The scenario in the past few months resonated with apprehensions and despondency for India’s young graduates and skilled professionals. This bleak outlook of the nation’s economy was expected with industries opting for downsizing, salary cuts, and some completely shutting off their partner companies. However, the present times spark a ray of hope as we gradually tread forward in the different phases of unlocking. Dynamics of industries, businesses, and most importantly the start-ups have undergone a sea change. Our government has shown belief in promoting entrepreneurship for the betterment of the local economy and increased job opportunities. As a result, the ecosystem of hiring and jobs around presents unique opportunities.
Real estate like every other business faced similar challenges due to restrained mobility and disruption in the value chain. The need for adapting to the standards of new normal was inevitable; developers and realty firms showed increased interest in getting technologically upgraded. Redistribution, restructuring, and upskilling were the major themes applicable for the realty to further strengthen itself as a sector ready to tackle challenges of the new normal.
The intervention of digital tools led to the creation of new avenues, as a sector like real estate must hold to its traditional values of property buying and selling, but must also be flexible enough to accommodate professionals with a knack for rapidly changing industry standards. Virtual tours, AI-based property searches, home automation, cloud computing, etc, paved the way for the IT-based job roles and skilled professionals willing to be flexible. Undoubtedly, these newer profiles are going to be demanding, as they would be expecting something more than the run-of-the-mill strategies. The ability to gauge market risks and opportunities would be a fundamental skill in demand.
As per a report by Housing.com and NAREDCO, titled ‘Concerned, Yet Positive – Real Estate Consumer Sentiment Survey (April – May 2020)‘, the real estate consumer is confident of his income for the coming six months, also property investment is still preferred more when it comes to making a worthwhile form of investment (35%) followed by gold (28%) and fixed deposits (22%). This justifies the fact that it is only a matter of time for real estate to bounce back and come closer to the Pre-COVID levels.
End-users are drawing in due to lower home loan interest rates, relaxations in stamp duty, and flexible payment plans offered by developers. Apart from this, building a career in real estate widens the knowledge horizon of a professional towards multiple associated sectors like retail, construction, corporate and legal affairs, brands & event promotions, finance, and banking, etc. This indeed proves to be a valuable addition for the future.
The jobs are not just limited to the IT domain, sales & marketing roles also present equally lucrative options for ethical individuals who can bring out-of-the-box ideas to the table, have a stronghold in customer relationship management, display persistence when it comes to convincing, and equally sensitive about the emotional value of customers attached upon entering a property agreement.
The need for better and organized living is all the more rising due to COVID determining our living, hygiene, working, and socialising standards. This has inflicted change in the already laid out thought-processes of decision-makers and leaders. Therefore, the search for employees who are ready to adapt and adjust as per the changing technology, innovations, and market conditions will be marked as an asset as compared to the ones who are unable to upscale their abilities.
