Employers willing to hire older applicants to overcome talent shortages: Survey

A ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey has revealed that employers are more willing to hire applicants who are are older and seeking employment changes to curb talent shortages.

The survey which had about 3,000 participants also said that employers are also willing to hire people who have been unemployed due to caretaking responsibilities, have non-linear career paths, and have been unemployed for an extended period of time.

"The survey findings are clear indicators of a stable economy despite the geo political and economic uncertainties being faced across the globe. The government’s unwavering focus and initiatives to drive growth in key sectors, coupled with the onset of the festival season are expected to act as crucial reinforcements and boost hiring sentiments across the country”, said Sandeep Gulati, Managing Director, ManpowerGroup India and Middle East.

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As per the survey, employers across all the sectors report a positive hiring intention. While IT industry have the strongest outlook followed by transport, logistics, automotive, healthcare, and life sciences, the least optimistic prospects were seen in the communication services.

The survey noted that the northern region of India dominates the job demand with an outlook of 40% followed by West at 38%.

The survey had also covered the factors that drive workforce productivity. About 44% of employers have identified professional development through training, upskilling, and reskilling as the top drivers of productivity. Meanwhile, 39% feel that it is cultivating a positive work culture that includes performance recognition and 33% of employers think establishing clear goals and objectives for staff are top productivity drivers.

Soft skills were also taken into considerations in the survey. 43% employers ranked communication, collaboration, and teamwork as the most important soft skills that are required while 33% ranked accountability and reliability. 29% of the employers mentioned reasoning and and problem-solving while 23% said active learning and curiosity, resilience, stress tolerance, and adaptability as important factors when it came to hiring talent.

“With the changing landscape of the world of work, organisations that are focused on investing in professional development of their workforce and creating a positive work culture are better equipped to accelerate transformation and build resilience to combat the market volatility,” Gulati further said.