Are employability skills coachable?

 

A NASSCOM report says only 10 per cent of newly minted graduates in India are employable. Nishant Saxena describes how students can learn communication skills, business ethics and basic managerial skills

Enough has been said and written on employability skills or the lack of them among Indian students. Essential for any job aspirant, these are non-technical skills and competencies which contribute to an individual’s effective and successful participation in the workplace. According to a report by NASSCOM, only 10 per cent of fresh graduates in India are employable. Similar surveys on engineers and MBA graduates place employable professionals at no more than 25 per cent.

So let’s begin by defining 9 missing requirements which limit a youngster’s chances of landing a job.

Attitude (Sincerity, Ownership/Motivation)

• Business Ethics/Honesty
• Grooming/Confidence
• Communication Skills
• General Awareness
• Basic Managerial Skills (Leadership, Teamwork, Time Management etc.)
• Basic Sales and Customer Service (most entry level jobs require one of these)
• Domain Knowledge
• Work Experience
  

While the obvious solution to unlock India’s much discussed demographic dividend is to empower students with these requisite skills, the question remains: can these employability skills be taught?
Attitude & Ethics are the most difficult to correct. Clinical psychologists have found that attitude can be improved through a six-nine month process involving motivation, extended practise and constant feedback. Being pedantic almost never works in improving attitude. Still, most professors continue to hope that by repeating their unsolicited advice, students may change!
Even the use of innovative techniques like story-telling has thrown up mixed results. In reality, the effect of a few hours of class is often drowned by 22 years of grounding. While some borderline cases did change, for the most part, only the good ones got better.

Grooming & Confidence, on the other hand, are the easiest to correct. Steady practise in small batches of 15-25 students, with people of similar ability carefully chosen and teamed up, giving every individual a chance to speak for 5-7 minutes every day for four-five months, brought about tremendous improvement. Workshops involving specially trained grooming instructors, emphasising lines such as ‘dress to impress’ worked too.  The process requires strict discipline so that everyone gets time to speak. Similarly, basic grooming checks on colour combinations of attire, hair and shoe polish, every day, for a few months so that students understand how to dress for formal situations.  

Communication skills takes time and a scientific method of intervention.Basic communication skills have to be sharpened. This involves improving students’ listening skills, helping them understand their audience, and training them to be crisp and logical in their responses.

Most tier 2 colleges are concerned about the inability of their students to speak English fluently. A module which covers Grammar and spoken English, and pronunciation is required. Students are usually less inclined to focus on English at such a late stage in their career. So the training sessions need to be lively and interactive.

An everyday quiz on current affairs for six months can help students develop the reading habits. To build their interest, as part of the quiz, those who are unable to answer a question may be fined Rs 5 while those who answer correctly may be rewarded.

While it would be ambitious to think that a two-hour, team work session will make everyone a great team player, we have seen a significant improvement in the level of maturity through this method.
Many undergraduate students lack work experience in any domain. Moreover, most college faculty are not qualified to train students in industry-oriented skills. So the best practice is to get a significant portion of training to be delivered by industry experts. Those who can deliver live corporate experiences, share inside secrets and tips on the business world, explain what is not covered in theory and how to apply theory in real life must be invited to address students on campus.

Most companies want work experience before a degree like an MBA, but 80-95 per cent of MBA students are fresh BA/B Com/B Sc graduates. This can be corrected by offering industry projects during the course ( internship, externships etc).

The long-term solution may be for colleges to recruit  experienced students, especially for a post graduate course like MBA.

 

Source : Deccan Herald