Hiring activities declined 18% in Oct

Hiring activity saw a decline of 18 per cent during October and job sentiment was lacklustre across all key sectors, a report says.

The Naukri Job Speak Index for October 2014 was at 1,518, indicating an 18 per cent decline in hiring activities as compared to September 2014.

"The festivities of October has taken a toll with the Naukri Job Speak Index reflecting a dip in the number. It is in sync with the past trend of decline in hiring in festival season," Info edge (India) Managing Director and CEO Hitesh Oberoi said.

Info edge owns online job portal Naukri.com. The hiring outlook for the coming months however looks bullish. "We are optimistic that hiring activity will resume with full momentum across all sectors in the coming months," the report said.

Apart from insurance and pharma, sectors like IT and BPO have seen a month on month decline of 16 per cent and 17 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, banking, auto sector have also moved downwards along with other sectors like telecom and construction & engineering.

Citywise, all major cities saw a lull in hiring activity. Delhi NCR and Mumbai saw the maximum dip followed by Kolkata and Pune which have witnessed a dip of 17 per cent and 16 per cent respectively in the same time period.

Chennai and Bangalore have seen a decline in hiring with the index moving down by 14 per cent each while Hyderabad declined by 10 per cent in October over September this year.

The demand for professionals working in banking and insurance and production maintenance also saw the maximum dip during October.

Marketing and advertising and sales and business development also witnessed a month on month decline in hiring in October along HR, administration and accounts and finance.