Blue collar jobs: Since the COVID hit India, a structural shift has been seen in the ecosystem. This shift is changing operations, functionality, and manpower requirements of companies. Even for essentials now, people have shifted to online shopping. Between financial year 2020-2021, approximately 1.3 million blue-collar jobs were added in the sector. In 2021, hiring in the e-commerce saw a 30% surge. 2022 looks even more optimistic - close to 10 lakh jobs are expected to be added in the sector, said Ajoy Thomas, Vice President - Retail, E-Commerce, Logistics & Transportation, TeamLease Services.

These new opportunities are not only restricted to Tier I locations but also in Tier II to hinterland locations. Back in 2020, migration had an adverse impact on the availability of workforce in prime locations. Nevertheless, it actually made companies realize the importance of hiring local, thus resulting in a hiring boom in locations beyond Tier I. This year the top locations where eCommerce hiring will be maximum are in regions like Ahmedabad, Chennai, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Kochi, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Pune, Vizag, Mumbai, and Noida. Not only Tier I locations, but even Tier II to Tier IV regions have seen a surge in hiring especially as ecommerce has now gone deeper into the interiors of the country.

E commerce jobs: New profiles are being generated

These days, the e-commerce companies are increasingly hiring for profiles like operations, customer service, technology, machine learning, applied sciences, support functions, supply chain management, warehouse roles (delivery executives, movers, pickers, packers, loaders etc.) data scientists, warehouse workers, supply chain managers, delivery person, call center operators, and many have gone dramatically up. The market is teeming with jobs for people right from software product development to web architects, user interface designers, analytics experts, and data miners. Even for allied roles like logistics and warehousing, companies will be hiring extensively this year. Digital evolution coupled with elevated use of mobile applications for shopping, the requirement of consumer analytics, facts mining and cybersecurity functions has brought a revolution in the e-tail/e-commerce space. This has put organizations in a dire need of talent who are equipped to create specialised and custom designed e-trade centric services and products for consumers. Additionally, it has also pushed the sectors to hire more IT/ITeS professionals. Some of the other profiles where hiring will see fast paced momentum are scientists, warehouse employees, delivery chain managers, shipping persons, customer support executives, name centre operators, internet architects, consumer interface designers, analytics experts, marketing experts etc. 

Make in India has given birth to a pool of new SME/MSMEs

Another interesting trend is that the push toward Make in India has given birth to a pool of new SME/MSMEs. This local ecosystem is also creating many job opportunities, including local roles like handicraft employees, and artisans, amongst others. Candidates should know that the up-skilling/re-skilling has become even more important. Companies want the candidates to have the right mix of domain/technical skills and soft skills. There is a constant need for bridging this skill gap by inculcating future skills for industry in our education system. Some of these skills are complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, people management, coordinating with others, emotional intelligence, judgment, and decision making, service orientation, negotiation, and cognitive flexibility.