New Delhi, June 5 -- When Nicholas Kirk, chief executive officer (CEO) of recruitment and search firm PageGroup, joined his first job as a sales executive in the 1990s, his desk had an ashtray and a telephone, pretty much defining what was ahead. A lot has changed since then, and the skillsets in demand have kept evolving. Today's ask of artificial intelligence (AI) skills is not the first time they've had to be reworked, he says.

Among other issues, in this interview with Mint, Kirk speaks about the hesitancy in the job markets and the inertia amongst CXOs to move, and how the hiring scenario in India remains strong for the firm.

Edited excerpts:

We are more optimistic now than we were over the last 8-10 months. There was about 5% gro...