The technology sector is dominating in hiring across all domains of the industry, however, the college curricula need to be revamped to make the youngsters more employable. An industry survey conducted with a sample size of over 11,000 responses collected from the concerned stakeholders found that the technology sector is leading in the job market. The survey report also highlighted that 66% of Human Resource (HR) practitioners feel that the college curricula need to be revamped to make students more employable, however, 91% of students feel their coursework is adequate. Furthermore, the report revealed the existence of a gender pay gap and disconnect between all stakeholders.

The survey conducted by Unstop, highlighted 70% of HRs prioritise talent attraction in 2024. However, while students prefer competitions, HRs focus on social media for brand visibility. Meanwhile, HR professionals claim that the pay gap has been reduced to some extent, but the data says otherwise. The gender pay gap still exists, a salary package of Rs 2 to 5 LPA, remained the most common offer made to women in Arts, Science and Commerce, which is half of the most common offers for men in the industry. Most men in the same domains are offered a salary package of Rs 6 to 10 LPA. Engineering students received almost the same offer. But in management, 55% of men received a salary offer of over Rs 16 LPA and only 45% of women received an offer above Rs 16 LPA. The report provides plenty of insights to address such gaps.

As per the survey, the tech sector dominates hiring across domains, around 25% of E-Schools, 62% of B-Schools, and 26% of arts, science and commerce students have already received a job or internship offer from the technology sector alone. On average, around 35% of surveyed students have offers from the Technology sector.

Further, over 81% of HRs across different sectors are currently hiring. Among the remaining 19%, about 11% are facing a hiring freeze and the remaining 8% of HRs have no openings. Almost 70% of HRs prioritise talent attraction in the current year 2024. However, while students prefer competitions, HRs focus on social media for brand visibility. According to the report, 38% of HRs chose social media campaigns for brand awareness, while 77% of students prefer engaging via competitions.

The survey report stated, “Gen Z may be living on the gram, but social media takes a back seat when connecting with their dream companies. Social media campaigns ranked fourth for E-School students and last for B-School students as a preferred way of connecting with companies.”

Around 50% of students do not believe they will find a job in their preferred domains. While 88% of HRs prefer skills over experience, academics, or references. Three out of 5 students choose job security over salary hikes. Notably, 79% of students feel hunting jobs off-campus will get them the desired job profiles.