Fresher hiring intent jumps in first half of 2025 as employers plan to recruit
Fresher hiring sentiment in the information technology (IT) industry, which had dipped during the same period last year, has been steadily rising—from 42% in H1 2024 to 45% in H2 2024, reaching 59% in H1 2025.
Around 74% of employers surveyed across India plan to hire freshers in their organisations during the first half of 2025 (January to June), signaling a positive shift in hiring sentiment for first-time job seekers.
Fresher hiring intent in the first half of 2025 (H1 2025)—which represents the proportion of employers willing to recruit fresh graduates—has increased from 68% in the same period of 2024, according to the TeamLease EdTech Career Outlook Report (HY1, January – June 2025).
The report is based on employer surveys conducted between October and December 2024, covering 649 employers across India.
“Hiring intent is improving, indicating that a large number of employers are looking to improve the talent base at the bottom of the pyramid,” Shantanu Rooj, Founder and CEO of TeamLease EdTech, told YourStory.
He added that the trends mirror the industries experiencing rapid growth in the country.
“Industries like ecommerce are booming in this country. Ecommerce includes companies like quick commerce, and the associated industries,” Rooj noted, adding that this would push logistics as one of the byproducts that will suddenly start booming.
“Ecommerce is an industry, and tech startups are obviously a great thing to do in this country at this point in time. Manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, healthcare, and pharma—all of these industries want to hire freshers,” the TeamLease's EdTech chief stated.
The top three industries expressing increased intent to hire freshers during H1 2025, compared to H1 2024 are: ecommerce and technology startups, rising to 70% from 55%; manufacturing, climbing to 66% from 48%; and engineering and infrastructure, jumping to 62% from 53%.
Meanwhile, fresher hiring sentiment in the information technology (IT) industry, which had dipped during the same period last year, has been steadily rising—from 42% in H1 2024 to 45% in H2 2024, reaching 59% in H1 2025.
India’s IT industry is set to witness a surge in fresher hiring, with over 150,000 entry-level roles projected as leading IT firms expand recruitment to meet growing project demands.
“An interesting thing to note is the type of job roles they want to hire for. There are new job roles that have started emerging,” shared Rooj.
The most sought-after roles for freshers, spanning various cities and industries, include positions such as AI and machine learning engineer, user experience (UX) designer, cybersecurity analyst, data engineer, financial equity analyst, junior software developer, cloud engineer, influencer marketing executive, drone expert, prompt engineer, sustainability analyst, and robotics system engineer.
The career outlook report highlights the in-demand domain skills for freshers, including network security, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning, data science, robotic process automation, ecommerce management, and biotechnology.
Employers also value soft skills such as computational thinking, emotional intelligence, analytic reasoning, team collaboration, conflict management, and critical thinking.
“The larger part of employers are looking for kids who excel in soft skills. They have things like computational thinking, they can think critically, and they have teamwork. Some of these skills may seem like common sense, but they actually make people more resilient,” Rooj explained.
“Today when freshers start thinking about what to do and which jobs to take. Our message to students is simple: don’t focus on just choosing a job—focus on ensuring you don’t become obsolete,” he pointed out.
Edited by Jyoti Narayan