UPI Creator NPCI is Hiring for Blockchain Technologists Role

The National Payments Corporation Of India (NPCI) — the creator of instant payment system UPI — is now hiring for the role of Blockchain Technologists with senior leadership profile, to head and identify avenues wherever blockchain-driven solutions can be used.

Led by India's Central Bank - RBI, NPCI had posted a job on LinkedIn that confirmed NPCI’s ongoing drive to hire a head of Blockchain in Mumbai/Hyderabad as mentioned locations

This also hints that NPCI is looking to include blockchain technology in one or more of its products that include UPI, RuPay, BharatQR, Digital Rupee (e₹) or e-Rupee and Bharat Bill Payment System, among others. Introducing blockchain into UPI's framework would potentially introduce the technology to a massive user-base, that UPI has, almost immediately.

According to the job posted by NPCI, the profile is for Mumbai & Hyderabad locations and requires candidate "to liaisen with internal and external stakeholders to understand business processes and identify avenues wherever blockchain-driven solutions can be used. Conduct POC for the identified process area, in collaboration with various teams, to establish feasibility and proposed efficiency/ cost/ security improvements" said the job posted."

The ideal candidate will be a seasoned technologist with at least six years of experience in developing and implementing blockchain and demonstrable experience of working on at least 2 pilot blockchain projects.

NPCI requires the candidate to "Own the entire implementation lifecycle and ensure support to the respective functions, after implementation, upto stabilization of change. Must have undertaken blockchain-related interventions at a financial services organization."

Besides being a revolutionary system in home-country, UPI has also caught the attention of various other countries. Financial institutions in Singapore, Malaysia, the UAE, France, Benelux nations, Nepal, and the United Kingdom have adopted and implemented UPI to different extents.

"Contractual Jobs" Portal to Help Job Seekers and Employers Overcome Difficult COVID-19 Times

It has been seven months since India reported its first case of COVID-19 in Kerala, and as of August 12, the number of total cases in India has reached over 2.27 million. Trepidation and recession caused by this novel virus have rendered many people unemployed. Job seekers are unable to find long term employment avenues. At the same time, employers are hesitant to make long term commitments by hiring employees and are finding it challenging to hire the right talent with no strings attached. The job market is in peril, and the question of how long this vexing job hunt will last remains unanswered.

Nevertheless, fret no more, for we have good news for you - a futuristic job portal is a ray of hope for job seekers and employers both. Launched under the URL www.contract-jobs.com, this sophisticated HR technology allows recruiters and employers to hire job seekers on flexible period job contracts in India with no long term commitments, no strings attached, and temporary work opportunities that get you in the right direction.

Now, what exactly is a contract job

Simply put, a contract basis job is a contractual employment opportunity where the employer hires you for a fixed period, and when the period expires, your employment ends. Plus, while you work at the employers place, your salary and your benefits are paid by a third-party contractor.

So, as a job seeker, what are the advantages of hiring using www.contract-jobs.com

• In these times of pandemic triggered recession, contractual job opportunity is easier to come by, thus enhancing possibilities of you getting faster employment and easier decisions


• Opportunity to work with various employers, resulting in better exposure and improvement in skillsets


• An opportunity to gel with the right connections in your concerned work-fields for future references


• Be employed for a certain period and have the rest of the year to yourself


• From private to government contract jobs, there are 1000s of job openings

As an employer, there are significant advantages for your business:

• No hassle hiring: The contractor takes care of sourcing, interviewing payroll management, leave tracking and management


• Employers hire employees as per their work demand


• Employers never run out of candidates


• It is evident that the new portal www.contract-jobs.com is a win-win for both parties - the employer hires an employee only for the duration he requires the help, and the employee gets to work only for the period he chooses to work.

We hope that this job portal will help job seekers and recruiters all over India during this very challenging time.

Markivis Launches Mondayjoining.Com To Accelerate Employment in India During Pandemic

Markivis Pvt. Ltd today announced the launch of MondayJoining.com, a recruitment portal to facilitate people who have lost their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic. The portal intends to connect people who are out of jobs or available to join within 14 days to connect with recruiters. The portal is free for candidates and recruiters, helping companies reduce their cost of hiring. 

“Monday Joining is our way of giving it back to the community in these unprecedented times. We wanted to help people who lost their jobs and businesses by reducing their cost of hiring.”

said Amit Khanduja, the CEO of Markivis Pvt. Ltd.

With MondayJoining.com, candidates do not need to spend endless hours on job hunting and filling out numerous applications for each job post. The platform allows recruiters to reach out to job seekers almost instantly by looking at their experience, skills and expertise updated within extensive candidate profiles. In addition, the platform reduces the effort of recruiters from creating lengthy job descriptions and going through the hassle of receiving hundreds of non-suitable resumes, and most importantly worrying whether a candidate will join after making them wait for 2-3 months. 

“We used to see so many posts and media news every day about people losing their jobs but on the contrary we were also hearing a completely different story from HR Leaders, who we work with regularly in the Employer Branding space. Companies were unable to source the right candidates who were available to join quickly. That is when we thought of connecting these two sets of audiences using a portal for all those individuals who were seeking a job and the countless recruiters who were hiring,” he added.

What differentiates mondayjoining.com from other platforms is one it’s zero subscription fees and some of the unique features that have been built and are in pipeline for recruiters such as:

1. Track and report candidates who accept an offer and do not join
2. Getting an offer acceptance within the portal 
3. Only allowing candidates who can join within 14 days to register 
4. Adding background verified/ Reference Checked profiles to shorten candidate on-boarding

The portal intends to launch operations in Australia and the UK in the next few months. The website’s soft launch two weeks ago drew over 35,000 candidate profiles who are ready for immediate hiring, and 213 verified recruiters who are actively hiring. The platform aims at increasing its reach with the official launch. 

