What makes employ-ability so important?

In our country less than 15% of the graduates get started on their career path; then what hinders the rest from taking the first successful step in their career?

The Career Development Centre (CDC) at Manav Rachna International University (MRIU) takes care of the employability factor in their students. Every student is not capable of matching the standards of the corporate world, despite their highest score or a good academia background.

The director of the CDC, Vikash Mehra, believes that there are students at various level- graduates, MBA and a chunk of engineering graduates who remain unemployed as they fail to match the industrial standards.This is a major reason for the huge gap between the employability and the availability of job opportunities.

 If we look at statistics in India on an average only 10-12% of total graduates get employed in an industry of their choice. There is a huge gap that needs to be addressed in order to hold actual value to the degree received by the students.

Citing some facts, in case of management, on an average only 15% of the graduates get employed. Nearly 16 lakh engineers successfully complete their graduation every year of which only 17% receive their due return in terms of jobs in the market.

When we talk of employ-ability skills, Career Development Center at MRIU has defined it in simpler terms. According to them employ-ability stands for -

 Ability of an individual in assessing his/own strengths (skills, assets/vale/knowledge) and also being aware of one’s weakness that needs to be covered up over time. This quality of self assessment allows students to explore correct job opportunities.

The basic problem faced by our students today is their wrong judgment and selection of their career path, Most of the engineers end up pursuing a totally different course post their graduation as they seem unsure of what they aspire to do.

Counseling in that case is most crucial and important at the start of the career graph. There is free counseling sessions in most of the universities and institutes that provide guidance to the students during the orientation week, so that students choose right course for themselves. Once the students are capable of self-assessment, they are equipped to explore right job opportunities in the market and make informed career related decisions, all by themselves.

CDC helps students in identifying the requirement of a job role and then training students accordingly.  They achieve this by preparing a compelling action plan (Effective resume, Covering letter, Preparation for Personal Interview etc.)

To cater to all the above issues Career Development Centre provides coaching and practical training sessions on basic Employ-ability Skills and Business Communication. They also providing personal grooming to the students by working on their  Personal Productivity Skills (Time Management, Problem solving, Decision making etc.), Quality (Lean, Six Sigma) and Managerial Skills (Performance Management, Effective Coaching, Team Building etc.) which are rated very highly by corporate across the world

Career Development Center is providing extensive process oriented and activity driven training on Personality Development, Business English, Business Communication and Aptitude Development. These trainings are delivered in two formats – Regular Semester coaching and Crash courses

Career Development Center is also helping the placement initiatives of Manav Rachna Educational Institutions by tying up with companies like Aspiring Minds, Co Cubes, E Litmus etc. These companies conduct Employ-ability Assessments that are recognized by wide range of corporate. This has helped students get placed with companies that do not come to campus otherwise

Career Development Center has been instrumental in making students participate in activities that help them add more professional qualifications to their CV. 

Employ-ability is considered one of the primary objectives of a higher education system. It becomes mandatory for institutes/ higher education universities to ensure a good career opportunity to all its students.

Although colleges offer campus placement as an important medium of connecting the students to the corporate world, providing proper training to each student for their easy acceptance in the industry is also imperative in the present.