BENGALURU: April 2013 witnessed a growth in job and recruitment demand for professionals in the fields of marketing & advertising, entertainment/ media and sales/ business development, says a TimesJobs.com Recruitment Index.

The demand index recorded a 1 per cent growth in April over March, marking a positive beginning of the Q2 2013, highlights RecruiteX, TimesJobs.com Recruitment Index. On a year-on-year comparison, the demand index rose by 4 points in April 2013 (94 points) over April 2012 (91 points), registering an annual growth of 4.3 per cent.

"The Indian job market is still restrained. However, the positive beginning of Q2 hints towards signs of revival. We are hopeful of a sustainable growth trend across industries in coming months," said TimesJobs.com senior VP and business head Amit Jain.

In April, the IT/telecom industry exhibited the strongest demand, with a 12 per cent growth on month-over-month basis, among top 10 industries. Healthcare/ biotechnology/ pharmaceutical (5 per cent) and entertainment/ media (5 per cent) sector also performed well during the month, by registering single-digit growth in demand.

Whereas, high-demand sectors such as ITeS, consumer durables/ FMCG, projects/ infrastructure, construction/ cement, projects & infrastructure and BFSI recorded a dip in demand in April 2013 over March 2013.

Similar to industry-wise analysis, demand for talent was highest for IT/ telecom (17 per cent) professionals in April 2013. Demand for professionals in Marketing & Advertising, Entertainment/Media and Sales/ Business Development domain moved up by 10 per cent, 8 per cent and 6 per cent respectively during the month. Whereas, functional areas such as customer service/tele calling (0 per cent), front office/administration (-1 per cent) and accounting/finance (1 per cent) witnessed zero to negative movement in hiring activity in April 2013.

Among metros, Hyderabad (10 per cent) recorded the maximum rise in hiring activity during the month, followed by Pune (7 per cent) and Mumbai (2 per cent); in April 2013, top performing locations of March 2013 such as Bengaluru (-1 per cent) and Delhi NCR (-2 per cent) reported a dull to negative demand scenario. In state-wise analysis, rest of Gujarat (except Ahemdabad and Vadodra) (31 per cent) and rest of Maharashtra (except Mumbai and Pune) (19 per cent) region reported double-digit growth in hiring activity.

Job-seekers with 0-2 years of experience (5 per cent) and 2-5 years experience (1 per cent) were most in-demand in the experience category in April 2013; in experience-wise analysis, candidates with 5-10 years of experience (-4 per cent), 10-20 years of experience (-3 per cent) and over 20 years of experience (-10 per cent) reported a decline in demand index during the period.

Similar to the demand pattern, the supply index moved up from 200 points in March 2013 to 216 points in April 2013, indicating an increase in job-seeking activity post-appraisal season.