‘Choose courses that can be linked to good placements’

Skill development necessary to ensure jobs for all, say experts

Educational qualifications get you the job, but it is also necessary to find out how to develop the skills that will take you ahead of others. As for the employers, the biggest challenge today is getting the right candidate with the right skills for a particular job role.

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According to the Ficci-Ernst and Young ‘Knowledge paper on skill development in India,’ published in September 2012, for India, the difficulty level for organisations to fill up the jobs is 48%, which is above the global standard of 34% in 2012.

Making yourself employable
So how can this challenge be addressed? “The obsession with degrees has to stop. The lure of a degree at any cost - irrespective of whether its possession would lead to jobs and increase employability - needs to be replaced by the mindset of acquiring a set of skills that would enable the person to find jobs or be gainfully self-employed,” says Dilip Chenoy, CEO and MD, National Skill Development Corporation.

To become employable, RCM Reddy, chairman, Ficci Skills Development Forum, says, “You ought to have deep understanding of the domain you plan to work in with both theoretical and practical skills in place. Soft skills, functional knowledge of English and basic digital literacy are also necessary across all sectors and levels. Students must also remember not to go for just any degree. Identify your own skills first and then go for the sector and programme. You must choose courses that can be linked to good placements.”