Hiring freeze in pharma industry expected: survey

The overall economic crunch has resulted in companies adopting a cautious approach in their hiring plans.

A survey among recruiters in the pharmaceuticals industry revealed a drop in overall hiring sentiment, with  only 51 per cent expecting to add new jobs in the second half of 2012 which is 16 per cent lower than what was predicted by them in a similar survey in January 2012 survey.

Similarly, in January none of the recruiters had predicted a hiring freeze in 2012, while now 11 per cent recruiters say that hiring will come to a halt in the next six months.

Also, when we asked recruiters on what increments were given out to employees in 2012 then 59% said that the range was within 10% to 15% and about 25% said that increments given out were less than 10 per cent. 

Talent crunch seems to be an important issue facing recruiters in the pharmaceuticals sector as 73 per cent said that it is very difficult to find talent suitable for a job profile.

Sumeet Singh, senior VP marketing and communications, Info Edge India, which owns employment website naukri.com that conducted the survey, said, ''Although the overall hiring activity in the pharma sector has been moving at a steady pace in the first half of the year, recruiters are now preferring to adopt a cautious wait and watch mode in the coming quarters''.

A deeper analysis of the job scenario for the sector shows that about 33  per cent jobs created in the pharma sector in 2012 are from Mumbai, 12 per cent from Hyderabad and 11 per cent from Bengaluru.

The survey further reveals that most job openings in the sector are for jobseekers in the 3- 5 years experience levels.