It’s still not too late to be abreast with the trends the staffing industry is moving ahead with. The year is just a quarter away to be over, yet these trends are still dominant.

A recent job outlook survey by Times Jobs reveals that hiring in India is likely to go by seven percent. Looking back to December 2014, the staffing sector has already grown by 25%. This growth is fueled by IT and the manufacturing sectors especially those using Government initiatives, “The Digital India” and “Make in India.” According to the survey IT and manufacturing were the largest generators of employment in 2016.

Leading the way in recruiting were the IT, hardware and software businesses with a sharp annual 77 percent growth. Within this sector the ecommerce biz has grown by 23 percent. Compared to the last year, the demand for senior management positions had spiked by 81 percent. And just in one month: between December 15 and January 16, the growth has been 33 percent.

HR personnel forecast pay hikes in tune of 12-15 percent across several sectors. And the best talent can expect hike up to 30 percent.

Three key trends surfacing in 2016 are: Employee retention, Employee referrals and Branding.

Employee Retention

The benchmark for many organizations in India today is employee turnover making employee retention a top priority. In 2016, the hiring budget has dropped and the hiring volume has remained constant when compared to the past and this forces the staffing firms to manage more with less.

Employee Referrals

When it comes to quality hiring, employee referrals are proving to be game changers. This year the corporate India is leveraging employee connections like never before. When compared to the global average of 39%, India is miles ahead in milking employee referrals efficiently with a whopping 65%. The concrete relationships with employees and their networks is neatly netting in quality hires for organizations. About 41 percent of the organizations polled say employee referrals is long term and here to stay.

Branding

Lastly, recruiting firms woke up to the power of branding in building business development and hiring great talent. They are investing more into branding in 2016. A strong emphasis on marketing is powering the talent brand excellence and providing the much needed competitive edge to the staffing firms. There is a growing trend now in understanding and measuring employer brand.

It has sunk into the psyche of the staffing firms the significance a brand can play in growing the business. The understanding of the brand strength across different talent populations and the brand relative to the competition has deepened for many. And, the ability of the brand to engage talent has led to a significant increase in employee retention and employee referrals.

Employing social networks as tools to enhance branding, the organizations are declaring their priority for branding by underling unified strategies rather than yesteryear’s scatter brain approach.

As always, relationships are the key to growth. Indian staffing firms are riding the bandwagon of social networks, employment branding and employment referral programs as power tools to source talent.