Job portals like Naukri, Scikey and Personnel Search Services, which are seeing an increased demand from professionals, are launching initiatives that give priority to laid-off workers.

Sectors such as healthcare, pharmaceutical & life-sciences, ecommerce, logistics, online groceries, agri-tech, other digital sectors and gig workers are able to find new jobs. On the other hand, customer service, marketing and sales have been impacted by the job cuts so far, say HR experts.

Meanwhile, listings of work-from-home (WFH) jobs that pay around Rs 5 lakh annually have doubled compared with February, said Naukri. It did not disclose the nature of these jobs.

Naukri’s Step-Up initiative, started around two weeks back, tracks companies and industries that are currently hiring along with active jobs to apply to, in addition to launching personalised hiring drives. The portal plans to add insights into hiring trendsand webinars with experts in the coming days.

“Close to 5,500 unique companies have posted jobs on the platform to hire relevant candidates,” said Pawan Goyal, the chief business officer at Naukri. These companies include IBM, Accenture, HDFC Bank, HCL Technologies and Oracle, he said.

“We have also curated some useful content around WFH productivity, job search, upskilling courses, etc., to help jobseekers navigate these times. Also, there is a section on hiring insights that includes trending keywords from recruiters and insights,” he added.

Scikey has launched a ‘Jobseeker-to-Jobsecure’ initiative, which intends to connect job seekers with employers over the next 100 days through its artificial intelligence-based Talent Commerce Platform.

There is a section on the platform that allows employers who have laid off employees to list the details of the staff impacted so that the portal can help them match and connect with other employers who are hiring, cofounder Karunjit Kumar Dhir said.

“The platform is industry-agnostic to maximise the ability to match people with similar technical skills as well as softer human skills in one industry into other industries where new jobs are being created,” Dhir added.

Listings on the portals clearly reflect the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the job market.

Monthly jobseeker applications have increased 31% and 38% in February and March, respectively, compared with January, as per Scikey. On the other hand, hiring activity tumbled 62% year-on-year in April, according to a survey by Naukri. The pandemic has caused thousands of job losses and a hiring freeze across companies in the last two months.

“Most of these layoffs over the last two months have happened in startups which were overstaffed. But, we are discussing this with the clientele as there is ample availability of good talent in the market,” said Erika Lobo, the executive director at Personnel Search Services and Ray & Berndston. “Even if a company does not hire right away, just having conversations with these candidates to see which roles can they fit in will be a big win,” Lobo said/