- 67% of managers prefer skills and relevant experience over academic degrees
- 80% of companies have in-house upskilling programs for employees
- More than 50% of managers prefer a non-Computer Science candidate with Computer Science upskilling course
Scaler, a leading Bengaluru-based edtech startup for upskilling students and working professionals, today announced the release of the Hiring Trends Report 2022, capturing the current hiring trends and demands of the Indian tech industry. The report surveyed 81 major IT product and services companies in India, revealing that 67% of recruiters today emphasise skills and experience more than the background and educational qualifications of the potential candidates.
The survey highlighted that companies value skills and experience over degrees as 80% of companies have in-house upskilling programs for employees. Moreover, 50% of recruiters said that they would look favourably upon hiring a non-Computer Science background candidate with upskilling courses for tech-driven positions.
The factors leading to these evolving paradigms include:
- Fast-changing role and skill requirements which are often not taught under academic curriculums.
- Greater availability of jobs not being fulfilled by existing campus recruitment drives.
- Availability of quality upskilling programs beyond universities
“More than 1 billion jobs, which is close to one-third of all jobs worldwide, are likely to be transformed by technology in the next decade. We are already seeing this happen post-pandemic world. With the interplay of constant innovation and technology, it is imperative that professionals must be abreast with the industry demand and upskill themselves regularly to stay relevant and progress in their careers. Organisations today are looking for people with holistic job skills that include creative problem-solving skills, a collaborative mindset and an ability to deal with ambiguity and complexity in workforces. Today, we also see many organisations focusing heavily on upskilling employees by running in-house training programs,” said Abhimanyu Saxena, Co-founder, Scaler and InterviewBit.
The survey represents organisations working in a multitude of sectors including Edtech, IT Services and Staffing, Product companies and Telecom, reported that Digital Courses, in-house workshops, partnerships with universities are some of the key methods companies are using to upskill their employees.
Commenting on the survey findings Naren Krishna, Business Unit Head of Careers, Scaler and InterviewBit, said, “In times with fast-changing roles and evolving business models, the shelf life of the existing employee skillsets are shortening by the day. In this new environment of pivot or perish, upskilling and reskilling is the only way to bridge this gap. It is critical to address the capability gaps that exist today in the industry and upgrade the skillsets to lay a future-proof foundation in the Indian IT sector.”
Upskilling employees opens up new avenues for the organisations by increasing employee skills and creating the capacity for adopting new technologies and working methods. The uniquely designed upskilling and reskilling platforms help companies keep pace with the changes in the industry, translating to higher productivity of employees and competitive advantage.
Survey Methodology
The in-house survey was conducted among 81 companies across size and sectors, including Edtech, IT Services and Staffing, Product companies and Telecom across Startups, MNCs, IT Service and others, to understand and gain insights around the current hiring trends across the IT landscape. The findings are based on the interactions with CHROs, Talent Acquisition Heads and CXOs & Founders from organisations like Meesho, BigBasket, PayPal, Swiggy and IBM, among others.