Skill Development and Job Creation : Navigating Recruitment Challenges in an Ever-Evolving Landscape

Abstract:

This article highlights the challenges faced by recruiters in the current job market and the importance of skill development and job creation for sustainable economic growth. The recruitment landscape has been constantly evolving, and the pandemic, the great resignation, remote hiring challenges, and the rise of a new talent economy have added to the existing challenges. The Skilling India program aims to train and develop the talents of Indian youth and provide opportunities for skill development in various sectors. The demographic dividend of India, which is currently a non-recurring opportunity, is expected to shrink in the future, making the role of skill development more crucial. Despite the unstable world economy, India remains an attractive investment destination due to proactive government initiatives. The abstract emphasizes the need for recruiters to navigate recruitment challenges in an ever-evolving landscape to hire the right talent for organizational success.

Hiring the right talent for the right job is crucial for organizational success, but it is not always straightforward. Without a sound acquisition strategy, your recruiting process may be laden with potential mistakes and fail to deliver the desired results. To avoid this, you need a game plan with proven methods designed to meet the ever-evolving talent landscape. In recent years, the recruitment landscape has encountered numerous challenges, including the pandemic, the great resignation, remote hiring challenges, and a whole new talent economy. The recruitment ecosystem has been evolving and molding itself to suit changes, even as innovative trends emerge constantly. The world of work has become more competitive than ever, and this time the force of change is not driven by economies or big tech companies, but by workers. We are undergoing the biggest war for talent, and employees might win this war.

As recruiters, the focus for us remains on finding the right people, at the right time to fill all desired positions. When 2020 began, few would have predicted that an entire year would be spent adjusting to remote working. A year later, 2021 turned out to be all about recovery, redefining work, alternating offices, rampant hiring, and also the ‘great resignation’ - all the while, vaccination was in full swing. Since then, the role of HR has gained significance and moved from being just a support function in an organization to becoming a decision-maker in the business strategy. Talent will take a look at the year gone by, to anticipate a 2023 that sees HR taking up a more crucial role in all industries.

With India transforming into one of the fastest growing economies, skill development and job creation have become natural tools to ensure sustainable and linear or exponential growth. According to the latest census of India, an estimated 10 crore plus fresh workers would enter the labor market, who would need skill training, while nearly 300 million of the existing workforce will require additional skill training over the same time period. This is critical for the industrial and economic growth of the country. The government has taken various initiatives in this regard, and the main goal of Skill India is to create opportunities, space, and scope for the development of the talents of the Indian youth and to develop more sectors that have already been put under skill development radar for many years. It also focuses on identifying new sectors for skill development. The Skilling India program aims at capability building by providing training and skill development to 500 million youth of our country by 2023, covering every village, and various schemes have been proposed to achieve this objective.

Due to the pandemic and the lockdown, about 400 million workers have been poverty-stricken, making the role of skill development vital in order to train laborers and provide them jobs according to their skillset.

Our demographic dividend, a non-recurring opportunity, is closing fast for India as it will soon start aging. Our working-age population, which was recorded at 64.2% in 2021, is expected to marginally increase to 65.1% in 2031 and thereafter begin to marginally decline as per population projections. India is still a young country with a median age of 28.3 (considering 15-29 years as youth), but it will no longer remain young with median age rising to 30.2 by 2026 and 34.5 by 2036. Looking at the numbers, we can predict that India’s demographic dividend will shrink.

India's demographic dividend, which is a one-time opportunity, is closing fast as the country's population is rapidly aging. Currently, the working age population is 64.2%, expected to slightly increase to 65.1% in 2031, but will gradually decline according to population projections. India'smedian age of 28.3 (considering 15-29 years as youth) confirms that it is a young country, but this will change as the median age rises to 30.2 by 2026 and 34.5 by 2036. Hence, India's demographic dividend is shrinking.

Despite the unstable world economy and weakened growth prospects across economies, India remains an attractive investment destination due to the proactive initiatives taken by the Government. Skill development and job creation are vital for ensuring sustainable growth in one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

The GCC region is also experiencing a shift in the economic scenario, indicating a promising year for employment. With new visa norms and job opportunities arising due to the ease of doing business and more startups emerging, the market will see a massive influx of talent.

The recruitment landscape has faced several challenges, such as the pandemic, The Great Resignation, remote hiring difficulties, and a new talent economy. Nevertheless, the recruitment ecosystem is evolving and adapting to changing trends.

India's higher education system has undergone rapid expansion, enrolling over 70 million students, making it the largest higher education system globally. The country has created additional capacity for over 40 million students in less than two decades.

In terms of migration for jobs to ECR countries, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of migrants, with over 1.31 lakh people leaving the country since 2020 till June 30th this year. Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh follow Uttar Pradesh in this order, with Punjab in eighth place.

The GCC economies ended 2022 on a high note, with GDP expected to grow more than twice the pace forecasted for the global economy. The GCC construction sector is poised for strong growth, outperforming the broader economy, with an anticipated growth rate of 3.5 to 4 percent annually in 2023-2024. Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 plan, which aims to reduce the kingdom's reliance on oil revenue and develop local industries, includes several significant projects that are underway and set to create thousands of jobs and open up new areas of economic activity with a stronger focus on the future.

The world economy is unstable at this stage, and the growth prospects across the economies have weakened. However, with the progressive and proactive initiatives taken by the government, India stands as one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world. With India transforming into one of the fastest growing economies, skill development and job creation have become natural.