New hires down in 2024, hiring managers say

Entry-level (fresh-year) hiring in India has fallen this year as many businesses remain cautious in hiring employees on campus. Despite positive business sentiment in the country, some firms have frozen or reduced hiring, London-based professional services firm Aon Plc said.

Roopank Chaudhary, Partner and Head of Reward Solutions India at Aon, said campus hiring typically provides an opportunity for organizations to build a diverse, skilled and future-ready talent pool.

“However, the campus recruitment market in India is undergoing a rapid transformation due to changing candidate expectations, changing skill requirements of organizations and the impact of the global economic slowdown,” Mr. Chaudhary said.

According to B.S. Murthy, CEO of Leadership Capital, a Bengaluru-based HR consulting firm, has seen campus hiring drop by at least 40% this year due to various reasons.

Karthikeyan Kesavan, director of continuous recruitment at Adecco India, blamed it on a “supply and demand problem” where more graduates are entering the job market but not enough jobs are being created. However, he said, “the situation may improve next year, although companies are now focusing more on efficiency rather than number of employees.”

Anil Ethanur, co-founder of another staffing company Xpheno, said that while hiring remains low, lateral hiring for niche skills and talent continues, primarily through attrition-related replacement hiring.

“Businesses are concerned that employee attrition on university campuses is around 30%, and this will continue to be the case as newcomers continue to explore the brand, industry, role and money, or graduate early in their careers. Campus recruits are basically in research mode for the first three years or so,” Ethanur added.

Aon also said campus pay remained flat in 2024 compared to 2023, even though 69% of the 250 organizations it surveyed expected high to moderate growth, driven primarily by financial institutions, healthcare and life sciences and consumer products segments.