Job seekers’ searches for remote work have increased by over 261%, as a share of all searches, on Indeed India, since February 2020.

Indeed, which claims to be the world’s number one job search engine, with presence across 60 geographies, says job seekers are increasingly searching for terms like ‘remote’, ‘work from home’ and related categories in the last two months.

“Our data shows that searches for remote work have increased by over 261% as a share of all searches, on Indeed India since February, indicating a clear surge in search for flexible jobs that can be done remotely or from home. Overall, job searches have increased by 278% on Indeed between September 2019 and March 2020,” said Sashi Kumar, MD, Indeed India.

Even as the job market slows down in the wake of a global pandemic, essential services continue to drive demand, such as in the medical and public health fields. Despite the temporary slump in the sector, healthcare continues to be one of the foremost drivers of the nation’s economic growth.

As per Indeed, job seekers in India have shown greater interest in working in healthcare over the course of the past year (February 2019 to March 2020), with the number of job searches seeing an increase of 5% during this period. Bengaluru holds the largest share of jobs in healthcare nationally, with 10% of all medical jobs located in the city. It is followed by Mumbai and New Delhi, both with 8% of all medical jobs in the country, and Chennai and Hyderabad, with 7% and 5% of the same respectively.

Job postings for online tutoring and e-learning have also seen an increase of 71%. This could be attributed to the advancement of digital media which has opened newer avenues to roles such as online tutors and e-educators.

“The number of job postings for these roles have seen an increase of 8% in the last one year (2019-20) alone, with a surge of 3% in the number of postings for online tutoring and e-learning in the last three months (Jan.-March 2020). This could be a consequence of the shift to online classes, expedited by the current COVID-19 lockdown,” noted Mr. Kumar.

Even as the world is grappling with the pandemic, resilience is being displayed by many employers who are exploring new ways to ensure their workforce is able to function seamlessly and continue the business. A survey by Indeed highlights that overall 64% of Indian businesses are ready or getting ready to deal with the pandemic.

Businesses are adapting by leveraging collaboration technology to ensure uninterrupted work and developing new policies as the situation evolves to make remote working effective and efficient. The gig economy is best prepared, with 83% of businesses emphasizing their contingency plan includes frequent communication protocols and technological infrastructure to ensure seamless remote working, as per Indeed study.

“In these challenging times, it is critical for job seekers to be focused and know how to optimise their searches to get faster and better results,” Mr. Kumar added.