GET SMART - Guidelines to qualified but unemployable youth on what it takes to become a successful employee HR managers across diverse sectors have expressed disdain over the fact that while there are situations vacant in their organisations, multiple attempts to fill them go futile because of a lack of employable candidates. Many times, they have to make do with a substandard talent pool or run the show with the existing one, even at the risk of burdening them at times.

Almost every industry is in dire need of the right candidate who can perform with utmost capabilities and deliver results for the company.

However, not all of the thousands of engineers, MBAs, MCAs get selected at job interviews and can be absorbed in the industry immediately after they graduate from college. According to McKinsey Global Institute survey results, India produces 3,60,000 engineering graduates, 6, 00,000 graduates in Arts/Science/Commerce. Only 25 percent of engineering graduates and 10 per cent of other graduates are employable! Why is this gap so huge?

Every job requires certain skill sets, not all of which are related to qualifications alone. Surveys conducted by NASSCOM and McKinsey speak of a huge gap in the  employment opportunities and employability of today’s youth. This means while there may be a considerable amount of unemployment in the country, the unemployability factor about the candidate far exceeds other problems. Institutions, especially those under the realm of management studies, must make a conscious attempt to hone the soft skills of students. Mere academic abilities alone will not be adequate to build a career in the future. What is essential is something beyond the academic domain. Such as:
Problem-solving skills:
An ability which many students lack. It involves, among other things, the ability to comprehend unstructured data,analyse it and then find solutions.

There may never be an ideal solution to any given problem in real life, unlike in the exams, where every problem or case study has a predetermined answer. In real life, a solution can come from anywhere and only diverse life experiences can facilitate out-of-the-box thinking required for that to happen. Communication skills: The ability to converse must not be confused with that of  communicating. While the former requires just expression of thoughts, the latter has deeper implications. Students need communication skills to make presentations, to persuade clients, to sell an idea to your own team. A good vocabulary and an understanding of the connotations of different words make it easier to be heard and understood when it is most required.

A good command over English is not an additional skill but a pre-requisite for any career. To deal with teams from diverse cultures, ethnicities and countries, English is the preferred mode of communication. With jobs no more restricted to being local or regional, a command over English stands one in good stead.

Attitude: The right attitude makes all the difference in a person’s life. It is especially important during the initial years of one’s career, when we are what we present ourselves for lack of a body of work to speak for us. Much has been said about “positive” attitude, however, fresh candidates either show too much (or mostly fake) enthusiasm or utter lack of it when handed challenging roles and responsibilities.

Under-promising and over-delivering could be a way, but the reverse seems to be the reality. An exaggerated image of self, over confidence, too high expectations from life or extreme apprehension about taking up challenges all prove a hurdle in career development. Being judgmental about people and situations again results in presumptions that may be just that! 
Willingness to learn: A professional degree is never proof of complete knowledge.  Studying may stop after the last exam but learning is a never-ending process. Rather it should be that way. Students willing to join or freshly joining the corporate world assume that they know everything that they ought to know about the world. Domain knowledge or loads of information is mistaken for complete knowledge. Learning can happen at every  stage, from all spheres of life, from the vegetable vendor, the grocery store owner and children.

Reading the newspapers, magazines or watching newscasts should not be a chore followed  during college days but a life-long habit, one that will keep paying returns in the long run. Staying updated with the current happenings, learning skills at regular intervals, joining classes where you feel you need more training, reading the latest books, keeping notes, all go a long way in activating the learning component of one’s professional life.

When applicants possess these skills, it becomes easier for employers to train them on other technical skills easily. Employers today prefer candidates that require minimum or nil training time for components of work other than domain-specific ones. It is only when students come equipped with the requisite soft skills that they become employable and can start delivering from day-one. What can staudents and institutions do that will make this possible?
* Reading: Be an active reader, read consciously, and devise a way to retain information so that it can be retrieved
when necessary.
* Be it while speaking, writing or communicating in any other form. Show empathy towards others at all levels of life.
* Curiosity: Ask more questions, go beyond what is obvious.
* Confidence: Stop questioning your abilities at all times. Sometimes one just needs that leap of faith towards success
* Initiative: Grab the opportunities which are rare as gold. Find one where it never existed. You never know which one will make your life.
* Industry exposure: Keep a relation with the industry to get a feel of how they function. This helps when a student joins the industry himself and his actual role in the job doesn’t come as a surprise to him.
* Team spirit: Stop working for gaining credit. In a burgeoning world economy, few things are possible with individual effort. Share credit for success, take people along, let them be part of your joys and triumphs.
* Meet people: Every person is a unique being. Knowing people not only helps in broadening our perspective, it also comes with an added advantage of networking in today’s competitive world.
Institutes that foster a learning environment bring out students who climb the ladder faster for they need lesser help in setting first things first.