About Markivis: 

Markivis is a Marketing Consulting Agency which offers services across Employer Branding& Marketing to leading B2B companies. Founded in 2018, the company was recently recognized as the “Employer Branding company of the year”. They have created a niche for themselves in the B2B industry and today work with 5 of the top 10 leading IT / ITeS companies, with client presence across India, U.S., Canada, Japan, U.K. and Australia. 

About Monday Joining:

Monday Joining is a platform ‘Beyond Job Descriptions’. It was essentially brought to life with the Covid-19 pandemic accelerating its impact on employment, where thousands of people were losing jobs for no fault of theirs. The platform is developed keeping in mind the need for an immediate hiring and is exclusive for professionals who can join a role within 0-14 days after an offer is made. Monday Joining aims at saving time and money for everyone - candidates and recruiters alike.

About the Founder: 

With more than 16 years of experience in B2B Marketing, Amit Khanduja is currently the CEO of Markivis Pvt. Ltd. He has held several senior-level positions in IT and ITeS organizations. His last position was with EXL where he was the Vice President for Marketing, leading the Digital Marketing function and responsible for the Marketing Technology Stack. He has also held senior positions in Innodata, Genpact, and HCL Technologies.

Amit has experience in services, solutions, and product marketing activities across global markets. Adept in defining and building go to market strategies, planning, and executing marketing campaigns. 

Ministry launches AI-based Portal to Help Skilled People Find Sustainable Livelihood Opportunities

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has launched Artificial Intelligence-based portal called -- 'Aatmanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping (ASEEM)' -- to help skilled people find sustainable livelihood opportunities.

The ASEEM portal, will provide employers with a platform to assess the availability of skilled workforce and formulate their hiring plans and in turn, open up massive job opportunities for the unemployed youth. 

Besides recruiting a skilled workforce that spurs business competitiveness and economic growth, the ASEEM platform has been envisioned to strengthen their career pathways by handholding them through their journeys to attain industry-relevant skills and explore emerging job opportunities, especially in the post-COVID era. 

The portal is also available as an APP and is developed and managed by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) in collaboration with Bengaluru-based company Betterplace specializing in blue collar employee management.

Microsoft Sacks, Replaces Dozens of Journalists with AI Software - Report

Technology giant Microsoft has reportedly sacked dozens of journalists in favour of artificial intelligence (AI) software. It is to be noted these reportedly sacked journos weren't involved in producing or writing original content/news but were involved in editorial and curation activities like selecting stories to publish, changing headlines.

Microsoft has decided to replace the staff who maintain the news homepages on Microsoft’s MSN website and its Edge browser because "robots can now do their jobs", reported The Guardian. About 27 employees of PA Media (formerly the Press Association), which is in a contract with Microsoft, use to select, edit and curate news articles on MSN homepages. These were told on Thursday that they would lose their jobs in a month’s time.

These about-to-be-sacked employees were told that Microsoft’s decision to end the contract with PA Media was taken at short notice as part of a global shift away from humans in favour of automated updates for news.

Stating a quote from one of the staff members who worked on the Microsoft curation team, the Guardian report said, "I spend all my time reading about how automation and AI is going to take all our jobs, and here I am -- AI has taken my job."

The team member then further said that the decision to replace humans with software was risky, as the existing staff were careful to stick to “very strict editorial guidelines” which ensured that users were not presented with violent or inappropriate content when opening their browser, of particular importance for younger users.

An another report from the Seattle Times said that about 50 contract news producers will lose their jobs by the end of June though the company but will still retain a team of journalists working full time.

To recall, in January 2017 Indian software giant Infosys had released 8,000-9,000 employees in one year of time because of automation of lower-end jobs, which was confirmed by the company's human resources head Krishnamurthy Shankar.

50% Jobseekers focus on Self-Development for Career Advancement in a Tough Job Market - Survey

Naukri.com rolled out the survey to 50,000 active jobseekers to gauge their sentiment around the jobs market, career progression and increment expectations.

The sixty-four days of the lockdown may have paved way for uncertainties in the job market but only 10% active jobseekers confirmed that they have been laid-off, revealed a survey by India’s No. 1 job site, Naukri.com. The unwelcomed pause in the hiring activity has opened new avenues for jobseekers to up-skill themselves and enhance their domain expertise. Close to 50% jobseekers confirmed that they are utilizing this time to focus on self-development. The survey also revealed that the jobseekers from the IT, Pharma, Medical/Healthcare and BFSI industries were less impacted by layoffs and salary cuts as compared to their counterparts from other industries.

Further to this, the survey revealed that fear of laying off or salary cuts are not the key drivers for job change. Interestingly, it’s better career opportunities. 70% of jobseekers are scouting new jobs for better career opportunities followed by 16% due to salary cuts by their organization and 14% due to the fear of being laid off by their company.



Out of the 10% of jobseekers who have already been laid off, 15% were from the Airlines and E-commerce industry each and around 14% were from the Hospitality industry. Around 13% of the laid-off employees were senior professionals with 11+ years of work experience and were working in either Sales (12%), HR & Admin (12%), Marketing (11%) or Operations/Supply Chain (11%) roles.

Referring to the survey findings, Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com said, “The survey gives a broad direction of maintaining caution towards the future outlook of the job market. While only 10% jobseekers confirmed that they have been laid-off as per the survey, almost 34% fear that a layoff is imminent. The Step-Up’ initiative by Naukri.com aims to facilitate hiring of the laid off segment by improving their discovery by the recruiters & expense less access to their CV’s. On the positive side it is heartening to see that more than 50% of jobseekers are focusing on upskilling for better career opportunities and that is a sure shot way of long term career growth.”

