This has been prompted by the need for innovation and technology transformation in the current economic environment to stay ahead of competition, their HR heads told ET.
Most of these companies are also working towards increasing the number of women in STEM to improve gender diversity scorecard.
Aon India, a global professional services firm that also tracks talent and HR trends, also concurred. “STEM talent will continue to find place in other sectors (besides IT services) even though there is a slowdown in the tech sector,” Roopank Chaudhary, partner at Aon India, told ET. “These skills are being sought by non-tech sectors and, hence, we don’t see a lull in hiring for STEM talent.” Most STEM hiring is taking place at entry level.
Amrita Padda, chief people officer at Bharti Airtel, said, “This year, we are considering hiring more STEM talent, especially those from strong science and mathematics backgrounds. In the coming quarters, STEM talent hiring is going to increase.”
Adjusting to Economic Environment
Airtel is hiring this talent to build data capabilities, especially in data analysis teams, Padda said.
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With the evolving economic context and increasing need for businesses to innovate and leverage technology to sustain market leadership, STEM talent has a pivotal role to play, said Pavitra Singh, chief human resources officer, PepsiCo India. “However, there is a huge diversity talent gap,” she said.In 2021, PepsiCo India created the Supply Chain Mavericks programme to hire female engineering graduates. Going forward, PepsiCo will continue hiring STEM talent, particularly for supply chain and R&D functions, Singh said.
Nasdaq-listed travel service provider MakeMyTrip, visited the Indian Statistical Institute and colleges in Delhi University for the first time in 2022, in addition to engineering colleges, for its STEM recruitment. It will continue this trend this year, according to Yuvaraj Srivastava, group chief human resource officer.
“STEM talent brings in scientific and analytical temperament to the table and it is quite critical for a company like ours to have talent from diverse streams and mindset,” he said.
Flipkart is also hiring STEM talent for analytics, data sciences and supply chain teams. “We remain focused on encouraging growth opportunities for STEM talent across the ecosystem and look forward to growing our teams in the years ahead,” said Krishna Raghavan, chief people officer, Flipkart.
Diversity Matters
In 2022, Mastercard’s India recruitment numbers were nearly 50% more year-on-year and now, its tech hub is currently the largest outside the US. “It is well on its way to becoming the largest tech hub in the world soon,” said Joseph Fernandes, senior vice-president, South Asia, at Mastercard.
Mastercard has close to 33% of women in the workforce in India. “We’re working proactively to build a more gender-balanced workforce,” said Fernandes.
Uber is currently hiring STEM professionals — from entry-level to senior leadership positions —across engineering, product, data science, design and tech programme management. “In 2022, we saw a 20% increase in our hiring from the previous year and continue to see the investment and demand within Uber for STEM professionals,” said an Uber spokesperson in an emailed response.
EY, too, has been hiring diverse talent from leading engineering campuses. “Our ongoing endeavour is to stay invested in attracting and developing STEM talent for diverse roles within the organisation,” said Sandeep Kohli, talent leader, EY.
Demand for STEM talent is also high and growing at rival Deloitte, according to SV Nathan, partner and chief talent officer. “Women in STEM are often starved of role models. Through various touchpoints, we’re highlighting stories of our women in fields like cyber, cloud, and AI, so both prospective candidates and existing women professionals get the confidence,” said Nathan.
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