Companies have ramped up the hiring of executives on account of pent up demand and new opportunities across sectors like food tech, aerospace, defence, renewable energy, electric vehicles, education, and consumer startups.
Such high-level hirings have seen an increase of 30% over pre-pandemic levels, according to C-suite talent agencies. The demand has nearly doubled in some cases.
Companies are adding muscle to their management teams with big-ticket funding and market listing across industries, Sonal Agarwal, managing partner at Accord India and global chair at AltoPartners told Times of India. The demand comes from startups and young companies that did not traditionally use executive search.
Claricent Parents managing partner Jyoti Bowen Nath told TOI it is “boom time” for search firms as hiring mandates have gone up by 20% from the pre-pandemic period. Other than IT, opportunities have opened up even in manufacturing.
Executive Access India MD Ronesh Puri said there is “hyperactivity” in C-suite hiring in India currently. Candidates have multiple options with them after a flurry of resignations in the past year, Puri added.
The report quoted Anshul Lodha of Page Executive India as saying that hiring mandates have increased over 100% as compared to the previous year. A number of traditional businesses are also on the prowl for top-level talent in addition to other sectors where hiring activity has increased.
Many companies are planning ahead and want to bring in new leadership headed into a new year.
Agarwal of Accord India said many companies reviewed their costs during the pandemic and pivoted their business models and are now looking for new leadership which can implement new strategies.
Many resignations from top and middle-level management during the pandemic are driving hiring across sectors with business recovery. Companies that lost talent during the pandemic are offering as much as 30% pay hikes as compared to pre-pandemic levels to new hires, added Puri.