Majority of jobseekers are utilizing the time at hand due to the lockdown for self-development and career advancement. Either the jobseekers have enrolled in for an upskilling course or are seeking professional help for building their resumes and brushing their domain knowledge. Data Science & Analytics courses (22%), followed by Digital Marketing (20%), and Finance and Risk Management (16%) were amongst the top courses being picked up by jobseekers to up-skill themselves.



There is a mixed feeling around layoffs and salary cuts amongst jobseekers. 41% of the jobseekers were positive that layoffs are not likely to happen in their organization. These jobseekers were mostly from the BFSI, IT and Pharma industries suggesting a relatively higher job security sentiment in these industries. On the other hand, 59% of the jobseekers, mostly from the Airlines, Hospitality, Ecommerce and BPO/ITES industries, confirmed that the layoffs are either already announced or most likely to happen in the coming days.

On the salary cut front – one-third jobseekers indicated that salary cuts have not yet been announced but are most likely in the near future. In the most impacted sectors such as Airlines, Hospitality, and E-commerce almost half of the jobseekers indicated that salary cuts have been announced in their companies.





Comparing the results of a similar survey carried out pre COVID 19 in Feb 20 revealed that the jobseeker outlook on salary increments has changed drastically. Just 18% of the jobseeker pre COVID 19 were expecting a modest hike of 0 to 5% but this number has now swelled to 63% given the conservative outlook of their companies. Similarly 77% jobseeker were expecting an increment between 6-20% pre COVID 19 and this now has drastically reduced to just 34%.



Naukri.com, India’s No. 1 job site and the flagship brand of Info Edge introduced the concept of e-recruitment in India. Since its inception in 1997, Naukri.com has seen continuous growth while outperforming its competitors in every sphere. Info Edge was the first internet company to be listed in India. The site enjoys a traffic share of over 70% as per similar web. Naukri.com is a recruitment platform that provides hiring-related services to corporates/recruiters, placement agencies and job seekers in India and overseas. It offers multiple products like Resume Database Access, listings and Response Management Tools. With more than 5,25,000 jobs live at any point and over 60 million CVs, Naukri.com serviced over 76,000 corporate clients. The company operates 56 offices in 42 cities in India and overseas offices in Dubai, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.

Lockdown's Side-Effects: Anxiety Levels Up As Appraisals Get Delayed, Job Loss Fears Rise

A lot many are fearing loss of job, some have already seen pay cuts and appraisals are getting delayed almost for everyone -- The COVID-19 crisis and the ongoing lockdown has left employees feeling anxious and worried about their future, prompting many corporates to look for ways to keep the staff motivated.

Some are roping in psychologists to conduct ''happiness sessions'' for staff members over video conferencing, others have decided to keep communicating with them regularly about business updates and a few are also promising necessary steps to safeguard their career progression along with additional perks for ''performers'' during such difficult times.

Experts said there is high stress that the current crisis has brought upon employees as well as organisations, and with the lockdown not looking to end soon, the emotional challenges employees are confronting have increased manifold.

"Yes, there is some amount of anxiety as it is a situation many of us including organisations have never been faced with. In terms of appraisals, it is too early to say on the stand of the organizations as Covid-19 has an impact on the employer as well in terms of business," Sudeep Sen, Business Head- Industrial Manufacturing and Engineering $@$# General Staffing, TeamLease Services, said.

On top of it, some retail touch points have remained open during the pandemic and employees who are still working onsite in industries such as healthcare, food services and critical manufacturing operations will have different stress levels and concerns than those working from home.

Onsite employees are under extreme worry of being infected by co-workers or customers. They are worried if the organization will be able to provide sufficient workplace safety and one of their biggest worries is to travel to work without being stopped by cops.

At times like this, some employers are going the extra mile and rewarding their onsite employees in essential sectors with appreciation allowance, besides taking several steps to ensure employee safety including regular sanitisation of high-touch surfaces, provision of masks, installing sanitisers stations and conducting temperature checks for all associates.

"We are particularly grateful to associates who work in our stores and are selflessly serving the community at this time. In recognition, we will provide every field associate an appreciation allowance of Rs 200 per day over and above their pay for every day of attendance during the lockdown period," a Walmart India spokesperson said.

"We are also committed to ensuring safe transport for our store associates and are providing conveyance reimbursement to them in the absence of local transport," the spokesperson added.

In order to survive these tough times HR leaders and people managers are encouraging and supporting employees, communicating with them regularly about the business updates, positive news and actions organizations are taking to come out of the situation. Many companies are also conducting special online sessions for the staff to keep them motivated and stress-free.

Psychologist and 'happiness coach' Sakshi Mandhyan, who was been roped in by various corporate houses for such online 'happiness classes', said we get anxious when we think about the future that is actually unpredictable and uncertain.

"If we talk about the current situation, many people would have made plans for April and the coming months on the basis of appraisals they were expecting this month. But sadly that is not happening," she said.

Mandhyan, who was earlier associated with Max Hospitals and now runs Mandhyan Care, said what people need to do is try to change things that are in their own hands, rather than worry about things outside their control.

"For example, whether one would have a job or not is not entirely in one's control in such a scenario, but how to manage available finances is still controllable. So, spending smartly is the key point here.

"The good part is expenses have gone down due to people staying home mostly and therefore the way forward can be learning to get back to basics -- that is learning to manage with basic necessities and cut down on unnecessary or avoidable luxuries. We need to understand that a few generations back, such kind of expenditure was not happening and people were still happy," Mandhyan said.

"The best trait humans have is their ability to adapt to things and to manage to survive in every kind of situation. There will be initial difficulties, but gradually, we all will get used to it and we will make peace with the changing situations. Having the natural survival instincts, human beings adapt to any given situation. There would be changes in the way we wind down, such as we may start having card parties at home rather than going to a party outside our homes," she added.

Many organisations are offering online toolkits and resources so all employees have what they need to operate productively. Some companies have also taken to this time to drive their Learning and Development initiatives.

