Understanding Employability Skills


SONU SINGH

(2021-04-05)



Are You Employable?

In India, every year approx. 5 million students are produced by the 'Education Factory'. However, each one of them does not make it to the 'Job Market'. Nowadays, workers have become commodities that get produced in a factory and get sold in the 'Market'.
Only 20% of the produced make it to the destination.

Out of the 20% which join the market, 55% of them leave within 6 months to 1 year of their career.

Shocked and surprised at the same time, welcome to the world of attrition!

Attrition exists because of one simple loophole which exist in between the 'Preparation' and 'Hiring System' called “Lack of Employability Skills”.

The transition from Campus to Corporate is never easy because what we know is not what the corporates expect us to know. There is a huge GAP which exists between the two.

We are unemployable at the first place and companies must shell out lakhs of rupees in training us for 2-3 months before we fit in their environment. Soon we release these things were never taught in campuses and we snap at things and decide to resign and move on. Thus, companies faces such high attrition rates at any given time.

What do we mean by Employability Skills?

These are the skills which make you employable. Education just gives you the knowledge of the work that you must do. How to do that work or job is depended on your employable skills. These are nothing but your Soft Skills or your People Skills. Education is important to understand the work, the subject, the job, but how to do that job is something education cannot teach you. It is your job to be able to develop these skills while you are in college and become ready for the future. If only marks could make you successful, then there would be many who would be successful. That is not true. Employability skills are hard to attain because they are SELF DRIVEN, and come with self-motivation.

What are the Employability Skills?

All your Soft skills form part of your employable skills.

What needs to Change to fill this gap?

  1. Your mindset: Yes, the mindset with which you enter a campus cannot be continued in Corporates too. A Campus is a place where you learn, while a Corporate environment is an Ocean where you apply. A drastic change in your mindset is what you need to work on to be able to effectively apply in the corporates. A Laid-back attitude will not help you achieve anything in this corporate environment, and you must become more proactive, enthusiastic, and keep and open mind to learn new things and be able to apply them faster. What the companies need is not a Meritorious laid-back workplace, but an average however go-getter and enthusiastic employee who can drive the company to newer heights.
  2. The way you approach things: In your campus life you live a very secured and safe life; there is scope to improve your mistakes, poor marks, and paper backs. Corporates is a one-shot game where there is no scope of failure and if you fail getting a second chance is a big thought. Because here the stakes are high. So, you need to be a Problem solver, your approach towards things should be off like a solution provider not a problem creator. When in your campus you take the liberty here you cannot.
  3. Take Ownership: This is the biggest factor that we all need to focus on including the society, our family, education institutions and ourselves. We should be able to own up to our success and failures and take ownership of our life. Instead of blaming others lets be accountable of our own lives and that is what the corporates look for. No one wants a blame game in the organization, nor a loner. If you are given some tasks be accountable towards that task and build trust for yourself in the organization.
  4. Brand Yourself – Everyone passing out of the college more or less have the same marks, same knowledge, the same IQ level. What makes you different from the crowd? If you want to stand out, then you need to FIND OUT WHAT IS YOUR USP and what different have you done in life. Everyone is happy to take in a multitasker who can efficiently handle 10 different thing sand yet manage performance too. Communication, Confidence, Appearance, Etiquette, Body language, Team sprit becomes an integral part of this.

Think again – “Are you employable?” This gap can only be filled when the Education system starts instilling these skills in their students apart from just focusing on getting great marks.

Because down the line you are remembered for the things that you have done not the marks you have got.