Fresher hiring witnessed a decline in 2024, say hiring managers

Entry level hirings (freshers) in India has declined this year as many enterprises maintained a cautious approach to campus hiring. Despite a positive business sentiment in the country, some firms froze hirings or reduced them, reported Aon Plc, a London-based professional services firm.

Roopank Chaudhary, Partner and Head, Reward Solutions in India for Aon, said campus hiring is generally an opportunity for organisations to build a diverse, skilled and future-ready talent pipeline.

‘’However, the campus hiring market in India is undergoing a rapid transformation due to changing expectations of candidates, evolving skill requirements of organisations, and the impact of the global slowdown.,’‘ said Mr. Chaudhary.

According to B.S. Murthy, CEO, Leadership Capital, a Bengaluru based HR consulting firm, campus hiring was down this year by at least 40% due to various reasons.

Karthikeyan Kesavan, Director, Permanent Recruitment, Adecco India blamed this on a ‘demand and supply problem’ with more graduates entering the job market but not enough job creation. However, he said, the ‘‘situation might improve next year, although companies are now focusing more on efficiency rather than the number of employees.’‘

Anil Ethanur, Co-founder, Xpheno, another staffing firm said, while fresher intakes remained low, lateral hiring for niche qualifications and specialist talent continued, primarily driven by attrition-linked replacement hiring.

‘’Enterprises are concerned that attrition has been in the range of 30% for campus hires, and this will be the case as freshers continue to explore the brand, industry, role and money, or higher studies in their early careers. Campus recruits are primarily in an explorative mode for the first three years or so,’‘ added Ethanur.

Aon also reported that campus compensation remained stagnant in 2024 compared with 2023, despite 69% of the 250 organisations it surveyed expecting a high to moderate growth mostly led by financial institutions, life sciences and consumer goods segments .