"Organisations are equally worried about their employee well-being, positive mental state and ability to remain stable and loyal. This worry is more so for employees who perform well or are potential performers," said Ashissh Kaul - Associate Director, Advisory Services, SHRM India.

Providing these employees a clear and proper roadmap of their career post COVID-19 times has also been a priority, Kaul said adding that many organisations are offering coupons to order meals, ensuring benefits like access to online yoga classes etc as an incentive.

"This is a time of responsibility from both employers and employees. Corporates must show more empathy towards their staff, being transparent with business conditions and helping set clear expectations will help ease out stress," global executive recruitment organisation Antal International India Managing Director Joseph Devasia said.

Devasia further said that "in these tough times, corporations will care more about those who have contributed to the growth of the organisation".

He noted that every organisation will be faced with downsizing at some point over the next 12 months, hence reviewing salaries, perks, benefits and knocking off bonuses or increments would be normal. In such circumstances loyalty and retention take a second stand, versus ensuring sustainance of business. PTI DRR

Real Ways To Earn Money Without A Job And Without Leaving Home

The crisis caused by the coronavirus requires us to solve a number of tasks, both important and not very much so. The health care, that of your own and of your loved ones, is in the first place. And what matters next for the vast majority of us is having a job and money. Due to a sharp drop in production, the closure of enterprises and companies, quarantine and forced isolation, our financial stability and well-being have been threatened, revenues have gone down, and some have already reached zero. All this makes one wonder what to do and how to go on with one's life.

There are many ways to earn money without leaving your home. It is enough to have the Internet connection and a computer, a tablet or a smartphone. It is already now that millions of people, from schoolchildren to pensioners, earn extra income by clicking on the buttons of their gadgets, and some have even made it their main occupation.

You can earn money by clicking on links and viewing advertising texts and videos specified in the customer's task, and get 1, 2, or even 5 dollars a day for this. About the same amount can be obtained in social media by subscribing to the pages specified by the employer, joining groups, making "reposts", "tweets", and putting "likes".

You can earn money posting videos, having created your own YouTube channel and connecting ads from Google. But keep in mind that this must be a video created by you personally, otherwise YouTube will block your channel for plagiarism. Average earnings are $1-2 per 1000 views. Another option for "enrichment" is to publish advertising texts of your customers on various online forums, at a price of $0.5 per 1 placement.

Experts can name many other ways to make money by clicking on the keyboard buttons, but all of them do not compare to the profit that can be brought by online trading in currencies, cryptocurrencies, stocks, oil or precious metals. In terms of profitability, this trade is hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of times more profitable than the revenue from viewing ads or clicks in social media. With just a hundred or two dollars, you can earn thousands, tens of thousands of dollars. Some even become millionaires, and this is an undeniable fact.

"Of course, you can earn a lot," experts will say, " but you can also lose a lot." This, of course, is true to a certain point, but "a lot" is a relative concept: for some $5 is a lot of money, and for some $10,000 is not much. It is probably more correct to determine the degree of risk by comparing the ratio of possible losses and possible profits. Here lies the most important advantage of this type of earnings as trading in financial markets: the leverage.

Leverage is the credit that the online broker that you will start working with will automatically provide you for trading, immediately and without any collateral or securities (!). Let's take such an old and proven broker as NordFX as an example. So, it provides its clients with a leverage of up to 1 to 1000. As a result, having, say, only $100 in your account, you can make transactions worth 1000 times more! That is $100,000! Accordingly, your profit will be calculated from $100,000, and you risk only a hundred dollars.

And if your account has not a hundred, but several thousand dollars, then you will already be able to manage millions, buying and selling dollars, euros, pounds, yen, and dozens of other currencies. As for trading cryptocurrencies, for example, you will only need $150 to buy Bitcoin at its current price of $6,000 with the NordFX broker.

See how profitable it is?

In addition to currencies and cryptocurrencies, NordFX clients can make transactions with gold, silver, oil, major stock indexes such as Dow Jones, SPX500, NASDAQ, etc. They can also buy and sell shares of many world leading companies, including IBM, JP Morgan Chase, Coca-Cola, Mastercard, McDonalds, Microsoft, Twitter, UBER, eBay, and many others.

And, please note, this is very, very important! Especially in the context of the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis. The NordFX client can earn not only on the growth, but also ... on the fall in the price of any of the listed assets, while not even possessing them! That is, the client can make a great profit, even if, for example, Bitcoin or the Bank of America shares collapse to zero, and Boeing turns out to be completely bankrupt.

Is it a fairy tale? No, it is 100% reality! Experts from the brokerage company NordFX Support Service  will be happy to tell you in detail how such a miracle can happen.

And in conclusion, a few words for those who, for some reason, either for the lack of time or desire, do not want or cannot trade on their own. Don't you want to? You don't need to! Others can do it for you. First, there are trading robots: special computer programs that will perform transactions completely on their own 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Secondly, you can automatically copy trades of experienced traders from all over the world to your account. And finally, third, you can invest your funds in NordFX specialized Investment Funds. It is quite possible that now is the best time for this, because, as the old exchange rule says, "you need to buy on panic, sell on euphoria", and the panic caused by COVID-19 will allow you to become a co-owner of many world giants at the best price.

Do you have any questions left? Of course, you do! You can't but have them, as the world of online trading in financial markets is limitless, just as the profit that can be obtained here is limitless. And all this without leaving your home computer. Although, some manage to cope with a smartphone while walking with their favorite pet or  during a morning jog. It is important just to start, not to miss the chance, and then, as the ancient Romans said, "Viam supervadet vadens": "The road is made by walking".

The beginning of the road is here! 

Notice: These materials are not investment recommendations or guidelines for working in financial markets and are intended for informational purposes only. Trading in financial markets is risky and can result in a complete loss of deposited funds. 

