81% of HRs are hiring! Most recruiters consider skill set over experience; hiring trends in 2024

NEW DELHI: Sixty-six percent of Human Resource Practitioners feel that the college curricula need to be revamped to make students more employable, however, 91% of students feel their course work is adequate, an Unstop Talent Report 2024 revealed. The report also highlighted the gender pay gap and hiring trends.

Unstop is a community engagement and hiring platform for students and graduates. It published the Unstop Talent Report 2024 based on more than 11,000 responses received from students, university partners and HRs. The report also recorded over 40,000 nominations and over 80,000 votes this year.

It said that the survey was conducted as 5,000 companies that visit campuses still struggle to find the right candidates from a talent pool of 40 million undergraduates (UG) and postgraduates (PG) in India.

As per the survey, the tech sector dominates hiring across domains. 25% of engineering, 62% of B-Schools, and 26% of arts, science and commerce students have already received a job or internship offer. Of this, 35% received an offer from the technology sector.

Who is hiring?

Over 81% of HRs across different sectors are hiring now. However, more than 50% of students do not believe they will find a job in their preferred field. While 88% of HRs prefer skills over experience, academics, or references. Three out of 5 students choose job security over pay hikes.

Of the remaining 19%, about 11% are facing a hiring freeze and the remaining 8% have no openings. Notably, 79% of students feel going off-campus will get them desired job profiles.

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Social media vs competition

Almost 70% of HRs prioritize talent attraction in 2024, the survey finds. However, while students prefer competitions, HRs focus on social media for brand visibility.

According to the report, 38% of HRs chose social media campaigns for brand awareness while 77% of students prefer engaging via competitions.

“Gen Z may be living on the gram, but social media takes a back seat when connecting with their dream companies. Social media campaigns ranked fourth for E-School students and last for B-School students as a preferred way of connecting with companies,” the report stated.

Although competition is most preferred among students, only 7% of Indian campuses achieved 100% placement. Despite the data, a majority of 89% university partners also feel that students can get placed through competition-led and on-campus placements.

Engineering, business and arts students engage with companies through competition, which includes case studies, quizzes, ideathons, simulations, followed by placement talks, workshops, and social media campaigns.

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What are recruiters looking for?

Most of the recruiters look for skill-based hiring, second in the list is diversity hiring followed by employer branding. The survey found that 68% of HRs use a combination of resume screening and skill assessments to shortlist candidates. The most valued skill sets considered by recruiters are given below.

• Problem-solving and critical thinking
• Communication and interpersonal skill
• Adaptability and flexibility
• Domain-specific competence
• Creativity and innovation

“Cognitive skills rank above technical knowledge or domain competence, indicating the growing need for individuals with the right knowledge and attitude for work.” The top three future skills that HRs think students should focus on are cross collaboration, data literacy, and digital communication skills.

How students want to work

Students mostly prefer working in hybrid mode, except for undergraduates and women who prefer work from office instead of work from home or hybrid model.

As per the responses received from students, 67% prefer not to work more than 40-50 hours per week. The survey also found that 60% of students prefer job security over pay hike.

Gender pay gap

Even though HRs claim the pay gap has been reduced, the data says otherwise. The common offer for women from arts, science and commerce backgrounds is Rs 2-5 lakh per annum and men are paid Rs 6-7 lakh per annum (LPA).

Engineering students received almost the same offer. But in management, 55% of men received an offer of over Rs 16 LPA and only 45% of women received an offer above Rs 16 LPA.