Global slowdown to have limited impact on IT hiring: Survey

As many as 62.9 per cent of the respondents do not expect the global economic scenario to impact hiring plans, while 37.1 per cent of HR heads surveyed do expect a cut back on hiring, according to the survey by HeadHonchos.com, a job search portal for senior management professionals.

"The hiring outlook for the IT industry is holding steady and feedback from companies indicates that they are better geared to deal with the challenges ahead," HeadHonchos.com CEO Uday Sodhi said.

Nearly 92 per cent of the respondents believe that the impact will be limited to the next six months and only 8.1 per cent expect any long-term fall-out, the survey said. "HeadHonchos has seen good traction in terms of IT jobs for mid-management and senior candidates over the last 6 months and companies on our job portal are going ahead with hiring decisions," Sodhi added.

The findings of the survey, which covered HR heads in leading companies in the Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore, suggest that industry is today better prepared to deal with the current slowdown as compared to 2008.

The survey, which was undertaken to test sentiments in the IT industry -- the most sensitive among other sectors to global market movements -- further said that the hiring outlook in North and South India is more optimistic than in the western region.

Around 64.7 per cent of respondents in Delhi NCR and 72.7 per cent respondents in Bangalore indicated that hiring plans will not be affected. In contrast, only 33.3 per cent of the companies in Mumbai anticipate that the global economic scenario will not impact hiring plans, HeadHonchos said, adding that those organisations that plan to reduce hiring expect the impact to be felt across all levels.