Re-skill is the only ultimatum left to get appraisal, with new upgraded technology one is required upgrade their skills too.

Seema Gohail (name changed), 34, was working with a tech giant since last 8 years as a website designer. She was happy with her company until this year she was denied salary hike. “I was comfortable with my routine as my salary hikes were decent enough and also, it was easy for me to balance my personal life,” Gohail said. 

She was told recently to upgrade her skills as she is losing out on the competition in the office. “I have got three months to up and re-skill myself in the asked areas.” 

Gohail is not alone. If you too have been denied an appraisal or your salary hike is bleak, headhunters suggestion is to identify and fill up the gaps and improve your skill set in the present organisation as the poor skill set may end up creating problems in the new place of work.

“We don't recommend people to keep hunting for jobs as a reactive step to appraisal hikes,” said Arijit Sengupta, Group HR Director at Adidas India. 

With skilling coming up as a major challenge in the job market, changing job in impulsive manner may land the candidate into wrong profile and industry all together. “Companies are very cautious while hiring. The priority is to hiring the candidate with accurate skill sets and if not matched, no company will feed the wrong candidate for longer duration,” said Sunita Rebecca Cherian, HR Head, Wipro. 

 A "Skill India" mission was launched with much fanfare in 2015, promising to make 400 million Indians employable in seven years. It managed to reach about 1.76 million in its first year. 

However, the program failed to create supply of people armed with niche or high quality skills. Sadly, National Skill Development Corporation is able to place only 50 percent of the total people it trains -- highlighting the clear difference between inculcating skills and inculcating employable skills.