Hiring Trends to Look Forward to in 2021

Digital adoption has moved on from being just a buzzword to an essential factor for organisations to survive in the New Normal. This in turn has led to several changes in the kind of skill sets that companies are looking for while hiring candidates. Amit Singh, Head - Commercial at First Advantage India, which is one of India’s leading background verification firm spoke to Dataquest about the upcoming hiring trends that job seekers can look forward to.

DQ: What are the hiring trends we can look forward to in 2021?

Amit Singh: Continuous virtual recruitment adoption by various firms has led to a significant increase in demand for talent and rising acceptance of work from home across the globe. With the advancement of technologies, organisations are looking for specialized candidates.

With the current rise in the hiring processes across industries, it is important for companies to select candidates with utmost care for a long-term growth. It is quite important for talent managers to invest for onboarding experience of candidates and ensure a thorough background screening to mitigate hiring risks.

DQ: What are some of the skill sets that companies are looking for?

Amit Singh: Companies are looking to hire individuals who are self-motivated, focused, have specific skill sets as per the requirement and can perform in these challenging times. Skill sets differ based on requirements by organisations; however companies are looking to hire candidates who have requisite knowledge and experience of the role, technical abilities and adaptability to change.

DQ: Some of the top companies that are looking to recruit at present?

Amit Singh: From vaccinations to gradual return to work around the world, there are more and more signs that the global economy is slowly regaining its momentum. India's journey on the path of economic reforms has transformed it to one of the world's fastest-growing economies.

As the world is rapidly evolving towards Digital transformation, the openings for IT professionals, Data scientists, and Automation researchers have increased. On the other hand, while the Vaccine is out, job opportunities in the Healthcare sector are in demand.

DQ: Are there any job roles that have become obsolete? What should such individuals do?

Amit Singh: With technological advancements in Digitization, RPA & Big Data, companies have been able to automate a lot of manual processes. This does not mean that jobs are becoming obsolete. It implies that it is of utmost importance for a candidate to quickly upgrade their skill sets through online education and trainings and turn data into meaningful information for actionable plans.

With the advancement in background screening services, it has become easier for organisations to conduct pre or post verifications on candidates to understand their abilities and fitment in their high-performing teams.