The slump in software sector has brought a sea change in the perception of a job in the minds of the unemployed youths in the country. At the height of software boom, there was a mad rush to get seats in the Information Technology and Computer Sciences streams in the engineering colleges and post-graduate computer courses, like MCA, which is used to be an automatic ticket or a stepping stone for a fat-salary, techie job - certainly a big lure for the most of the middle-class families. But, there seems to be a change in the scenario now.

The fall in demand for IT sector due to recession and economic meltdown, resulted in fewer jobs in the sector and this in turn showing its impact in the job market. With the ‘dollar dreams’ turning upside down, now the unemployed youth are trying to figure out what is in store for them.

For many youngsters, the trend seems to be
going back to traditional jobs like administrative services, banks, insurance, management, teaching etc while a few others are trying their luck in other emerging fields, like infrastructure, power generation, pharma, bio-technology etc
 
The Information Technology boom, which held its sway over the majority of the middle-class families for its sheer ability to create large number of jobs, seems to be evaporating in the thick of recession blues. Though some of the big IT companies are promising a turn around soon, but it seems to be still far away as far as the major economies are concerned, particularly the US, which is the major job market for the IT sector.

The trends in the US economy are showing no signs of major recovery yet, though its leaders are sounding optimistic about the same. But, clearly it may take time, a few years perhaps, which is a long time, in the terms of unemployed youths in India are concerned. So what is in store for them? Better go back to traditional jobs? Certainly, that seems to the recent trend of the many of the middle-class youths. Instead of waiting for the software industry settle down from the recession effect, many youths are looking at the safety proposition of the traditional jobs, particularly, some research-oriented jobs in the public sector companies. There are some other government jobs like administrative services, like IAS, IPS, IFS, revenue services etc which used to enjoy the attention of the talented youths, particularly from the middle-class sector.

For long time, cracking the IAS exam used to be the ultimate achievement and challenge for the talented youths in the country. Though there is no lessening of demand for the IAS and other administrative services yet, certainly, software sector took some sheen away from the job lure of the administrative services. Since IT sector used to offer quick entry to the prospective youth, they preferred to used to try in that sector, instead of putting in loads of hard work in preparing for the rigorous competitive exams. 

With the slump in the software sector, many youths are gearing up for the tough route ahead in preparation for the competitive exams. It may not be easy for them, but for there seems to be no other way, till the recovery of the IT sector, or some major change in the job market which is most unlikely during these troubled times of recession-hit economies.

There are many job opportunities for the youngsters now, particularly in the finance sector, which includes management, banks, insurance companies, stock broking etc, besides hospital industry, infrastructure, teaching and many more.

The thirst for talent in private and foreign banks of the country still seems to be very high and premium business schools are the places churning out future bankers. “As a policy, we recruit only from the reputed B-schools or experienced bankers for management level jobs,” said a human resources head of a private bank. Consistency in campus recruitment from banks despite the slowdown in the economy and job markets can be explained from the fact that banks are looking at their own future prospects and to form a corpus of managers and hone them through their own training programs. “Recruiting fresh graduates is a long-term investment and we train them to take on senior management positions in the future, where as we look at immediate gains from lateral recruits as they bring along with them a fresh package of skill sets which they are free to use,” the HR official said.

Banks are not just looking at providing jobs, but are building careers through their inhouse training programmes and promotion opportunities. Most job openings are advertised internally first, this automatically gives an opportunity for employees to take up the challenges and rise in their careers.

Retail and consumer banking and the ever-growing credit cards business is the engine that is pulling this recruitment drive forward. Customer services and relationship manager roles figure most prominently in the recruitment records of the banks. With automation and technology being the latest key words in the banking industry and ATMs being the preferred channel of transactions both by the customers and banks, the amount of clerical openings are only going to reduce and quality jobs will be on.

Last month, when a recruiting agency posted a job opening for a multinational power generation company, around 40% of the applicants came from the technology sector, with little background in energy. “I have received quite a few resumes from people looking to switch,” a representative of the recruitment agency said.  In a similar way, when a wind turbine manufacturer gave an announcement for recruitment, youths from fields as varied as software, retail and steel have applied for the posts.

Certainly, as large employers, such as those in IT and retail, constrict hiring in response to the economic slowdown, job seekers from those industries are starting to look at sunrise sectors, such as renewable energy and pharmaceuticals. Many job portals reflect the change in the job search market.  While it is a little early to signal a fundamental shift in job demand, the hiring slump in IT and financial services might serve as a potential windfall for new sectors, one analyst said.