Stephen Varghese was an employee in a marketing agency dealing in white goods lost his
job when the first lockdown was announced. Business just collapsed and there
was no way the management was able to pay salaries and decided to remove staff.
Stephen has been trying to get a job since then but the virus ensured a
lockdown in the economy. The brief lull between the waves did nothing and the
economy stayed weak. Now however with the numbers having decreased and
companies gradually resuming work, will recruitments commence or will it remain
weak.
Pravin Kakode, an entrepreneur with a
presence in the retail space said the market had shown its resilience and apart
from a few sectors which were directly affected recruitment was taking place.
He however felt the challenge was the availability of talent. He said “Another
trend I see is emerging is many people attending interviews confirming their
interest in joining and not doing so. In fact they do not even inform the
company. My observation is the yardstick of a basic professional approach is
dipping.”
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That may be retail but in the travel and hospitality industry
the situation was different. Ernest Dias of Sita felt it was a bit too early to
talk about recruitments. He said he was aware that a lot of people were looking
for jobs but they would have to wait a little longer. He said “The government
has to take a decision with regards to opening the borders and issuing visas.
Once that happens we will recruit. At the very minimum we will hire 10
employees”. The senior member of a holiday property who wanted to stay
anonymous said they were managing with the staff that was retained because
guest occupancy was nothing to write home about. He felt that once the third
wave was done then perhaps a decision would be taken and that would also depend
on the response from the market.
Fardeen Veljee who is part of the next generation of the Veljee
group said they were in the process of recruiting aggressively. The group was
recruiting bike technicians for Goa and Karnataka and technicians for their
scooter business in Goa. He said they were recruiting to prepare for the
festival season. The advertisements he said were already released. He said they
were confident about the economic climate and were also hiring for the advertising
business. Business he said would grow in the months ahead.
Nupura Hautamaki Founder and CEO at Gypsy Gigs Goa said she was
forced to reduce salaries and some employees managed to get jobs which paid
higher. She said she did not insist on employees staying for the stipulated one
month. Speaking about hiring she said it would be prudent to be conservative
and wait and watch how the third wave panned out. She said “The third wave is
hitting other countries and I don’t know how regular work will bet post the
third wave. The events business has been affected and budgets have reduced. I
am keeping all that in mind. I will hire depending on how the business pans
out. Depending on that I will decide how many personnel to hire.”
Similar sentiments were expressed by Conrad Stephens the MD of
Purple Crest Advertising. He said “Recruitments will only happen when the
market picks up and business comes in. Otherwise it makes no sense.”
However companies in the IT space were hiring aggressively.
Jason Fernandes the Chief Business Officer of NFT Tech a company based in
Vancouver, Canada said they were going in for an IPO in September in that
country and aimed to bring in 250 million dollars. The company he said was
recruiting heavily in Canada and in India. The same he said was true for the
Block chain industry which was recruiting aggressively. Companies he said were
also investing in companies which were an indication of the confidence they had
in their technology as well as in the country they intended to operate in.
Siya Dalvi Co-founder of Creative HR solutions a recruitment
consultant said companies were seriously considering recruitment in various
sectors. She said “They are considering hiring across the hierarchy. Salaries
were not reduced by companies in the state and the salaries are not
astronomical in the state. Companies are hiring anywhere between one and five
employees”.
Harpreet Singh of Goa Jobs Junction said there was some movement
though the hospitality and travel industry was still down. He said “Manufacturing
and trading is ok but they are also tentative. They want personnel for short
term assignments. Many are recruiting ground level staff like drivers but when
it comes to senior positions, there is absolutely nothing. Nothing is coming
from hotels, the casinos are shut”. He admitted it was tough to stay in
business with nothing substantial on the horizon. Harpreet said he had taken
assignments he would have not considered earlier just to pay bills. Business
was tough and he hoped the situation improved soon.
BT Boke a senior consultant who held senior posts in a local
corporate said there were signs of growth in industries like small
manufacturing units. From once operating at100 percent, they were reduced to
operating at 30-40 percent. It had now improved to around 65% and this could go
up to 70 % by the year end. He said “The larger manufacturing companies are
also improving and there is a possibility recruitments will take place. This
however will not be to the pre-Covid level”. He said since the state had a very
high rate of unemployment at the height of the pandemic but in time things were
slowly improving.
The
signs may be faint at times but some industries are considering recruiting
personnel which will be good news for the scores of people struggling with
unemployment. One can only hope for the best.
