apna.co: Unlocking India’s potential through Women Workforce

Mumbai, India: Despite the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, women’s representation has improved significantly in the workforce. The year 2021 brought a massive transformation, reflects apna.co – India’s largest jobs and professional networking platform. With around 5 million female users, apna has recorded trends that are encouraging and highlight the shifting dynamics of India’s rising workforce.

apna has witnessed a massive 430% increase in female users in 2021. According to apna, this percentage will continue to grow in 2022. Cities such as Pune, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad noted a significant rise in women users on the platform. Maximum female content creators on apna communities hail from metros such as Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.

The pandemic and its subsequent work-from-home regime created avenues for women to join the workforce. Female users also showed an inclination towards building professional networks and invested their time towards the same. apna became a safe space for them to have professional conversations and interact with industry peers. Women have been actively engaging in apna communities on government, business, learning languages, tele-caller, back-office jobs, teacher, computer/data entry, beauticians, lab technicians, and cooking.

As per data from apna, there was a 12X increase in women interviewing on its platform in comparison to last year. In fact, on average women are interviewed at least 8 times a month – 33% more times than men. This highlights the accelerated intent in women to apply for more jobs. They are not only joining the workforce but also taking up unconventional jobs and breaking barriers created centuries ago.

With easily available and verified hyperlocal opportunities, mentorship programs, and upskilling courses, apna became a default choice for India’s women workforce. Interestingly, 39% of the female users on apna.co are 12th pass or lower and rely on apna to find jobs and build their professional network. The platform is empowering millions of women by helping them find a career in around 70 categories.

More popular roles on apna included tele-callers and BPO, back office, receptionist, front office, teacher, accounts, finance, admin, office assistant, and data entry operators. Unlike last year, apna also recorded a rise in women applying for various non-traditional roles, including delivery partners, security guards, lab technicians, fitness trainers, and drivers to name a few.

Talking about these trends, Manas Singh, Chief Business Officer – apna.co: “According to a recent report from IMF, reaching gender parity would boost India’s GDP by as much as 27%. Similarly, the World Bank reports that India’s GDP growth rate will climb above 9% if women have an equitable share of jobs and the nation can boost its growth by 1.5 percentage points per year if just 50% of women join the workforce. While we still have a long way to go, the 2021 Women Workforce data by apna is encouraging and signifies an upward graph in their participation. Through the mission of #AcceleratingIndia, we will continue empowering our female users and building a trusted platform for them to find relevant job opportunities.”

Other interesting trends of women users apna witnessed in 2021

• Women engaged in 48 million professional conversations during this year.
• 56% of these conversations were by women from Tier-I cities, the rest in Tier-II markets.
• Top companies posting the maximum women-only jobs: Urban Company, Lakme, Zomato, Motherhood India Hospitals, Fortis.
• Maximum women-only jobs were posted in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, and Kolkata.
• apna recorded an 8x growth in new users in Tier II markets and 3.3x in Tier I cities.
• Women on apna have an equal assessment passing rate as men.
• Employers have been hiring women in unconventional roles of drivers, security guards, delivery partners, fitness trainers, mechanical and electrical engineers, peons, accounts, and finance.
• There are more than 15,000 female influencers on apna.co.
• Top communities with the highest women’s engagement: government, business, learning English, tele-caller, back office, teacher, computer/data entry, beautician, lab technician, cook/chef.
• Tele-caller and BPO jobs are the most popular jobs in all the major cities.
• 11x increase in healthcare jobs for women

City-wise trends

• Women in Delhi-NCR gave the maximum interviews and also applied for the most night shifts in India.
• In Tier-II cities, women users in Lucknow were more inclined towards WFH jobs while Bengaluru saw maximum applications for remote working.
• Pune witnessed the most number of civil engineer applications by women.
• In Tier-II cities, the most professional conversations happened in Lucknow.
• An average user in Ranchi applies for 9 jobs in a month – the highest among all cities.
• Delivery partner is among the most in-demand roles in Amritsar, where one can expect an order to be delivered by a woman.
• A fieldless exploration by women, aircraft repair saw the most applications from women in Mumbai.
• Chandigarh saw more women carpenters than any other Tier-II city.
• More women in Jaipur are interested in back-office jobs.
• Maximum women applied for the role of telecallers in Surat.
• Women in Kolkata applied for the role of Refrigerator Technician.
• Coimbatore saw the most applications for teachers.
• In Guwahati, tele-caller/BPO is the most searched job.
• Users in Agra are more open to applying for the role of a driver.
• Bhopal recorded the maximum number of computer data entry operators.
• For Chennai women, finance is a popular sector.

The data shared by apna.co clearly signifies the closing gender gap and increasing gender diversity in India’s rising workforce. Present in 45-plus cities across India, apna is trusted by 22 million users.

User Stories: Breaking barriers

The story of Jyoti Shukla, the power of networking and helping people through the pandemic

During the pandemic, a nurse, Jyoti, found a job through the apna app in less than 24 hours after joining the platform. She was appointed in one of the most reputed hospitals, working with COVID-19 patients. This was just the beginning. Her aspirations didn’t stop there. Jyoti saw opportunities and grabbed them with both hands. She met an individual (among many people she connected with) on the app in “business group” and after a week of planning, the two set up their placement agency. Jyoti joined the app only to get a job and help people in distress. During the pandemic, at Jyoti’s workplace, there was an urgent need for masks and PPE kits. Jyoti instantly turned to her network on the apna app and sourced the needed masks within hours. In this way, she has leveraged her network for the greater good. Jyoti has also found several part-time gigs, traveling to Delhi and cities in Gujarat to home-nurse COVID patients.

Today, Jyoti is a popular member of apna groups. Moreover, she single-handedly provides for her family and has created a position for herself in society. As she crossed many hurdles over the years, apna became the platform that fast-forwarded her journey to success.