By Thirumal Raj, Chennai: Fortifying its position worldwide, India has secured third position for itself in the global start-up ecosystem.Gaining prominence across the globe, as a fertile breeding ground for many fledgling companies, the ecosystem is driven by various factors viz. innovation, upsurge in funding, growing support from Government initiatives etc. It is not only one of the major contributors in the country’s economy, but is also fast becoming one of the major employment creators across sectors.
Testifying the upward growth trajectory and enthusiasm of the new business community, a recent study conducted by NASSCOM reported that the startups created almost 80, 000 jobs in the year 2015. The report also revealed that the ecosystem will create over 2.5 lakh jobs by the year 2020.
While the ecosystem is gaining popularity in the job market, it is essential that the candidates entering the workforce are suitably skilled or ‘start-up ready’. While scaling up remains the topmost priority, start-ups have also become cautious about the talent they bring on-board.
Despite the aforementioned growth in the startup ecosystem, the industry iscoping up with the challenge of finding right resources that could aid its growth. As per a survey conducted by executive search and consulting firm Athena, most entrepreneurs have realized that there is a gap between talent and the required skill set. In a startup the early stage selection is crucial, as the selection of each member add to the growth of the organization.
Additionally, although the current talent pool is excited to join the startup bandwagon, the survey revealed that 61 per cent of startups feel that embracing the startup culture is the biggest issue even after finding the right hire. Similarly another challenge faced by around 44.4 percent of startups is, ensuring the right talent has the right skill sets. Apart from that, 38.9 percent of startups feel that stability is a major concern, followed by issues of budget constraints experienced by around 27.8 percent startups. Furthermore, finding the right talent for the middle and senior level managementis another concern the startups are dealing with.
Despite the given drawbacks, as per a report by Aspiring Minds on the start-up hiring scenario in India, 47% of the entry level hiring in startups is comprised of professionals in non –technical roles, refuting the popular notion of startups hiring only around technical profiles. The trend of hiring non-technical professionals are indicative of the fact that more and more startups today are focusing on a larger go-to market strategy instead of only a product based approach. While tech profiles like web and app developer continue to be in demand, the surge in hiring for roles in marketing and digital media amongst others ison the rise.
The study also highlights that the surge in start-up activity is not restricted only to metros. While Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore continue to be the start-up hubs of the country, tier II cities are not far behind. Chandigarh, Jaipur, Indore, Lucknow and Ahmedabad are amongst the many cities showing very promising start-up activity.
With the flourishing startup ecology at the background, the India talent pool is also a burgeoning landscape. Availability of skilled English speaking workforce has been a major reason behind India’s emergence as a global outsourcing hub. As per NASSCOM TechSci research, during financial year 2008-2015, the number of graduates being added to the talent pool in India grew at a CAGR of 9.4 per cent. Similarly the year 2015 also witnessed an addition of 5.8 million graduates to the existing talent pool of the country. The same report also predicted that the growing talent pool of India has the ability to drive the R&D and innovation business in the IT-BPM space.
Given this pace of growth, if the landscape continues to evolve, then by the end of 2020 more than 11,500 start-ups are expected to get established in India, generating employment opportunities for more than 250,000 people.
The above discussed is simply an overview of the talent and skill landscape of the startup ecosystem. The entire ecosystem is creating a perfect storm in the Indian business market with its growth, capital and acquisitions all coming together, is at a hyper growth inflection point.
About the Author: Thirumal Raj is the Founder and CEO of STC Skills, a global skill development company servicing Government and larger Corporations in the areas of skill development and job placements. After working for some time with Cognizant Technology Solutions, Thirumal Raj founded STC Skills along with two other Founders. Thirumal Raj is a first generation entrepreneur to have successfully built STC Skills and also floated a couple of other successful startups.
