The job market for engineering graduates is robust with opportunities. The ongoing hiring war for tech talent has made sure that everyone from fresh graduates to experienced engineers lands a job with a handsome salary and perks. However, it has also led to serious issues for the companies such as increased attrition rate, inflated salaries and dropouts as people try to make the best of the situation at hand.
Over the last six months, the attrition rate at India’s major tech companies has gone up to touch a range of 20-30 percent per annum.
In 2022, we will see the ‘Great Resignation’ phenomenon continuing. Companies will have to pay greater salaries to retain their senior employees to cut down the attrition rate this year.
The tech companies are also offering competitive salaries to lure the tech talent. There is a heightened practice of poaching among competitors. As long as there is a mismatch between supply and demand in the industry, the hiring war is most likely to continue in the tech industry.
What can young graduates do?
Now is a good time for fresh graduates to remain prepared to take up any opportunity that comes their way. To do that, tech talent can opt for skill enhancement programs and improve their employability.
The 9th edition of the India Skills Report, ISR 2022, states that effective communication, project experience and problem-solving skills are in high demand this year and beyond. Additionally, engineering graduates need to start upskilling as per the demand.
A LinkedIn survey has indicated that demand for blockchain programming will remain high this year. Experience and knowledge of blockchain were the most in-demand last year. Engineering students must prepare themselves for job opportunities in other technologies like data science, programming, cloud computing, cybersecurity, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR).
As tech talent increases focus on improving employability by gaining both technical and soft skills, companies also need to reform their hiring practices. They need to be more open to non-traditional hiring methods.
Research has revealed that only 10 percent of the total talent is available to be readily employed due to a lack of relevant skills and practical knowledge. The tech industry can solve the ongoing crisis of lacking the right talent by joining hands with skill development companies. Ideally, they should provide the freshers with industry-relevant training. They should adopt experiential learning as it will enable learners to reflect, analyze and evaluate.
Upcoming strategies among companies
The pandemic has certainly changed the way people work. Remote working has become a norm. With vaccination drives in place, companies are urging their employees to return to work. For now, they are encouraging a hybrid work model keeping employee safety in mind. However, many companies are still considering working from the office or work from home options.
Companies are competing with each other to put in place the most efficient and employee-friendly work model.
To sum it up, we can say that the job market is going to be lucrative for engineering graduates in 2022. There are ample opportunities for everyone but there is a dearth of skilled tech talent. Engineers need to realize this skill gap and start working on themselves.
At this point, the value of skilled candidates is immense for the companies. They will make the biggest offer if they have to, but candidates must be worth fighting for.
(Narayan Mahadevan, Founder - BridgeLabz-AWS recognised incubator and is soley focused on solving tech employability.)