LinkedIn Offers Free Job Postings to Accelerate Hiring for Critical Roles to Fight COVID-19

Global professional network LinkedIn on Thursday said it will offer free job postings to companies in healthcare, supermarket, warehousing, freight delivery and disaster relief nonprofits to accelerate the hiring process for critical roles to fight COVID-19.

LinkedIn will be offering companies in healthcare (including medical device, medical practice and mental health care), supermarket, warehousing and freight delivery, as well as disaster relief non-profits the ability to post jobs for free on the platform from April 1 to June 30, to find and hire people needed to fill these mission critical roles.

LinkedIn will help job seekers with the right skills to quickly find open roles by promoting them on its jobs page.

Moreover, in order to help support its healthcare staffing customers, LinkedIn is offering access to 'LinkedIn Talent Insights' for three months to give our customers real-time data and insights to identify critical healthcare professionals efficiently.

Besides, LinkedIn has expanded its 'Recruiting For Good' programme to deploy its own team of recruiters to help source and screen talent for organisations on the front lines so that these organisations can fill urgent paid and volunteer positions.

"Everyday we are hearing heroic stories of how those on the frontlines are working around the clock to protect the public. It's clear, however, that more help is needed to fill the most urgent open roles.

"That is why we are bolstering our efforts to help accelerate the hiring of people with relevant skills that are most needed in India right now," Ruchee Anand, Director of Talent and Learning Solutions, India at LinkedIn said.

Anand further noted that "we are committed to continuing to identify new ways in which we can support the fight against this global pandemic."

COVID-19 to Delay Job Interviews; Impact Hiring: Experts

The overall hiring sentiment in the country is likely to witness an adverse impact in the short term with 60-65 per cent interviews getting delayed, especially in the services sector, following the slowdown across industries triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, industry experts said.

"Since the outbreak of COVID-19, companies have been cancelling interviews. We expect 60-65 per cent interviews getting dropped or delayed as there is lockdown in many parts of the country and people are encouraged to stay at home to curtail the spread of the virus," TeamLease Services Business Head –BFSI and government vertical, Amit Vadera told PTI.

This will also lead to delay in joining dates if the current situation continues, he said.

Sectors including banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), retail, logistics (delivery) where a lot of frontline-hiring takes place are likely to witness this delay, he pointed out.

More and more companies will now depend on technology as an alternate channel to continue with the same pace of productivity, he opined.

"It will be a big learning for many organisations, who will see this as a medium to improve their productivity," he added.

He said that in the short term, this will also impact the overall hiring scenario as many sectors will witness slowdown following the spread of COVID-19, however, it is too early to quantify it.

Echoing a similar view, staffing firm CIEL HR Services chief executive officer Aditya Narayan Mishra said that COVID-19 has emerged as a global challenge and "this is going to push many critical projects to slow track and impact revenues and profitability. As a result, companies will delay their hiring plans".

The results are hard to predict but are certainly disquieting and it will result in a slowdown in hiring, which is likely to be 10-15 per cent in the next quarter across all sectors especially the services industry, he said.

"We are already witnessing cancellation of personal interviews and putting backfill numbers in abeyance. These are early signs that companies are worried about the revenues and meeting their forecasts. We see a slowdown as a result of this crisis," he noted.

Job search platform Shine.com CEO Zairus Master, however, said there will be some sectors that are likely to witness an uptick in hiring due to COVID-19.

“Healthcare, of course, will lead but as people are staying indoors, e-commerce and online delivery portals should also see a gradual increase in demand. This is also an opportune time for people to upskill themselves as they have more time and fewer entertainment options,” he said.

He further noted that, though tourism sector will be affected in the short run but "we have seen in the past also, aviation and tourism has bounced back quickly and hiring resumed,” he added.

Michael Page India Managing Director Nicolas Dumoulin said there will be a slowdown in hiring in retail, hospitality, travel among others.

The impact on hiring will be minimal, but if this situation continues due to the spread of the virus it might be large.

However, Dumoulin said that technology-driven sectors are hiring and are conducting interviews through alternative channels like online, Skype.

'In fact, this has made interviews faster and convenient. Hiring of mid-level and freshers are going on. The joining of executives hired through campus recruitment may get delayed," he added. PTI SM

Homefoodi India's Biggest Women Self Employment Application

A self-employed society empowers every Household to spend more on Education and Health which increases the prosperity and Harmony of a Country. When more Households engage in self-employment opportunities, it propels the economic growth of a Nation by creating a multiplier of employment opportunities for others and an increase in quality of life for everybody. A progressive Country is the one that provides gainful self-employment that generates economic prosperity and an ability for millions of Households to deal with economic Shocks.

It is therefore important that self-employment should be considered the Biggest and Most important indicator for a prosperous economy. In a rapidly changing world of technology, it is imperative for every Leader to support technology platforms that have the ability to generate meaningful and large-scale self-employment opportunities. In Today’s World, Innovate and Collaborative Technologies are the only Solutions to create Large Scale Self Employment for every Household.

Despite considerable economic progress in India, the gap in gender participation between men and women still remains large. In other words, adding more women to the self-employment force can bring huge economic gains for the nation. A large-scale inclusion of Women for self-employment opportunities enabled through simplified technology can be the Biggest Disruption in India to evangelize Economic Prosperity.

Government of India has initiated many self-employment programmes as a policy tool to fight against poverty and social upliftment since independence. Poverty alleviation programmes are classified into self-employment, wage employment, food security and social security programme. As we have progressed as a Nation, different self-employment programmes have been introduced by GOI. 

While the Government will continue to take credible steps, Private Sector companies and Start-Up’s can make a lasting difference to Self-Employment. Homefoodi is India’s 1st Mobile Application for Home Food made by Homemakers working from Home. With a Mission of “Ghar Ghar Start-Up”, it is committed to creating India’s Largest Self Employment opportunity for Women. It’s a recognized fact that women make a lot of sacrifices by taking a leadership role in managing the House, raising children, looking after parents and/or in-laws. In doing so, a lot of women often end up becoming homemakers not by choice but because of circumstances.

