‘Strange hiring market’: Expert after laid off employee says he’s making 0 from Rs 70 lpa seven months ago

A recently laid-off employee with 18 years of experience in multiple industries spoke up about how he has failed to garner interest from recruiters. “Was making around Rs 70 lpa seven months back, now I am back to zero,” he lamented. A behavioural researcher explained that skills that were in demand a few years back are now irrelevant. And hence, this conundrum.

Dharmesh Ba, behavioral researcher working around building digital products, said the experienced workforce in India is now faced with a new challenge – that of keeping up with the young ones.

“It’s a strange hiring market right now,” he said, adding that while the salaries of experienced employees remain inflated from the 2021 boom, their skills are becoming irrelevant. “What worked as a pitch a few years ago no longer does. Meanwhile, I’m seeing young fresh graduates deliver exceptional work and passion, augmented by LLMs, right out of the gate,” he said.

Ba was referring to a Reddit post of an employee, an IIT alum, who said that he used to work for a Nifty50 company and was laid off due to restructuring a few months ago. He said he has 18 years of experience in “implementing new tech”. He said he was earning Rs 70 lakh per annum only seven months ago, which has now dropped to zero.

“I have a family and everyone is so depressed and sad,” he wrote in the post.

The employee said he tried all the job posting websites, including LinkedIn, Naukri etc but to no avail. To make matters worse, he had recently bought a big house which he has now put out on rent as he is unable to pay off the EMI.

“At this level even friends can’t help much,” he said.

Many pointed and agreed that there is a skill-gap issue in the workforce currently. Recently, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services company, plans to reduce its global workforce by 2 per cent, affecting approximately 12,000 employees. The decision is part of a restructuring plan to adapt to rapid changes in technology, especially in artificial intelligence, confirmed CEO K Krithivasan.