It's been a difficult two years for everyone, especially as far as getting a job and hanging onto it was concerned. And while white-collar employees could employ the services of a well-equipped social media app like LinkedIn, the blue-collar employee was often left out in the cold. Women, too, according to an Oxfam report in April 2021, lost more than 64 million jobs globally.

Amidst the gloom, a fortunate development in India was the emergence of vernacular job search apps, which have been helping both, blue-collar employees and women, find jobs. Jobs and networking platform Apna is available in 10 languages and say that cities such as Bhilai and Jabalpur have high numbers of people who prefer vernacular interfaces. It now has almost 22 million users. "We offer verified jobs across a multitude of categories, and are now helping potential job searchers take upskilling courses as well," says Roshan Agarwal, head-sales and operations, Apna.co.