.

However, the second half of the year saw interesting turnaround in both hiring and business sentiments. Global macroeconomic trends coupled with national election results in India  put business and employment sentiments on a fast paced upward trajectory. Business outlook took a leap of faith and grew by 9 per cent  while employment outlook growth was also equally fast at 8 per cent . Job growth was expected to follow suit at a stupendous 12.8 per cent . However, how much of this will be achieved is uncertain, he added.

From a sector perspective, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, information technology, manufacturing, engineering, retail and e-commerce will be the primary drivers of hiring followed by telecom, FMCG and Financial Services. E-commerce alone is estimated to add around 50,000 employees. With regard to hierarchy, though mid and senior level talent will see a demand, the larger chunk of hiring will continue to happen at the bottom of the pyramid, noted Reddy.

For the year 2015, hiring and business sentiments will remain positive. This is largely due to increased domestic demand as well as improving business sentiments globally. The government’s policy push, softening of global crude prices, India’s increasing dominance on the world stage will further bring in investments and help improve the employment scenario. Job creation is one of the key agendas of the new government as one million youth keep entering our workforce every month.

“We are expecting a 10-14 per cent increase in hiring across sectors. Tier 2 & 3 cities will also stand to benefit from this as companies look to get good talent at lower costs from these locations. Skill mismatch will continue to haunt the industry. The year will witness companies stressing on tools for better matching of profiles and requirements as well as social recruitment, apart from adapting new technologies to build a good talent pipeline,” said the TeamLease chief.

Some of the skills that will be sought after in the coming years are human factors & user interface design, agile-adaptive thinking, machine learning, artificial intelligence, virtual/cross-cultural collaboration, etc, he said.