How to enhance employability of Fresh engineering & Management graduates. (Part 2)

How do you make your engineering and management Graduates employable? (Part 2)

#Enginnerring #management #education #ceo#campus placements# Placement officers # HOD# Dean# Training# certification

Preface: Campus /Off-Campus/Open engineering and management graduate needs to be industry-ready. Industry looks for candidates m who can be productive in a period of 3 to 6 months after onboarding, The 4 important factors considered by companies include: Conceptual clarity, Attitude & Personality, communication and knowledge, and exposure to current technology/Trends. This is described in detail in the subsequent paragraphs,

What the industry Looks for :

The sector looks for candidates who are good in conceptual knowledge. Students shoot term and the last semester projects. The interview Selection team concentrates more on the :

·??????Conceptual clarity

·??????Basic Aptitude

·??????Attitude.

·??????Projects done.

·??????Soft skills

·??????Candidates’ ability to deal with special processes,

·??????Resume and inclination.

·??????Local language and communication.

·??????Overall Personality

·??????Candidates' knowledge on the latest trends in technology

·??????Candidate’s Mobility

·??????Additional certifications in the related areas,

What industries do not expect :

·??????Candidate ready for deployment from Day 1.

·??????Exposure to all the particular processes.

·??????Handling and supervision from Day 1

·??????Expertise or SME from day 1

Industry is aware that, the hired engineering and management graduates are further honed in the company by using:

·??????Internal tailor-made training’

·??????On the Job training.

·??????Mentorship program

·??????Digital training

·??????Internal certifications

The bare minimum expectation at the time of graduation:

·??????Conceptual clarity of the Stream/Subject.

·??????Some industry exposure in the form of short and long-term projects

·??????Latest technology trends and awareness.

·??????Industry bare minimum knowledge

·??????Tools and technologies at a high level

·??????Bare minimum communication skill

·??????Ability to work in a team.

·??????Self-learning through observations

Enhanced Knowledge and Skills

·??????Industry acknowledges and gives weightage to the enhanced knowledge and skills acquired by the candidate, over and above the curriculum.

·??????The advanced training and certification obtained by the candidate in addition to the graduation and regular curriculum, is given a high weightage by the campus selection committee,

·??????Following advanced training and certification helps the candidates to score over others (This is not an exhaustive list ).

ü?Project management training and certification.

ü?Data management and analysis

ü?Big data and analytics

ü?Business process reengineering

ü?Balanced scorecard

ü?Process cantered engineering.

ü?Agile, scrum and DevOps

ü?Kaizen

ü?Total quality management

ü?ISO certification

ü?QS certification

ü?Cybersecurity certification

ü?Environment, Health & Safety

ü?ISO 14001

ü?ISO 27001

ü?Cloud and cloud computing

ü?ERP ( SAP/Oracle /MS/SF)

ü?ESG (Environment, Social & Governance)

ü?Taxations

ü?International trade and commerce.

ü?GST and CIN for India

ü?Compliance

ü?Governance, risk, and compliance

ü?Financial and quality audit

ü?Business plans

ü?Feasibility study

ü?Digital transformation

ü?Customer experience.

ü?Digital Marketing

ü?Digital advertising

ü?Social media usage

ü?Omnichannel usage

ü?Statistical process control

ü?Industry 4.0

ü?Automation

ü?Waste reduction and recycling.

ü?Low carbon economy

ü?Business Strategy and Planning

ü?Business Analysis

ü?Master data management

ü?Quality circle

ü?Just in time (JIT)

ü?Export and Import processes,

ü?Bank reconciliation.

ü?Mian financial document understanding and interpretation.

ü?Financial and nonfinancial rations

ü?Green procurement

ü?Green and lean supply chain

ü?Responsible for production and Design

ü?Artificial intelligence

ü?Machine learning

ü?Deep learning

ü?NLP

ü?Generative AI

Is this not too much ?:

ü?Yes, it is not possible to undergo training and certification for some of the training and certifications listed above. ( This list is not exhaustive).

ü?The student depending on his branch in engineering or management and his interest needs to decide on the training and certification, which needs to be undertaken. This training and certification will not only enhance his knowledge but will also make his CV or resume more impressive to recruitment companies and agencies.

ü?This additional training and certification cost a little but as compared to the overall fee structure of the course, it makes a solid differentiation as per as CV and knowledge are concerned.

ü?A balanced approach by the colleges, Universities, and institutes is necessary to incorporate the bare minimum of relevant additional training and certifications,

What are the different approaches university/College/Institutes can take?

Already the Fee structure for most engineering and management colleges is very high. Considering this cost factor, it makes sense for these entities to adopt a Four--pronged strategy.

v?Use international resources and knowledge to enhance the knowledge of students, ( A digital knowledge base is the best option,

v?Tie up with industry experts and professionals who can train the students in new technologies and trends by way of Visiting faculties. Special lectures, conferences, and seminars.

v?At the time of 4 week and last semester projects, the faculty guide needs to ensure that students take projects in the emerging technologies and trends,

v?Tie up with local training institutes on a retainer ship basis so that the overall cost of training and certification is very low and affordable to students, ( Example Institute of Advanced Technology, Pune). In this arrangement, there is a no per-student fee. Under the retainer ship agreement, the institute can conduct training and certification for the maximum number of students,

Special initiatives to be undertaken by universities, Colleges, and institutes?

Mere training and certification are not enough, the entities need to undertake various initiatives as mentioned below for the overall development of engineering and management graduates,

v?Organizing Cultural Festivals as well as participating in other colleges’ events,

v?Organizing and participating in seminars and conferences, (Own/Other colleges(

v?Organizing Tech events and participating in other college Tech fests,

v?Institute magazine (Six monthly) which addresses cultural as well as technical content,

Is this too costly? The answer is “No,” All these events can be organized with available resources and a very low budget.

Do these initiatives help to improve campus/Off-campus placements?

We have undertaken 3 engineering and management colleges in Northern Maharashtra from 2021 to 2024. The issues faced by these rural ?colleges were :

v?Low visibility to Industry and corporates.

v?Low Campus participation and recruitment

v?Low CTC offered.

With this approach, in the last 3 years, we could achieve the following aims :

v?Creating Good visibility for District and Rural colleges,

v?Campus placement increased from 20 % TO 80% in 3 years.

v?Initial CTC Of 1.8 to 2.4 Lakhs per annum has increased to 3 to 4.5 Lakhs per annum.

Trust, retainers, training & certifications played a major role in achieving these aims. It was a journey where we faced many challenges but finally, in 36 months we have improved the college visibility, campus placement, and CTC.

Author Dr. Prakash Wagh

???????????[email protected]