76% Indian job seekers want sector-specific job search engines

Indian job market lacks due diligence and often exposes jobseekers to wrong employers leading to disappointing experiences for both the employers and the employees. It is hence no wonder that a vast majority of the Indian talent pool is very apprehensive to share their job profile in public forum. Most of the profiles on various job portals only reflect a demand-and-supply mismatch.

This gap within the job portals is even more profound with certain specialised sectors, like healthcare, education and finance. Young Indian job seekers hence want the job market to be sector specific, both for the purpose of confidentiality as well as for a focused employer and employee meeting point.

“I have wasted my good six months now on various job portals. It is not that I didn’t get the interview calls. But then the employers were looking for a candidate with a different skill set. Both the sides have been disappointed for so many times now. I wish job portals are a bit more professional in India,” says Rajat Mishra in Delhi.

No less than three fourths (as many as 76%) Indians feel the job portals/Apps should offer sector specific specialised offerings.

Nearly as many, (70% to be precise), have thus far wasted time on the existing job portals due to mismatch of their skill sets and requirement. More than 5 out of 10 employees (52%) have been approached in the past by employers through job portals that were looking for a different skill set than that on the candidate’s profile.

Nearly 8 out of 10 (78%) employees also worry before posting their profiles and seeking job change status due to confidentiality issues. They feel the job portals must have filtering processes to help the candidates not get exposed at a premature stage.

These are the findings of a pan-India survey by Bandlik, India’s only Healthcare Talent Exchange, that aims to provide bespoke employment solutions to unlock the talent in the healthcare industry. The survey was aimed at finding the demand-and-supply gap in the job market in general and healthcare sector in particular. The survey also tried to capture the pulse of the employers and employees in terms of their requirement.

“I think the problem lies with the business strategy of these job portals. They have to provide a certain number of options to their employer clients. Now since the profile of candidates is so thinly spread across the sector over portal that they recommend ‘wrong’ candidates. I have been in the finance team of a real estate company. A leading hospital refused me in the interview because the two businesses operate their finance very differently,” says Indrani Kochar in Bengaluru.

The survey noted that the sectors like healthcare (82% recommended), education (76% recommended) and finance (72% recommended) need a separate job portal for their expertise area. At the bottom of the workforce pyramid in these sectors more than 7 0ut of 10, as many as 74%, even want the specialized job portals to act as career counselling and supporting services.

The study even noted that the online professional networking platforms are also thinly spread across the sectors. No less than 70% believe the professional networking must be limited to the relevant industry of the work force.