Telecom and allied services industry is likely to generate more than 10 lakh jobs directly and indirectly in the next three years, according to India Skills Report 2016. The report, which has been jointly prepared by PeopleStrong and Wheebox, in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry, LinkedIn and Association of Indian University, has forecast 20% growth in hiring in the sector this year.
This marks a turnaround after telecom and allied services figured among the sectors that hired the least number of workers in 2015. The report said that the sector has embarked on large-scale hiring following steps taken by the government to provide a conducive environment for service providers including the auction of 3G and 4G spectrum.
According to the findings, about 82% of India’s urban population and 18% in rural areas is dependent on mobile and internet. The report said that constant addition of subscriber base in mobile, fixed line, wireless and broadband services has is driving jobs creation in the sector.
Employers in the sector mostly hire engineers (43.17%), followed by those from Industrial Training Institutes (25.18%) and management graduates (14.39%).
“This trend will continue and shows the maturity of the businesses to grow, which is the reason why telecom as a sector that requires lot of expertise to innovate and grow are looking for specialists in large numbers unlike year 2015 in which the focus was on making maximum utilisation of existing specialists,” the report said.
However, it said that “employability” of the engineers remains a challenge and that rapid steps needs to be taken to make the engineers job-ready. For most employers in the sector, internal referrals are the most preferred sourcing channel, followed closely by job portals and social media, the report said.
Internal referrals are preferred because of benefits such as reduction in early attrition, lesser sourcing time and lower cost. Social media recruitment has shown an increase this year, the report concluded
