Amid IT layoffs and slowdown, headhunters see surge in mid-level resumes

As Indian IT companies witness a slowdown in business, recruitment firms are seeing a sharp increase in the number of resumes from mid-level employees. At least two firms that hunt senior-level employees for companies confirmed a surge in the number of resumes from IT employees with experience ranging from 7 to 15 years during the past six months.

Head Hunters India, a specialised recruiting agency for the IT sector, said it has seen “as much as a 200% jump in resumes from mid-level and senior employees.”

IT services sector has seen a major disruption in the use of technology amongst their clients with the emergence of digital technologies such as cloud, artificial intelligence and machine learning. This has called for re-skilling of a significant chunk of the 39 lakh workforce in the $150 billion IT services industry.

A recent report by McKinsey India said, “The bigger challenge ahead of the industry will be to retrain 50-60% of the workforce as there will be a significant shift in technologies.” The report further said if techies do not re-train themselves they might become “irrelevant”.

“We are getting resumes of mid-level employees from top IT services companies and small ones. What is really surprising this time is some of these employees are offering to pay us for helping them find jobs. While we look at a six-month period for them to get jobs, there are not enough positions available in the market currently,” said Kris Lakshmikanth, chairman and managing director, Head Hunters India.

He, however, said the flow of these resumes slowed to some extent last month.

Some of these senior employees may also have opted for online coding jobs on a freelance basis on hourly payment from organisations in the US and other markets, said analysts. “Alternative options could be joining small businesses in tier-II cities or working on some digital India projects,” said another senior official of a recruiting agency, who requested anonymity.

Industry body Nasscom refuted layoff fears in the IT sector and said the industry was a net hirer of nearly 1.5 lakh people in FY17. Analysts pointed out hiring may have happened at entry-level positions for people with 3-4 years of experience, but there is a concern for mid-level employees.