Homefoodi is empowering every homemaker to turn as entrepreneurs by giving a unique platform to work and earn from home. Homefoodi was launched in Noida on Diwali 2019 with over 100 Home Chefs and in a span of just 3 months has over 200 Home Chefs. Homefoodi has already received over 1000 applications from Home Makers in Noida. As per National Restaurant Association of India, Home Chefs are a new and fast-growing category in the Indian Food Service industry. As per a research carried out by Homefoodi across the Top 10 Cities in India, it is estimated that around 10% of Homemakers are passionate about cooking but don’t have a platform for reaching out to customers. This opportunity translates to over 2Million households who can potentially become Home Chefs.

Homefoodi is aiming to have 1 Lac Home Chefs as it scales to over 10 Cities in India in the next 2 Years. Homefoodi is igniting the women entrepreneurial spirit in the country. The chef application allows every Home Chef to manage their business with the comfort of a few clicks. All Home Chefs have the freedom to decide the days of operation, timing, listing, pricing and even promotions. Homefoodi has made it extremely convenient for every woman to understand the opportunity and has robust policies to make them successful.

As a practice, Homefoodi team visits everyone at the comfort of their Home who reach out to join. All selected Home Chefs are supported to manage their business professionally by addressing all their challenges of Banking, FSSAI registration, food photography, Packaging, Delivery, online payments and lastly Marketing. Homefoodi have made strong collaborations with the support Ecosystem and have continuous workshops for all Home Chefs. Every Chef is ably supported to ensure a seamless on-boarding on the platform with adequate training to understand the market potential and leverage every opportunity.

Homewood has been very responsible in selecting Home Chefs. As a practice, Homefoodi team visits the aspiring Home chef to check for Food Tasting, Food quality, hygiene and cleanliness of their kitchen and Packaging standards. All Home Chefs are 100% FSSAI Certified. With rapid urbanization many working professionals and youth are not having a Balanced diet. They end up eating outside food that is often not fresh and sometimes un-healthy and un-hygienic. Homefoodi is making a difference towards “Healthy India” by creating something that is deeply rooted to Healthy Eating.

Homefoodi is empowering every Woman to embrace Entrepreneurship and contribute towards Nation Building.

About Homefoodi:

Homefoodi is a Mobile Application for Home Food made by Home Chefs that empowers and connects society. Based out of Noida, the company has a mission of creating “Ghar-Ghar Start-Up” with an aim to create India’s biggest self-employment opportunity for women by offering a platform to earn from home being a Home Chef. Every home chef on Homefoodi has a long history of patronizing some age-old recipes and cuisines carried forward from generations. At Homefoodi every chef has been handpicked for their exceptional culinary skills and the highest standards of cleanliness.

The company aims towards advocating initiatives like Healthy India, Women empowerment, which empowers every homemaker towards nation-building and healthy India. The screening criterion for all chefs is a comprehensive process. To deliver 100% authenticity, the Homefoodi team visits the aspiring Home Chefs to check for food tasting, food quality, hygiene and cleanliness of their kitchen and packaging standards. All Home Chefs are 100% FSSAI Certified.  

Homefoodi is a subsidiary of BLD Dine Home Private Limited, incorporated in Noida. The company has offices in Noida and Gurugram and will be available across the Top 10 Cities very soon.

For more information, kindly visit https://www.homefoodi.com

upGrad's Placement Cell Records ₹72 Lakhs Package for its Data Science programs

Leading online education company, upGrad, has set up a placement cell to assist its learners with the best in class career counselling and job assistance across India and across all learning domains. Average salary hike for an upGrad learner increased to 57% in 2019, from being at 47% a year back.

The company’s software development program recorded the highest average at 66%, followed by Data Science at 58%, Product Management at 50% and Digital Marketing at 42%. The graduated learners, who were previously in profiles like Software Testing, Software Development, Traditional Marketing, Sales and Operations, etc. are now working with some of the leading companies like HDFC Life, Facebook, IBM, Uber, Zomato, and Microsoft amongst others.

upGrad placement assistance team helps its learners with industry mentorship and career services. Programs at upGrad increase the chances of their learners to earn up to 30 times the investment they are making at formal education. The placement cell has more than 100 vacancies across India and across all learning domains at any given point of time.

upGrad Co-founder and Managing Director, Mayank Kumar said, “In today’s dynamic economy, technology is the key focus and it is very important to adapt to lifelong learning in order to stay relevant and sought-after. Being a learner-centricity education company, it’s pertinent that we help our learners realize tangible outcomes at the end of the program. Keeping this in mind, we started our in-house placement support team which provides holistic placement services like resume building, interview preparation support, salary negotiation tips and more.

"As of today, we have more than 300 corporates who have hired from upGrad’s talent pool and we plan to add 50 new companies every quarter. Within a year of setting up the team, the outcomes have been terrific - the top 20% of the transitioned learners graduated with an average hike of 177%, which is way above any industry benchmark."

Empowering professionals with the right skillsets and helping them transition towards a better career has always been the core mission for upGrad.

Founded in early 2015, upGrad offers online programs for working professionals. In a short span of around 5 years, upGrad on-boarded over 21.5K paid learners and impacted more than 370K individuals globally, making it India’s largest online higher-education company, basis gross revenue generated from the Indian market in FY18-19.

upGrad provides programs in the areas of Data Science, Technology, Management and MBA to college students, working-class and enterprises. These programs are designed and delivered in collaboration with top-notch universities like IIT Madras, IIIT-B, BITS Pilani, MICA, NMIMS Global Access, Duke CE, Liverpool John Moores University and others. To further enhance the learning experience, a comprehensive ecosystem has been built which includes one-on-one mentoring, peer-to-peer learning, industry networking and most importantly expert career guidance providing learners holistic support to elevate their careers to the next level.

