Demand for senior talent continues despite coronavirus pandemic: SCIKEY data

BENGALURU: Talent commerce platform SCIKEY has indicated an uptick in senior leadership hiring during April to July amid the pandemic. Its data shows that companies have hired 72% of top executives as compared to 28% of freshers and mid- level executives in the period of April to July.

The platform further revealed that companies are hiring 72% senior leaders with an experience of 8 to 15 years and only 28% of freshers and mid-level employees with an experience of 0-7 years in the month of April. In times of distress, businesses need more and not less experienced hands on the till. So while Covid-19 may continue to take its toll, it is unlikely to significantly dampen the demand for senior leadership positions.

Similar hiring trends have been observed in May, June and July. In the month of May, it indicated that companies are hiring 90% senior leaders with an experience of 8 to 15 years and only 10% of freshers and mid-level employees with an experience of 0-7 years. In the month of June, it indicated that companies are hiring 65% senior leaders with an experience of 8 to 15 years and only 35% of freshers and mid-level employees with an experience of 0-7 years. In July, it indicated that companies are hiring 62% senior leaders with 8 to 15 years of experience as compared to 38% freshers and mid-level employees with an experience of 0-7 years.


These findings are based on SCIKEY’s talent marketplace that analysed the job postings of candidates from April to July. This data is from 300 jobs provided for IT professionals in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai. This mainly includes IT professionals such as analyst, engineer, tester, developer and change management.

“The pandemic has brought turbulent times for industries across the board but the demand for top talent continues. New realities and trends have emerged requiring faster transformation and accelerated pace of digital adoption. Companies need to go beyond their organisation to secure the right skill sets, mindset and experience of people who may have successfully steered their organisation through challenging times,” Karunjit Dhir, co- founder, SCIKEY, told ET.

Companies are pivoting and restructuring their talent resources to better suit the new normal. So when the situation improves, companies will be in a good position to make progress, Karunjit Dhir said.