Industry executives said concerns of a growing global recession have tilted the labor market in favor of employers, and the chances of job seekers clearing an interview are plummeting, fueling a hiring frenzy just a few quarters ago. After.
More and more candidates are preparing for the interview with the help of coaching firms and are ready to cough 2,500 for the two preparation sessions, he added. The growing demand for mock interviews has prompted job portals to tie up with interview outsourcing firms, who hire industry executives to coach candidates in answering prospective questions and tests.
For example, FloCareer, an interview outsourcing platform, has partnered with job portals to offer two mock interview sessions 1,200-2,500 for the candidates who wish to apply for the profile. “It’s an employer’s market now and we’re getting 1,000 candidates per month who are willing to pay to appear for interviews,” said Mohit Jain, co-founder and head of India operations at FloCareer.
The Bengaluru-based firm started the business of grooming candidates just three months ago and also provides interview panelists to India Inc.
Generally, companies like FlowCareer interview with freelancers or working professionals in a field where the demand is high to train candidates. The first session is a technical round while the second revolves around discussion. Officials said that a candidate looking for IT sector job may be tested in the first round on his/her coding skills and cost proposals of products for retail sector.
iMocha, a skill assessment platform, has received several requests from its clients to design rigorous mock tests for interviews. “When it was a manpower market, there was a demand for certain specialized skills, but peripheral skills were not essential. Now, the market has changed and even peripheral skills are included under essential,” says Imocha Engineering chief Vishal Madan said.
Madan said that in the last three months, 10-15 clients have asked for more questions for assessment tests and mock interview sessions to improve the process. “We expect more requests in the coming months.”
Until a few quarters ago, for IT firms, coders were in demand but it was not necessary to know details about various programs and certifications on the cloud, but now companies are asking for them, he said.
There has been a reversal in job market trends over the past three quarters, especially for IT firms and the startup sector. Besides, mass layoffs and a hiring freeze, most firms have tightened their interview processes for job openings. A tough selection criteria starts when the available talent pool is large and the negotiating powers are no longer with the candidates.
Job aspirants queuing up for mock interviews is in stark contrast to the situation a year ago, when Indian companies lacked interviewers who could ask job aspirants the right questions. The shortage had forced some companies to outsource interview sessions as there were not enough senior executives to close the recruitment mandate.
In fact, according to Saran Balasundaram, founder of tech recruitment firm HandDigital, the rejection rate of candidates has increased by up to 50%. Balasundaram said the company has now started training recruiters on Java, DevOps and other programs so that they can better assess, train and interview candidates. “We have started training them for six weeks to reduce the rejection rate from customers.”
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