The company has been awarded the title of ‘Best Tech for Education’ by IAMAI in 2019. The company received the ‘Best Education Brands’ award by Economic Times and has made it to LinkedIn’s ‘Top 25 Startups’ two years in a row in 2018 and 2019.

STEM-Related Job Postings Rise 44% in 3 Years: Report

Science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM)-related job roles have been increasing steadily in the country and have increased 44 per cent between November 2016 and November 2019, according to a report.

According to data from job site Indeed, STEM-related job roles in India are among the most promising for job seekers, as these job openings have seen consistent growth in the past three years.

Job postings have increased by an overall 44 per cent during November 2016 to November 2019, while it grew 5 per cent during November 2018 to November 2019, it added.

The data calculated for this report was based on job postings and searches on the Indeed platform from November 2016 to November 2019.

"As job postings in STEM have seen consistent growth in India over the past three years, it is promising to see job seekers take an increasing interest in these roles as well. With advancements in several areas of science and technology such as robotics, the internet of things (IoT), there is likely to be demand for tech talent across sectors," Venkata Machavarapu, head of engineering, India and Site Director at Indeed India, said.

The Indeed data further showed that Delhi led the way for STEM jobs with 31 per cent of overall postings among metros, followed by Mumbai (21 per cent), Bengaluru (14 per cent), Pune (12 per cent), Hyderabad (12 per cent) and Chennai (10 per cent).

However, in terms of regions, the western region has beaten the rest of the country to the top spot, with 34 per cent of all postings from this region.

The northern and southern regions came in at a close second with 31 per cent of postings from each of these regions. The east accounted for only 4 per cent of all STEM job postings, the report added. It said developers are highly in demand in the STEM sector.

The top five roles in demand in the sector are software engineer, php developer, .net developer, android developer and full stack developer, it added.

The demand for talent in STEM is in line with the interests of Indian job seekers as the roles of software engineer, php developer, .net developer, and android developer are also among the most searched titles for STEM jobs by people in India, the Indeed report added.

Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals and Automobiles are Best Sectors to Work For

Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals and Automobiles were cited as the best sectors to work for in JobBuzz Workplace Index August 2018 edition - a monthly ranking to identify which sector offers the best work environment. This ranking is based on employee reviews among top 10 sectors on four parameters which includes - work-life balance, salary, career growth and work culture.

Indian Inc employees adjudged Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals sector as the best sector to work for in July 2018, revealed JobBuzz Workplace Index August edition. The index is the monthly compilation of employee reviews and ratings for various industrial sectors. Every month JobBuzz Workplace Index highlights the sectors which are clicking with the employees – this is a crucial insight for new-age employers.

Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals captured the first place in August 2018 from the sixth place in July 2018. Automobiles sector failed to achieve the first place only due to low rating in the work-life balance parameter.

Healthcare sector was an obvious winner, based on many sector-friendly announcements and general health scheme – Ayushman Bharat – initiated by the Union Government.

As per the JobBuzz August 2018 report, the Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals industry excelled in terms of salary, work-life balance, work culture and career growth during the review month. During the same period, the Manufacturing industry grabbed the third position in the overall ratings given by employees.

With an employee rating of 69% each, the Consumer Durables industry was the best paymaster compared to the Infrastructure industry. After maintaining its position in the top five spots in the past three months, Hospitality sector slipped down to the last position in August 2018.

"The Indian Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals industry is buoyant, backed by government initiatives and innovations by tech-led healthcare startups. Healthcare is becoming one of the largest sectors - both in terms of revenue and employment. The sector is growing at a brisk pace due to its services and increasing expenditure by the public as well as private entities. Along with employment creation, the industry is also focusing on building happier workplaces for its employees," said Sanjay Goyal, Head of Product and Technology, TimesJobs and JobBuzz.

[Unedited content via Business Wire India]

Cryptocurrency Jobs in India Rises Despite Govt's Warning on Bitcoin

Despite regulatory uncertainty and government's warning over cryptocurrencies, the number of job postings related to cryptocurrency and blockchain has increased by 290%, along with its job searches containing crypto related keywords which have risen by 52%, reported Times of India.

The trend was reported by the Indian branch of the global job site Indeed. Describing it as a promising and exciting field of work, the Managing Director of Indeed India, Sashi Kumar, noted the sector was still in a very nascent stage.

He said that the global market for blockchain related products and services is expected to reach $7.7 billion in 2022. The expert believes this is “indicative of even more jobs being created in the future.”

The report further stated that as of September 2017, there were around 15 million blockchain wallet users worldwide, an estimated 1.5 million of these users based in India, with 200,000 users being added each month globally.

"Despite the Finance Minister's recent announcement at the Annual Budget 2018 that cryptocurrencies are not to be considered legal tender in India, with the government's proactive approach towards understanding and exploring the possible applications of blockchain technology, India can look forward to a truly digital economy," the report said.

Crypto freelancers can ask for as much as £215 per hour for their services meaning that with 40 hours a week their monthly earning would exceed the annual return of most employees in the service industry.

The rise in cryptocurrency related jobs is not limited to India but can be witnessed in rest of the world. According to a report by CNBC, Bitcoin-related jobs are the fastest growing category of role at Freelancer.com, an international employment marketplace.

Another web-based employment search site, AngelList, also agrees with the exponential growth in cryptocurrency jobs, stating, “Money is pouring into cryptocurrency startups. From the Angel List data we looked at, in the first half of 2017 alone there was more money invested in cryptocurrency startups than in all of 2016 combined.”

