auto sector jobs: Automotive industry sees mushrooming demand for talent

Data from Monster.com – a Quess company – indicates that the automotive/ancillaries/tyres industry noted a 14% annual growth in the intent to hire in January 2022, projecting a promising recovery pattern from the strain of the pandemic. On a month-on-month basis, the industry has projected a 3% uptick in online hiring demand.

With increasing adoption of digitisation and high requirements for tech-enabled skills, acquiring talent with the right skill sets has become fundamental for recruiters in the auto space. Further, a section of this talent – particularly in the EV industry – has also come to be termed as “green engineers”.

The demand trend for auto engineer roles has been fluctuating over the course of the pandemic as a result of lockdowns and several waves of Covid-19. The demand curve indicates a stark 23% growth in December 2021 (as compared to November 2021) owing to festive demand. However, January 2022 saw a downtrend with a 9% dip in hiring demand for the job role. This is a temporary dip on account of the significant rise witnessed in the previous month (January 2022 vs December 2021). This demand is expected to rise in the coming quarter with the PLI scheme for the auto industry as well as Budget 2022 accommodations for the auto and EV industry.

Bengaluru and Delhi are witnessing maximum demand for automotive engineers in January 2022. The data indicates that Bengaluru (15%) and Delhi-NCR (15%) hold the highest share of demand for automotive engineers in India, along with other metro cities. Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities showed negligible job posting activity in this regard. This could be attributed to the growth of EV and auto sectors in metros with a consequential uptick for talent demand in these cities.

Intermediate and mid-senior level roles hold the highest share of auto engineer jobs. The sector also shows an optimistic pattern for fresher talent.

“The auto industry in India is bound to flourish and we have noted a 14% growth this year as compared to last January. Given that the sector has been considerably impacted by the pandemic, this is a win implying more job creation and employment generation. Another aspect that remains crucial is the need to skill talent for a more productive auto workforce, which recruiters have continually been prioritising in the current scenario,” said Sekhar Garisa, CEO, Monster.com.

“The automotive industry is undergoing a transition – the disruption is more focused towards zero carbon emission and that leads the industry towards getting into alternate fuel technologies such as electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and more . The immediate talent crunch is being faced in the area of electric vehicles (EVs) where the industry is moving towards development of vehicles and solutions for passenger, public and goods mobility,” said Amanpreet Singh, president and head of HR, Ashok Leyland.

The demand for engineers who can contribute towards EVs has significantly risen in the last 3–4 years and will continue to rise in the coming years, Singh said.

Electric scooter company Simple Energy is looking to hire 300-350 engineers, 800-1000 employees for its factory, and is looking at 3500 new employees over the next five years as its larger factory becomes operational. The company is looking to hire engineering directors, engineers, and people for factory operations, said Suhas Rajkumar, founder and CEO, Simple Energy.

“Since we’re an electric automobile company we will be looking for skills in electromechanical engineering, battery-related skills and knowledge, wiring harness, hardware and firmware engineering, and testing and validation,” said Rajkumar.

Recently, EV company Euler Motors announced plans to increase its workforce by 120%.