Technology roles dominate the jobs market with Machine Learning Engineer, Application Development Analyst, and Back End Developer leading the pack
Against India’s rapidly evolving economic landscape, new jobs are emerging faster than ever before. With nearly 5 million people expected to join the workforce every year, India’s adaptability to change is key today. LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network with 50+ million members in India, today announced the Top 10 Emerging Jobs in India report that identifies the fastest growing and up-and-coming jobs that saw the largest growth in frequency in the five-year-period between 2013 and 2017. The first India edition of this report also looks at the skills needed for each role, where the talent has come from and where it resides today.
The Top 10 Emerging Jobs in India are:
Machine Learning Engineer
Application Development Analyst
Back End Developer
Full Stack Engineer
Data Scientist
Customer Success Manager
Digital Marketing Specialist
Big Data Developer
Sales Recruiter
Python Developer
Tech roles are in high demand, but soft skills are also key
Technology roles dominate this list, but the report also finds that these roles are no longer limited to tech companies. Today, tech jobs are in demand across sectors from pharma to banking and retail, and companies in these various industries see a high demand for talent in these roles. For example, the role of Machine Learning Engineer has seen a 43x rate of growth in this five-year-period, and the Application Development Analyst’s role has seen a 32x rate of growth.
Soft skills are today seen as one of the most in-demand skills and are increasingly more critical to success in this tech age. With the role of “Customer Success Manager” ranked as the sixth emerging job in India, following the rise of five technical jobs, this juxtaposition is symbolic of this trend. CSMs, for both tech firms and non-tech firms, are critical to help onboard, influence, and retain customers, and soft skills such as communications and relationship-building play a key role here in making their customers successful.
While introducing this report, Feon Ang, VP – Asia Pacific, LinkedIn Talent and Learning Solutions shared, “India’s indigenous tech talent has taken several global tech giants to success, hence it is no surprise that India’s top 5 emerging jobs orbit around technology and core technical skills across sectors. At the same time it is interesting to observe that soft skills such as relationship building and customer management are equally relevant for jobs of tomorrow – the rise of the CSM as a top emerging job in Asia-Pacific is a key example of this trend. With India set to see the youngest workforce in 2020, recruiters and CHROs will benefit by hiring based on skills, instead of previous job titles, and upskilling should be a focus for all organisations in order to make talent future-ready.”
‘Talent Intelligence’ tells you where to look for talent in these emerging jobs
The Emerging Jobs in India report also presents a view into where this talent resides today and where it has come from over the past five years. Knowing the supply/demand balance in a city can help companies decide whether to look for talent in ‘x’ city or tap into talent willing to migrate. For instance, the explosion of data has created demand for Data Scientists across cities, with Mumbai and NCR witnessing maximum competition for this role. Outward bound, India is the largest supplier of Data Scientists and Cyber Security Specialists to Singapore where 22% to all data scientists who have migrated to Singapore are from India.
By leveraging talent data from LinkedIn, Novartis India was able to make the strategic decision of choosing its new office location as Mumbai over Bengaluru, with the former’s much larger population of mid-career talent.
Key highlights from the report:
Tech jobs rule in India, but not just in tech companies: The role of ‘Machine Learning Engineer’ has grown 43x in the past 5 years
The rise of the CSM in Asia-Pacific: The CSM ranks as the No. 1 Emerging Job in Australia; No. 4 in Singapore; and No. 6 in India. The IT and Services industry in India has seen a 27% growth rate in the demand for the CSM
Data in high demand: The explosion of data sees three data-centric roles make it to the Top 10 list: Machine Learning Engineer, Data Scientist, and Big Data Developer. Mumbai and NCR witnessing maximum competition for the role of ‘Data Scientist’; outward bound, India is the largest supplier of Data Scientists and Cyber Security Specialists to Singapore. The rise of homegrown tech talent in India has led to the country contributing 22% to all data scientists migrating to Singapore in 2017. The role is also amongst the Top 5 in Australia & New Zealand, and Southeast Asia as well.
On-the-job training: While machine learning and data scientists in the US come from academia or have a master’s degree, over 50% of these professionals in India have a bachelor’s degree and are trained on the job
As demand for these emerging roles increases, and the lines between various specialist roles blur, the key will be to upskill talent and focus on a candidate’s skills than previous job titles. Transferable skills will be key to adapt to a changing workforce and soft skills will be imperative for success, along with a high aptitude for adaptability, resilience, and entrepreneurial skills.