Covid impact: Job search portals see increase in work from home offers
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Amid the ongoing challenges where people are unable to commute to work, India’s largest job search portal Naukri.com has seen WFH jobs posted by recruiters increase two fold and jobseekers are increasingly searching for WFH jobs in their portal.

BENGALURU : Job search portals are seeing an increase in work from home (WFH) postings by recruiters, as the covid-19 crisis has balanced the demand-supply equation.

The demand for WFH was always high, but many employers were reluctant to extend this option to the employees, leading to a low supply of such jobs, say industry executives.

Amid the ongoing challenges where people are unable to commute to work, India’s largest job search portal Naukri.com has seen a two-fold rise in WFH jobs postings by recruiters.

“WFH jobs have gone up by 2x in the third week of April as compared to the first week of March’20. WFH jobs as a jobseeker search keyword ranked number 2 on our platform in the third week of April as compared to the first week of March’20 when it was at rank 33," said Pawan Goyal, chief business officer, Naukri.com.

JobsforHer, a job portal targeted at women, has witnessed a 30% growth in the number of applicants for WFH jobs as compared to March 2019. Started five years ago to help women restart their careers after a break, today JobsforHer has evolved to help women enhance their careers.

“A lot of women were always looking for WFH job opportunities as they had constraints to work full-time in office," said Neha Bagaria, founder and chief executive, JobsforHer. “But the supply has traditionally been bigger than the demand and we received hundreds of job applications the moment a WFH job was posted. Now, we are seeing a rise in the demand side as employers have realised it is possible to allow remote working without impacting productivity."

Although the demand for WFH jobs was always high for roles such as content writing, design, telesales, and recruitment, today the playing field has expanded to core information technology (IT) roles like software developers, technical writing, SAP consultants, automation, UI/UX (user interface/experience) engineers, Bagaria said.

Employers are also willing to pay more today for remote working jobs. “WFH jobs with CTC (cost to company) greater than 5 lakh per annum has doubled on Naukri.com’s platform in April’20 as compared to Feb’20," said Goyal.

As WFH becomes the new normal, focus on reskilling has narrowed down, especially in the digital space, according to staffing firms.

“This is the beginning of a fundamental transformation in how we work. But remote working will also bring to the fore that the future of work is all about skills," said Anne Soumya, HR director, Adecco Group India.

“With the expected shift of the labour market to a more digitally-oriented economy, the gap in digital skills needs to be closed to ensure market relevance, employability, and, therefore employment. To succeed at this rate of rapid change, employees and business leaders have to adapt by adopting growth mind sets, learning new skills, and embracing flexibility," she said.

  • Covid Impact
  • Job Search
  • Work From Home
  • Job Offers
  • Recruitment
  • Employees
  • Job Seekers
  • Employers
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