Few days back, the acting secretary of the department of economic affairs stated that the Indian government will have a more concrete set of crypto regulations in place by the end of March. It’s not yet clear exactly what the regulations will entail, but statements by Indian government officials have nodded toward the need for measures to enforce KYC and AML on exchanges and other crypto firms.

Earlier, India’s income tax department has issued 100,000 tax notices to cryptocurrency investors in the country, in sign of a government crackdown on the use of the cryptocurrencies.

Prior to that, nationwide survey in India has revealed that in last 17 months of period, people in the country have invested in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies worth whopping US $3.5 billion.

Are You Leaving Your Current Employer For A Startup? Here's What You Need To Know

So, you want to start your own business? If you think it will be easy, remember: Entrepreneurship is a long-term process that requires a lot of time, effort, and hard work. So, if you are leaving your current employer for a startup, here are some of the things that you need to do to make it happen -

1. Brainstorm ideas- A business starts with an idea. Maybe you’re passionate about something or there is a gap in the marketplace which you want to fill. Wherever your interests lie, one thing is sure, there is a way to turn it into a business. Once you’ve narrowed down your list of ideas to two or three options, do a quick research on companies working in your chosen area. If you think that your company can give something which the present companies are not giving or can give goods and services at cheaper rates, you’ve got a solid idea and now you can create a business plan.



2. Have a business plan- Now when you have an idea in your place, the next is to ask yourself some other important questions like what is the objective behind starting your business? How will you finance your startup ?. It is possible to answer all these questions in a well-drafted business plan. A good business plan will help you know where your company is going and how it will overcome roadblocks on the path to success.



3. Have a clear idea of your finances- To start any business, you need to find out how you are going to cover those expenses. Do you have any means to fund your startup or will you set up your business in partnership? If you have a plan to make your start-up your full-time job, it is wise to wait until you have some funds to deal with costs.



4. Decide your legal business structure- Before you register your company, it is necessary to know what kind of entity it is. Your business structure will decide how you will file your tax and other personal liabilities as well, if something goes wrong. If you are the only owner of the business, you can register yourself as a sole proprietorship, otherwise you will have to register your company as a partnership if there are more than one owner. It also includes registering yourself with the government. Every corporation will need an ‘Article of Association’ and ‘Memorandum of Association’ documents which have details like business name, purpose, corporate structure, etc.



5. Build your team- Unless, you want it to be a one-man army, you will need to hire a good team to achieve success in your business. Defining roles, responsibilities, and division of labour will save you a lot of headache down the line.



6. Buy insurance policies- Though, you might think to neglect this point as buying insurance may seem like an extra expense, however, buying the right insurance policy is imperative for the success of your business. Expenses like property damage, theft or even a customer lawsuit are some of the unforeseen circumstances which can hamper your company’s growth, and therefore, it is necessary to have a proper shield against such events. You can go with a professional liability insurance in case of a sole proprietorship as it will protect you in case the other party suffers financial or emotional losses due to your products or services. Similarly, if your start-up has some employees and partners, you should buy a workmen compensation insurance policy and group health insurance policy. A workers’ compensation policy will offer you legal liability coverage against accidents involving your workers during employment. If earlier you were covered under a group health insurance policy offered by your previous employer, you can get it converted into an individual mediclaim policy as well. In any case, you can buy a new group health insurance policy for your employees and partners to deal with medical costs.



7. Start advertising- Even before you start selling your products or services, it is necessary to build up your brand and let people know about it. Create a logo with a catchy tagline that easily relates to people and displays your business objective. You can leverage the power of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc.; to advertise your company. The objective is first to let people know about your company so that you can easily find buyers when you launch your products/services in the market.

Undeniably, starting a business can be challenging, but backed with proper tool and information, you can achieve success. All the Best!

This Chennai Startup is Creating Job Opportunities for Transgenders in India

A Chennai-based startup called Peri Ferry is on a mission to push for inclusivity in the Indian workspace. Even though India is considered as a fairly inclusive nation with numerous cultures and languages living together peacefully, but when it comes to transgenders and transsexuals, they still face a hard time adjusting in the society and earn a respectable living.

Peri Ferry helps transgenders and inclusive companies find each other. While there are several non-profit organisations working for transgender welfare in India, the Chennai-based non-profit has been successful in penetrating all networks in a very short period of time. This is mainly because the startup has best interest of their candidates at their heart and makes sure that they get a job in a field of their liking.

What Does Peri Ferry Do?

• They act as equal opportunity job consultants for Transgenders and Transsexuals and provide them with alternative job solutions.

• They aim to access the untapped talent pool in the Indian subcontinent, and bridge the gap between an inclusive employer and a deserving candidate. They work towards widening the viewpoints and perspectives that a majority workplaces might predominantly have in India regarding employing transgenders and transsexuals.

How Do They Do This?

The social enterprise basically runs on two fronts:

• LGBTIQ+ sensitisation training for an equal and gender diverse workplace.

• Placement programs for Transgenders & Transsexuals

About The Founder

Neelam Jain, Founder and CEO, Peri Ferry, started the platform while working at Goldman Sachs. During one of the internal competitions there, Jain was required to come up with an idea for an initiative which would have a social impact. This is when she came with an idea of an inclusive workplace focusing on the Transgenders community. After an year of brainstorming and improving on her basic idea, Peri Ferry was born in April this year. The company is currently running from a co-working space in Mylapore.

Talking to New India Express about how they're helping Transgenders community, Neelam Jain said, “We target companies that have about 30 employees as it’s easier to sensitise smaller workspaces. We particularly encourage young transgenders because the number of educated candidates is highest in the 18-28 age group."

The startup believes that while education is important, interviews are also important and much harder to prepare. Therefore, they have a in-house soft skills trainer to prep up the candidates for their interviews. After providing training, they map the candidates with a prospective employer.

The startup hasn't received any external funding as of now, and is running on savings.

[Top Image: Udayavani]