Like the last many years, year 2011 also saw layoffs at several IT giants. Though the job cuts during the year were not as brutal and widespread as witnessed in 2008-09, many IT companies were forced to take the pink slip route to sustain profitability.

The 'rightsizing' in some cases was result of acquisition, in others restructuring which resulted in demise of certain product categories or business units.

As we enter the year 2012, here's looking into some of the biggest layoffs stories of 2011. Networking technologies major Cisco slashed 6,500 jobs, about 9 per cent of its global workforce, as part of an operational revamp to boost profitability.

The workforce reduction was part of the company's strategic goal to bring down annual operating expenses by $1 billion.

The company in July announced that approximately 6,500 employees will be laid off across all functions which also included 15 per cent of vice president-level and above employees.

Cisco wrote in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that 2100 of the reductions are employees who "elected to participate in a voluntary early retirement program." Beleagured Nokia slashed 3,500 jobs in September partly through the closure of its plant in Cluj, Romania, as it struggled with falling sales and profits.

The layoffs were in addition to the measures Nokia announced in April that it will outsource Symbian activities to Accenture, transferring 2,800 employees to the company in the process, and cutting about 4,000 jobs.

The company said that the planned closure of the Cluj factory would result in 2,200 job losses, while a further 1,300 jobs would be cut at its Location & Commerce business unit, which includes the world's largest digital mapping business Navteq.

As per the survey of prospective employers conducted by recruitment tendering platform MyHiringClub.com, the country’s net employment outlook — an indicator of hiring intentions – stands at 29 per cent for the quarter ending March 31, 2012.

This marks an improvement by 9 percentage points from the year-ago quarter and an increase of 11 percentage points on the quarter-on-quarter basis.

"Job seekers will be going to get more opportunities as our data shows the India’s employment markets will experience recovery in the fourth quarter. The good news is that many markets appear to be heading in the right direction,” MyHiringClub.com CEO Rajesh Kumar said.

The survey, which was conducted among over 4,000 employers, found that all nine sectors and all four regions of the country have positive hiring plans for the next quarter.

However, the employment outlook for some sectors has weakened vis-a-vis the year-ago period.

The report said the infrastructure sector has the most bullish hiring plans, with a net employment outlook of an impressive 20 per cent for the January-March period of 2011.

The hiring intentions have improved considerably for the infrastructure, as also the IT and ITeS sector, from the levels seen in the year-ago quarter.

The infrastructure and IT sectors are followed by the automobile, manufacturing and FMCG segments, in terms of hiring optimism for the January-March 2012 quarter.

At the same time, the hiring activities may witness a decline in the banking and financial services, and telecom sectors from the levels in the year-ago quarter.

A region-wise analysis also predicted a strong labour market for all the four region for the fourth quarter of FY’12, with the South region leading the pack with a net employment outlook of 31 per cent for the period