Understanding hiring trends can make your job search easier and help you make better career decisions. But figuring out these trends can be tricky.

That’s where Naukri’s JobSpeak report comes in! This monthly report tracks hiring activity on Naukri and shows trends across industries, cities, and experience levels.

In this article, we’ll share the key highlights from the latest edition of the JobSpeak report for November 2024.

White Collar Hiring Grows a Healthy 6% in Festive Season, Despite a Modest Show in November

Naukri JobSpeak Index, India's leading indicator of white-collar hiring activity, reported a nuanced performance in November, coming in at 2430 points, with steady 2% year-on-year growth.

A consolidated view of October and November together (comprising the festive period) shows a resilient job market, posting a healthy 6% YoY growth during the festive season, majorly driven by growth in key non-IT sectors.

Standout performers in November included Oil & Gas (+14%), FMCG (+6%) and GCCs (+4%), highlighting the continued dynamism in specialized domains

Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri said,

We typically observe muted trends on white collar hiring during the festive period and the 2% growth In November broadly reflects that.

However the combined October and November trends reflect good resilience. Additionally, the rise in non-IT fresher hiring is a good development with respect to the younger talent.”

Non-IT sectors emerged as fresher hiring hotspots, with sectors like Architecture/Interior design (+29%), Facility Management (+27%), KPO/Research/Analytics (+28%), and Steel (+37%) witnessing substantial YoY
growth in fresher hiring.

With an impressive 18% growth in Beauty & Personal Care and 17% in Fitness & Wellness, the industry witnessed an impressive surge. It also saw a +32% growth in fresher hiring.

The FMCG sector continued on a positive trajectory, registering a +6% YoY growth in November 2024. Delhi NCR (+5%) and Kolkata (+10%) emerged as key drivers for the growth.

Cities in Rajasthan sustained remarkable resilience. Jaipur (+14%), Udaipur (+24%), and Kota (+15%) emerged as notable bright spots, wherein Jaipur saw a 20% YoY growth in hiring by Foreign MNCs. Towards the eastern end, Bhubaneswar impressed with a 21% YoY increase.

0 % increase in job opportunities for professionals with experience of 0-3 years, compared to Nov'23

14% growth in hiring for professionals with 16+ years of experience in Nov' 24 as compared to Nov '23.

Interesting Insights You Must Check Out

  • Hiring trends buoyed by double digit lifts in Oil & Gas, GCCs, Real Estate & AI/ML
  • On computing the Naukri JobSpeak Index for the consolidated festive window of October and November, we see a resilient job market posting a healthy 6% year-on-year growth. This positive trend is driven by strong growths in key Non-IT sectors like Oil & Gas (+16%), Pharma/Biotech (+7%), FMCG (+7%), and Real Estate (+10%), alongside sustained momentum in emerging domains like AI-ML (+30%) and GCCs (+11%).
  • Standout performers for November included Oil & Gas (+14%), Artificial Intelligence-Machine Learning (+20%), FMCG (+6%) and GCCs (+4%), highlighting the continued buoyancy in these domains.
  • Non-IT Sectors Emerge as Fresher Hiring Hotspots as sectors like Architecture/Interior Designing (+29%), Chemicals/PetroChemical/Plastic/Rubber (+18%), Facility Management (+27%), KPO/Research/Analytics (+28%), Steel (+37%), and Wellness/Fitness/Sports/Beauty (+32%) have witnessed substantial YoY growth in fresher hiring.
  • AI/ML Fuels Tech Hiring as this field experienced a significant 20% YoY growth, being particularly pronounced in cities like Kolkata and Delhi NCR, which witnessed a staggering 58% and 47% increase, respectively.
  • Regional Diversity Continues to Shine as cities in Rajasthan sustained remarkable resilience. Jaipur (+14%), Udaipur (+24%) and Kota (+15%) emerged as notable bright spots, wherein Jaipur saw a 20% YoY growth in hiring by Foreign MNCs. Towards the eastern end, Bhubaneswar impressed with a 21% YoY increase.

Methodology

The Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly Index representing the state of the Indian job market & hiring activity based on new job listings and job-related searches by recruiters on the resume database of Naukri.com.

The JobSpeak Index captures hiring activity across multiple dimensions, including industries, cities, functional areas, and experience bands. July 2008 is the base month with an index value of 1,000, and the subsequent monthly index values are compared with the data for July 2008.

The Index is a highly robust and reliable indicator of white-collar hiring in India. It is aggregated based on the hiring activity of over 100,000 clients with over 70 Lakh new job mandates yearly.

The report does not cover gig employment, hyperlocal hiring, or campus placement. Over an extended period, JobSpeak could be impacted by factors like internet penetration and Naukri's market share.

The index now includes job-related searches on Naukri's resume database, which helps generate statistically significant data at a more granular level.

Naukri JobSpeak