Contractual hiring has surged post 2020-pandemic. The demand has necessitated new hiring trends too. Know how the IT-ITES sector is the center of attraction.

 The pandemic has been a game changer in many ways, in personal and professional spheres. The understanding of the sanctity and value of life and human resources. The professional work structure has undergone a positive change. The traditional work culture of long hours, overusing human resources, and discounting and undermining skills has been replaced by the emergence of more niche careers and contractual hiring. The extended office hours have been replaced by working from home or a hybrid work structure where one works from home and a few days a week at the office.

The pandemic also affected the financial and economic health of all enterprises worldwide. Companies have begun opting for contractual hiring instead of full-time permanent staff to compensate for the losses and health risks. The new model has come as a relief for all the players involved in the professional arena. The hybrid work model has created more space for people to lead healthier and fuller personal lives, and the reduced overheads at the office space have relieved the organisation's financial burden.

 New Hiring Trends in the Contractual Workforce

The new hiring trends have brought forth a more comprehensive range of options for doing business and a much-needed recognition and appreciation of talent and skills, which were perhaps unrecognised and appreciated earlier. A report released by Spectrum Talent Management revealed that tier 1 city candidates are keen to choose aspirational job prospects while tier-2 city candidates look out for higher salaries with a minimum contract duration of about 6 months. Contracts span low-level positions with some openings for middle and managerial level employees.

All businesses and industries have adopted the long overdue transformation, whether large or small. Still, the sector which has benefited the most and has made this transformation feasible is the IT sector. The progress in this sector has been tremendous with the increased demand created by the lockdown and health precautions due to the pandemic. The global community became more interconnected and accessible to one another, so the wishful thinking of working from home became a reality because of the IT/ITes sector.

What is contractual hiring or staffing?

Contractual hiring is where an organisation outsources a particular talent or expertise and gets into a contractual agreement with the professional for a limited period or project. The agreement is mutually beneficial where neither of the parties is accountable to the other beyond the stipulated period or project. The opening up of normal life with the increase in the contract hiring trend has given birth to more placement or recruitment agencies. Companies now hire recruitment agencies to find IT/ITES professionals in contractual positions along with apprentices. This new style of working has multiple benefits:

∙ Economical: Hiring talent temporarily on a contract is more economical than hiring full-time permanent staff. Not only do the companies save up on advertising costs for hiring, appointing, and training the staff, but they also cut down on other tangible overheads like costs for office space, electricity, salaries with bonuses, infrastructural costs, logistical costs, employee benefits, and more. In other words, there is a marked decrease in the employer's liabilities.

∙ Access to professional talent: Contractual hiring practices have uncovered previously unnoticed talent and skills. This recognition has given rise to niche skill-based professionals who are now easily accessible for hire and have connectivity to the entire world. The Internet has enabled connecting particular demands with their complementary skills globally.

∙ A Flexible Work Environment: A contractual working style does not follow traditional working hours; sitting in the office or being in the field is mandatory throughout the week. This freedom and flexibility to work at one's pace have eased the monotony and draconian work schedules. This approach results in living more enriching lives, leading to the return of interest and passion for one's work, increasing the quality of work and speed in completing a project or work assigned. Professional workers on hire also bring myriad experiences and learnings, having worked with multiple companies, thus enriching the contracted project further with their expertise, which is usually not possible with full-time permanent staff.

The Surge in Demand of “Online” Jobs

The entire onus of making this a possibility goes to the IT-ITES sector, leading to an upsurge of jobs and services, with more and more students opting for a career in information technology. The ease of working from home or any corner of the world has had a direct effect on the job market, more so in the IT sector, which is seeing a renewed surge in the creation and availability of jobs. This upward swing post-2020 pandemic has directly impacted the Indian ITES sector, adding to its global presence, which was established with the advent of call centres.

Furthermore, the projections for this sector for the next few years are incredibly optimistic, with The IT services sector in India having created more than 500,000 new jobs in FY22, doubling net growth of its workforce for the fiscal, according to data compiled by staffing company Xpheno. The growth is primarily geared towards the fresher category of employees.

These projections do not include the essential services that serve as the support functions, like HR, Operations, Recruitment, and the micro-finance service sector.

If we take all the fields directly impacted by the IT sector, the projected number of jobs will be much higher than the present. As a result of the increasing spread, popularity, and convenience of internet-enabled services, information technology is the new age vessel that connects and binds the world together, making us more interdependent and approachable. Recruitment agencies worldwide are witnessing a surge in hiring trends, specifically in the banking, insurance, and financial fields, which heavily rely on and follow strict IT protocols. As per the famous marketing fact and adage' demand creates supply, the IT sector is experiencing this first-hand with the birth of niche professional skill-sets like:

∙ AWS

∙ Cyber Security

∙ Cloud Technologies

∙ Full Stack Developer

∙ Salesforce – e-commerce

∙ Pega

∙ React JS

∙ Angular, and so on.

The impact of IT is not just on skills directly connected to the sector. Still, it has also injected new life into many intellectual and creative fields, such as writing, content creation, advertising, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and inspirational coaching, and much more. The increased prominence of e-commerce businesses and start-up ventures directly results from the booming IT sector.

Conclusion

In many ways, the jobs in information technology and ITes sectors have been responsible for the world regaining its balance post the pandemic, when the world had come to a standstill with tremendous loss of lives and jobs. The recent awakening towards the unpredictability of life has infused a new perspective in the business world that contractual hiring is a safer and more reliable choice than traditional working practices. Contractual hiring is flexible and open to alterations, with fewer liabilities and legal responsibilities by the business owners. And job seekers or professionals have the liberty to work for multiple clients, adding to their earnings and living and providing healthier lifestyles for themselves and their families.

Get your contractual hiring needs resolved by getting on board with 2Coms today!