Mumbai:  Demand for senior professionals bucks the overall hiring trend in January 2017. Senior professionals saw increased demand in January 2017, even as the overall hiring momentum slowed down by 4% in January 2017.  Professionals with over 20 years of experience have been seeing remarkable growth of about 10% since November 2016 reports the latest RecruiteX, the recruitment index by TimesJobs.

Demand rose by 17% for senior professionals with over 20 years of experience in January 2017.  However, none of the other experience categories saw a rise in demand during the month. Demand for freshers posted a 10% drop in demand. This category of professionals with less than 2 years of experience has seen a 7% drop in the past three months.

Law & Legal services sectors report a 20% rise in talent demand. Demand for Biotechnology and pharmaceutical professionals rose by 24%. Among metros, Bengaluru was the only major metro to witness a rise (1%) in demand.

Nilanjan Roy, Head of Strategy, Times Business Solutions, said “Focus on Infrastructure, Technology and Manufacturing in the recently announced Finance Budget 2017 is likely to further boost the demand for senior professionals across these sectors, as reported by Recruitex. It is encouraging to note that the Finance Minister has also given a major push to the Skill India initiative, however, job-creation remains a big challenge.”

“Most jobs that are being created are at a ten-fifteen thousand rupees, retail or a call center level. But job opportunities remain scarce for highly skilled young engineers and technology professionals entering the workforce each year. We need to be able to offer them opportunities commensurate with their skills, for India to become a true knowledge economy,” added Roy.

Biotechnologists and pharmaceutical professionals saw a whopping 24% rise in demand in January 2017. These highly specialized niche professionals have witnessed an average rise of 10% in demand since November 2016.

In addition, as a result of increased hiring activity in the legal & law industry, demand for lawyers and legal professionals also grew by 21% in the month.

Among metros, Bengaluru was the only metro to report growth (1%) in talent demand. The city has also posted an average rise of 2% in talent demand over the last three months. Among other major locations, Chandigarh saw a 3% rise in talent demand, followed by Jaipur with a 2% rise. Arunachal Pradesh was the best performing state with a 12% rise in talent demand during January 2017.