The Great Indian Fish Market: Why Employers Struggle to Hire in a Nation of 1.4 Billion

Step into any bustling Indian fish market, and you’re immediately hit by the chaos—vendors shouting prices, buyers bargaining hard, and an overwhelming sea of options. But amid the frenzy, if you’re looking for the freshest catch, it takes an expert eye, immense patience, and usually a bit of luck.

Now imagine hiring talent in today’s India. Sounds familiar?

In a country with over 1.4 billion people—the largest population in the world—it seems absurd that companies are struggling to find people. Not just people, but the right people. The paradox is glaring: there are resumes in abundance, interviews lined up, campuses brimming with graduates—yet employers are left saying, “We just can’t find anyone good enough.”

From Growing Talent to Buying It Off the Shelf

There was a time when companies proudly built people. New hires were seen as raw clay to be molded—interns became team leaders, management trainees evolved into CXOs. Organizations invested in people like farmers sowing for the long term.

But then came the age of speed—startups needing instant scale, MNCs looking to plug gaps overnight, and the “zero to 100” culture of VC-funded growth. This led to a dangerous shift: from talent development to talent acquisition.

The logic became simple: why train when you can poach?

We moved from nurturing people to hunting them. Like buyers in a fish market, recruiters began bidding for ready-made candidates who appeared polished and ‘market-ready’. But just like the fish market—what looks shiny isn’t always fresh. And what’s fresh often gets overlooked in the noise.

Job Portals: The Illusion of Readiness

Add to this the rise of job platforms like LinkedIn, Naukri, Indeed, and apna—all of which have made job applications as easy as shopping online. Today, a candidate can apply to 50 jobs in 10 minutes. With one click, resumes fly into employer inboxes. It feels efficient.

But here’s the catch—it’s a false sense of readiness.

Just because a candidate applied doesn’t mean they’re qualified, interested, or prepared. These platforms have created a volume illusion for both candidates and employers:

• For candidates, the ease of applying gives a sense of momentum, even if no interview calls come in.
• For employers, the flood of applications feels like abundance—but most profiles don’t match the JD, the intent, or the cultural fit.

This low-effort application behavior leads to “ghosting,” irrelevant interviews, and misaligned expectations. Hiring has become like skimming through noisy product reviews on an e-commerce site—too much noise, too little substance.

Campus Placements: The CTC Circus

If hiring is a fish market, campuses are now auction houses. Many educational institutions have turned placements into a PR campaign—CTC numbers are marketed like jackpot lottery wins.

“Highest package ₹42 LPA!”

“100% placement achieved!”

“Top companies visited campus!”

What’s left unsaid is that these numbers often represent the top 1–2% of students. The rest are quietly placed at ₹3–4 LPA, or worse, still jobless. But the illusion has been sold. Students walk out with bloated expectations and thin skill sets. Reality slaps hard in the first six months on the job.

The Real Cost of the Paradox

The chaos isn’t just inconvenient—it’s expensive. I’ve worked with organizations where:

• Projects are stalled because manpower isn’t deployable.
• Sales suffer due to a lack of customer-facing readiness.
• Managers spend 40% of their time firefighting poor performance instead of building teams.

And yet, we sit on the largest pool of youth globally.

It’s not a people problem. It’s a preparation problem.

We’re shopping for talent in a crowded market where very little is ready to serve, yet plenty is shouting to be picked.

What’s the Way Forward?

The solution is simple, but not easy. It needs all three parties—employers, educators, and employees – to reset.

Employers must…

• Rebuild the culture of training and mentorship.
• Start campus-to-corporate transition programs that last beyond orientation day.
• Hire for attitude, train for skill.

Education institutions must…

• Stop chasing placement numbers and start investing in practical learning.
• Build industry partnerships not just for jobs, but for curriculum co-creation.
• Promote outcome-based education: problem solving, communication, ownership.

Students must…

• Avoid falling for CTC hype—look for learning opportunities.
• Focus on long-term growth, not just first job glam.
• Get their hands dirty—intern, volunteer, shadow leaders.

Conclusion: Beyond the Bazaar

India doesn’t lack people. It lacks people who are industry-ready, emotionally intelligent, and eager to grow. The Great Indian Fish Market will continue to buzz. But unless we start looking beyond the surface—beyond CTCs, keywords, and job portal one-clicks—we’ll keep walking away empty-handed.

As a business coach and someone who has mentored thousands of professionals, I say this with conviction:

Stop fishing for the perfect hire. Start farming the perfect fit.

Because the future belongs not to those who shout the loudest in the market—but to those who prepare the quietest in the background.