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The already inflated tech recruitment market is creating new recruiting challenges due to increased opportunities and salaries. Around 88 percent of recruiters face increased challenges in hiring and retaining skilled employees across sectors, revealed annual Hiring Trends Report 2022 by Bengaluru-based edtech startup, Scaler.

As indicated by the report, 72 percent of recruiters witness increasing offer declines and no-shows in this competitive landscape. While 56 percent of recruiters believe that there is a shortage of skilled and experienced candidates, 49 percent are facing the challenge of inflated salary expectations because of the inflated talent market.

The survey was conducted among 81 companies across sectors, including edtech, IT services and staffing, product companies, and telecom. The findings are based on the interactions with CHROs, talent acquisition heads and CXOs and Founders from organisations like Meesho, Bigbasket, PayPal, Swiggy and IBM, among others.

Organisations across edtech, the internet, and IT offer an average increment of 50-75 percent to their employees. While 40 percent of MNCs are extending a 30-50 percent hike, 25 percent of MNCs have also witnessed an increment of up to or more than 100 percent. 

Abhimanyu Saxena, Co-founder, Scaler and InterviewBit, said, “Over the last six months, the attrition rate at India’s IT majors has spiked dramatically to touch a range of 20-30 percent per annum. The increasing proliferation of startups and global talent competition contributes to the existing challenges. India is now home to over 91 unicorn startups, and more than $39 billion has been invested in Indian startups in 2021 alone.”

“On the other side, MNCs are aggressively setting up capability centres in India, which is expected to hit 500 by 2025 and effectively pull in thousands of skilled professionals every year. If we fail to address this grave skill-gap issue now, the trend of high attrition rates and inflated salaries will only amplify in the coming years.” he added.

According to the survey, for 83.5 percent of respondents, the average time taken to fulfill open positions has increased significantly, resulting in longer recruitment cycles. The number of open positions taking more than a month to be filled has also increased by 12 percent. This increase in turn-around-time results in decreased organisational productivity, high hiring costs and increased stress on other employees. 

Naren Krishna, Business Unit Head of Careers, Scaler and InterviewBit, “Due to the shortage of sufficient skilled talents, it has become increasingly harder for recruiters to secure talents who fit the bill for the openings. The fundamental reform required to address this talent crunch is to scale up the quality of education offered by our institutions. It is crucial for us to take a giant leap to bridge the skill gap amid the growing demand from industries for a skilled workforce to bring in a structural change in the employability landscape of the future.” 

The survey also revealed that employee referrals and LinkedIn are the most common channels, with 90 percent of recruiters using these platforms. Job listing platforms and recruitment consultants are also prominent channels, with 70 percent of recruiters using them.