Aspiring Minds, India's leading employability measurement firm, held the National Employability Conclave (NEC) in the Capital today. Held at the Royal Plaza, Connaught Place, the NEC provided a rich interface between Training and Placement Officers (TPOs) from more than 100 institutions and recruiters from reputed institutions such as HCL Technologies, Accenture India Limited, Sapient, Deloitte, IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Limited and CA Technologies among others.

The Conclave started off with an opening address from Prashant Bhatnagar, Director-Hiring, Sapient Consulting. Commenting on the need for a platform like the NEC, Prashant Bhatnagar, Director-Hiring, Sapient Consulting said, "There is huge effort that the industry needs to undergo to mine out the right kind of talent from the nearly 6 lakh engineering graduates that pass out every year. Is our education system indeed preparing our students to face challenges? Forums like the National Employability Conclave will help us find solutions to the problems that we face."

Puneet Kumar Pandey, Sr. Director-Talent Management Group, HCL Technologies, and Kapil Bhatia, Head of HR, VinSol shared perspectives on the lack of Programming and English skills in engineering graduates. Perspectives were also shared by Varun Aggarwal, COO and CTO, Aspiring Minds. The NEC also witnessed an insightful panel discussion on the theme of shaping the talent pool as per employers's requirements from the recruiter's perspective.

Varun Aggarwal, COO and CTO, Aspiring Minds said, "With top companies interacting with only 700 campuses out of the existing 3000, there is a need to do things differently to make students more employable and let employable students get jobs. It is imperative that efforts to make engineers employable are initiated in the first year of education itself rather than the fourth. Different skills should be imparted in different years with a focus on functional skills and spoken English. Platforms such as NEC help in bringing forth insights which in turn lead to employability solutions"

The NEC saw Aspiring Minds sharing sharp insights on understanding and improving the employability gap in India.