The EV push is spurring fresh demand for auto sector jobs

If you’re looking to change jobs, now may be a good time because the Indian white-collar job market has well and truly shed its Covid blues to turn red hot.

In April 2022, job portal Naukri’s JobSpeak Index grew 38% year-on-year to 2,863, hovering around a lifetime high. A revival to the pre-pandemic level also seems well within reach. In the same month, competitor Monster.com recorded the highest level of engagement and job activity on its portal seen during the two pandemic years with its Employment Index hitting 295. It was 296 in March 2020.

Also Read: The Jobs and Skillsets in Demand Now

Looking ahead, digital recruitment platform Taggd’s Decoding Jobs Sectoral Report pegs Internet Businesses, IT/Tech, Automotive, BFSI and Pharma & Healthcare as the sectors showing the highest intent to hire in 2022. “Compared to last year, there is certainly a hiring boom in April-June. We are seeing almost 70-80% increase everywhere, with IT/Tech at the top. But there is going to be a normalisation,” says its President and Founding Member Devashish Sharma. He expects it to slow down to a 50-60% increase in Q2, and a further 20-25% dip in October-March 2023 because a lot of large players across industries will be using their bench staff for which they have already hired.

Recruitment firm Randstad India Director (Professional Search & Selection and Strategic Accounts) Sanjay Shetty also picks automobiles as a sector to watch out for as the shift from fossil fuels to electric vehicles will require hitherto-uncommon and specialised engineering skills. “(Automotive) companies are revamping their entire production chains and you need people with that kind of a background and experience such as GIS mapping skills.” Tata Motors President & CHRO, Ravindra Kumar GP, chips in that the sector is also scouting for designers. “From the vehicle itself to the interiors to the interface of touchscreens which are coming into cars, it’s a great opportunity for designers to get into the automobile world today.”

The push for electric mobility and connected vehicles along with emerging use cases of technology, electrics & electronics as well as design is transforming the country’s automotive industry into one rife with opportunities.

“A full-fledged self-driving car like Google’s may take a few years to come to India. So, we have adapted the global concept of ACES (Autonomous, Connected, Electric and Shared vehicles) to our market. We call it CESS (Connected, Electric, Shared and Safe vehicles),” says Ravindra Kumar GP, CHRO, Tata Motors, which is focusing on both connected vehicles within ICEs as well as EVs. That’s why ADAS becomes crucial, he adds.

Advanced driver-assistance system is a set of safety-enhancing technologies for automatic braking, lane change warnings, collision prevention and adaptive cruise control which are powered by AI & ML among others.

“A majority of the hiring for the white-collar technical functions would be in the areas of AI, ML, telematics and EV. So, it will primarily be vehicle engineering functions, telematics engineers, supply chain and logistics analysts and experts,” says MG Motor India Director HR, Yeshwinder Patial.

The carmaker has planned 600-700 additions across white- and blue-collar roles to its 2,000-strong workforce by the end of this year. “Additional reinforcements are also required for sales managers as we sell more and also in the after-sales team of service engineers,” Patial says, adding that there is a definite shortage of these skills.

Kumar adds to the list auto electric and electronics, ADAS, battery & battery management systems, automation in manufacturing especially because of EVs, embedded software as those in high demand and not readily available. Some amount of hiring can be done from adjacent industries, especially for telematics and connectivity, but the Tata Group company is investing in its existing workforce. “Skill reorientation from mechanical into electrical of the workforce – that’s where our efforts are underway.”