Staffing firm Quess Corp's FY26 Pulse Report, released on 19 August 2026, found that India's organised employment market is shrinking for freshers even as overall hiring activity grows. Employers are increasingly favouring candidates with four to ten years of experience, according to the report.
The shift is most visible in India's global capability centre (GCC) segment. The share of fresher hiring in GCCs fell to 15 per cent in 2025, down from 28 per cent in 2024, as companies sought what the report described as specialised and deployment-ready talent. This happened even as GCC hiring overall accelerated, with India's more than 2,100 GCCs posting 12–14 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth in Q4FY26, up from 4–6 per cent growth in Q3FY26.
Short job tenures are compounding the pressure. Quess data showed workers aged 15–29 had a median tenure of 13 months, compared with 20 months for workers aged 30–60. The report noted that replacement hiring now accounts for nearly 40 per cent of hiring demand among Gen Z talent, driven by average tenure dropping below 24 months.
The broader labour market picture adds further context. Urban youth unemployment stood at 14.1 per cent, well above the overall unemployment rate of 9.9 per cent. Among those aged 15–29, the labour force participation rate was 46 per cent, and the worker population ratio was 41.5 per cent. Female youth participation was structurally lower, with female youth labour force participation at 27.5 per cent compared with 64 per cent for males.
The Quess findings point to a market where volume hiring of fresh graduates is giving way to selective recruitment weighted towards proven, role-ready candidates, a dynamic that raises the bar for anyone entering the workforce for the first time.
