Nasscom launches new portal to bridge skill gap in tech sector

To bridge the gap between recruiters and digitally skilled and certified IT professionals, National Association of Software Services Companies (Nasscom) on Wednesday, officially launched the Talent Connect portal. 

The platform will serve as an exclusive portal for enterprises looking to hire digitally skilled and certified industry-ready talent for both IT and non-IT sectors. The platform also enables IT professionals with career breaks to enter the workforce, Nasscom said in a statement. 

The portal currently features a talent pool of over 1.5 lakh skilled and certified individuals available for immediate recruitment. Nasscom expects this number to reach 5 lakh within the next six months. The portal's launch phase has garnered considerable traction, featuring 30,000-plus live job opportunities from over 15 prominent tech companies, including giants like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tech Mahindra, Salesforce, as well as startups and established tech firms.  

“The main motivation for the creation of the portal was the skill shortage we are seeing. We also see that the lifespan of a skill is getting shorter and companies are also saying that they need access to a better talent pool. Because skill sets are shifting fast they are also finding it difficult to keep on training employees,” said Kirti Seth, CEO, sector skill council (SSC) Nasscom. 

Almost 80% of the learner base on the portal is coming from tier 2 & 3 cities. The portal also makes use of AI to match the skills of the candidate to the jobs that are available. “We are doing a lot more to capture demand from companies to actually post active jobs on the portal. Earlier we would upload individual details, but now this can be done by individuals on their own,” added Seth. 

The portal focuses on two segments of skilling—core IT skills and emerging tech skills. Core IT skills cater to work profiles such as customer care executives, help desk roles, data entry etc. The emerging tech skills focus on the latest full stack tech capabilities, programming skills like Java, Python etc, data scientists and cyber security expertise. 

The platform integrates gamification algorithms, which will alert and act as motivators for candidates so that they complete their certification. Additionally, the platform employs an AI recommendation engine in an attempt to enhance the matchmaking process based on skills and job requirements. 

Nasscom said, in the coming months, the portal will extend its scope to include learners seeking gig jobs and employers seeking gig workers, aligning with the evolving preferences in the job market. 

Nasscom’s new portal was launched at a time the IT industry is struggling with skills shortage especially in areas like AI/ML, big data analytics, internet of things (IoT) and cloud computing. 

A report by staffing firm Teamlease published in February, also highlighted that India will need 30 million digitally skilled professionals by 2026. The report further said that at least 50% of the current workforce should re-skill themselves digital technologies, primarily, to bridge the skills gap. 

Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder and executive director, TeamLease Services and CEO of TeamLease Digital, said that over two million jobs in AI, cyber-security and blockchain are expected to remain unfilled in 2023. Additionally, the workplace is evolving so rapidly that 76% of the global workforce is not equipped with the requisite skills to function in the new digitally focused workplaces, she said.