Mr. MBA, Data Entry operator. Mr. B.Tech Office Assistant

 

Last week, we had advertised for "Data Entry Operator" the minimum qualification required was +2 or fresh graduates. Salary range starting from Rs. 6000/- p.m.

Not surprisingly we received over 40 responses. Surprisingly, over 35 of the candidates are B.E /B.Tech / MBA / M.Com / M.Phil. We did not get any PhD (saving grace !) More than the degree, the applying candidates should be well versed in English typing and should be able to enter data within a given time without error.

I will not be writing about it if it were an isolated incident, this is now become a regular feature. When we had earlier advertised for student counselors, we were flooded with B.E /B.Tech applicants. A recent article shared by my friend in Economic Times: MBA Degree losing its sheen?  highlights this scenario - which we are witnessing almost on a daily basis. We also get hundreds of CVs applying with the subject line "I want Job" and invariably all of them are either Engineering graduates or MBA graduates.

This brings us back to the original question, Why are these graduates not able to get employment? The writing quite literally is on the wall. All you have to do is ask any of these 'so called' MBA or B.Tech graduates to write 4 lines of complete sentences in English. You will be surprised at the errors that creep in almost each word, each sentence and each line.

One can go on and on about the various reasons, but the bottom line is, young people blindly follow what their peers or parents ask them to do. After they enroll they struggle and study various theoretical subjects which has no relevance to the job market. Pathetically, students who score 90% and above fail miserably when they were asked to solve simple mathematical problems or write a meaningful sentence. I had seen MCA graduates not able to create a separate folder and save email attachments!

Unless, the colleges give impetus to developing skills in basic communication, IT skills, analytic skills and English -spoken and written, the students face a grim future. Without any employable skills, their degree is not even worth the paper it is printed on.

With these kind of fancy qualifications, they live in a fantasy world till reality strikes them.
Then they start applying for "data entry job'. 

Skill Development of youth - a viable CSR option

In recent times, I made a whirlwind tour of Colleges - both Arts& Science and Professional Colleges in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

The idea is to interact with the final year students and gauge how prepared they are for the life ahead in the Corporate sector. After a short presentation on "Employability and Job Skills" I introduced them to sample aptitude test - basic questions covering English, Logical Reasoning and Numerical Ability.

The results are startling and very disturbing. Sample this: A student of final year B.Sc Maths could not find the "average" for a simple sum. A final year B.A. English student could not write 100 words in English without making a mistake. Across the board, the situation was the same. The students in the city or so called Elite pvt. colleges also did not score more than 14 out of 20 in the test.

The saddest part is, the students do not even realize this. They have a false sense of entitlement and refuse to accept their weakness. They believe that they are entitled to a high paying job - simply because they had completed a B.E, or MBA or just a degree. These kids live in a fools paradise and wait for the elusive pot of gold!

On one hand, I have employers - leading Banks /Insurance companies asking for 100 - 200 candidates per month! on the other hand, I could hardly screen and present 5 - 10 students in say 3 months.

We have a gigantic task ahead in training these kids and bringing them up to the level where they could be even considered for an entry level job. We in our small way are doing our bit to help them understand their areas of improvement and suggest ways to improve through our EZ Spark Program

I know many progressive companies, especially in the IT sector in India have launched Campus To Corporate events and many training institutes like Learn N Shine have initiated "Finishing Schools" but still we have a long way to go in improving the attitude, skills and knowledge of our young people.

In the new Financial year, when Corporates are planning their CSR projects, a Skill Development Initiative should receive top priority.

Soft Skill or Soft Kill?

Image from the internet for illustration purposes only

Reams of research findings are put out every day that emphasize and overemphasize the need for Soft Skills. Morphed into Life Skills these days, these set of intangible skills  apparently provides the passport to a better job and brighter future.

Professional Colleges are urged to integrate soft skills training to all their students. Recently, when I visited a professional (technical) college in Tamil Nadu to talk about the Life Skills training that we offer, I was stumped when the College Training and Placement officer reached inside his desk and pulled out hard bound tomes: Soft skills Vol. I, Soft skills Vol. II and Soft skills Vol III.

A quick glimpse into the manuals had these classic gems of questions that we have all grown up with right from our school days :

What is Soft Skills?

How many Soft skills are there?

What are the top ten soft skills?

When was Soft skills introduced in India?????

As I silently mourned the death of soft skills at the altar of rote learning, the beaming Placement

Officer said, All our students have cleared all the volumes and have scored 100%. We are now going to print Vol IV !?

If this is the kind of response by some Professional Colleges to “Teach” soft skills to their students,

when will they ever learn that soft skills is a “Skill” and need to be applied in real world settings. Soon these colleges will be proudly declaring: 100% placement and 100% pass in Soft skills. 

I walked away wondering, after all the massive efforts to bring out bulky Volumes and reducing Soft skills to just another subject, whatever I wanted to passionately convey to the students is “Out of Syllabus”