Employability!!!

We have been hearing of “employability” for some time now and many assessment companies have mushroomed over the last decade that has employed online/offline assessment of employability. Let’s try to decipher the generic meaning of the term with stress on its practical applicability and how it is actually measured:

What I am about to share here is purely based on my experiential learning and may not be vouched for by the respectable reader. I own the right to share and the contents and analysis are purely originated from my experiences. The word “Employability” in a simplified manner means a pool of abilities which are employable. Now comes in the assessment skillometer which will gauze the level of ability vis a vis the expected one required by the employer/company.  

Now fly in the most talked about word “Skill matrix”. The skill set as defined for a job/role in a company that promises to execute the expectations for the stated job optimally. With respect to the HR of all the companies I raise a concern here that is enlisted below in some eyebrow beating pointers:

1.      The gaps in the school to college / professional education that have largely been left unattended and clearly reflect in most of the employability assessments in form of IQ/EQ deficiencies and marked indicators reflect on the candidate’s attitude.

2.      The employment of Faculties who have a grave question mark on their individual employability with very low corporate/real-time work exposure and at time none. The transfer of knowledge in most of the cases gets restricted to mere handouts and “answer the probable questions help sheets (Question Banks)” marring the practical knowledge of the student. We see the actual implications employment of such faculties in the passing out technical and management graduates who suffer on a great deal in addressing the minimal expectations of the job.

3.      The never bridged gap between the syllabus being taught and the actual real time corporate know how to perform in a particular job function.  

4.      There is a sheer intellectual vitamin deficiency in terms of “Live Projects”, in the institutions which are actually the grooming platforms for employable technical and management graduates. With “bought from market” projects adorning the labs of the institutes clearly incapacitates the student’s ability to work efficiently and productively on a “marketable project”.  

5.      The whole ecosystem of most of the preparing platforms lack the essential intellectual capability and experiential learning to actually boost employability and churn out more efficient and capable managers.

I am quite optimistic and expecting that the above pointers will catch the eye of “true academicians/ educators and the worthy “Recruiters” of the corporate fraternity.

Let me quote an example to highlight what I precisely want to convey as a great “ concern” related to the talked about topic. We use thermometer to measure the temperature and once we have the readings we move ahead with the diagnostics as regards the causative reasons: infection, internal organ malfunction etc. Now when we engineer an employability assessment we carry out the similar process but with a difference and a deficiency. The percentile reflects the students/ aspiring technical/management graduates score in a simulated and time factored exam. But the employability score may not fully sync in with the actual environmental and relevant reasons/factors affecting the mindset of the candidate.

I call for a strong attention on the points enlisted above from the academicians and the corporate fraternity as it’s not only about diagnostics but the after diagnostics phase and the measures employed to up skill a candidate.

I signature the closure of the article with some open ended queries/questions/concerns:

1.      Will we be able to shift from a “engineer/manager degree production” to a “Employable future ready resource”?

2.      Do we have an appetite to up skill “By default Faculties” into a “By Design Faculties”, so that we monitor a better quality and executable learning being passed on to the aspirants?

3.      Out of paper/website/MoU/Agreements/brochures Institute & Industry partnership to bridge the gap between “campus to corporate” transitions thereby enhancing the employability in the long run. Are we ready to trigger such productive real time relationships?

4.      Alignment in “what is being taught and what is being practised” to be ensured by the Governing University and the Corporate Fraternity. When and how can this be translated on practical grounds?

To sum up employability is not just a diagnostic tool but a common reflector of the efforts of Parents-Teachers-Educators-Institutes that have to be seamlessly factored in to achieve the desired level of output. At the same time I will like to reinstate the universal truth that “Only input is controllable and output is not controllable”. But if we are diligent and have programmed our “input” meticulously then for sure the “output” can be driven on a favourable scale. Where we are is the sum total of decisions and actions employed by us and the bucket “us” caters to individuals as well as communities.