Why India's Shortage of Work-Ready Graduates Needs To Addressed Now

Every year, close to 20 million students graduate from over 35,000 colleges in India. Yet, according to many published reports less than 50% of our graduates are employable, and less than 5% are work-ready. While there is no shortage of jobs, as per India Skills Report 2022, only 48.7% of India's young population are employable. In a survey as part of my independent research project at Harvard Business School in 2013, there were several insights on why this is the case and what can be done to solve it. Over the last few years as a social entrepreneur trying to bridge this gap between graduates and employers, I have found that this problem is still far from being solved.

Just like any other systemic issue, this one too, needs a joint effort, on part of students, educators, employers and the government. With so many responsible for solving the problem, it falls into a no-man’s land - a tragedy of the commons. And as is always the case in such issues, everyone suffers - the graduates who end up under-employed, recruiters who are dissatisfied and colleges who feel that they are unfulfilled in their mission and lastly the government, that despite investing millions doesn’t always see the outcomes they desire when it comes to skilling projects.

Shortage of Work-Ready Graduates: There are 2 main reasons for the continuing crisis.

First, graduates in India face a major exposure gap to real world skills and lack mentors that can guide them.  Our school and college education curriculum has not been updated and our faculty has not been retrained to keep up with the dynamic work environment. Secondly, there is an access gap to networks, and more importantly to those that can provide internships and jobs. Graduates are largely clueless as to how to navigate the process of placements and upskillIng for different roles. College placement cells are understaffed and unable to keep up with students expectations or industry demands. While many edtech companies are trying to bridge this gap by providing industry relevant content, most of their courses are unaffordable by the millions.

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The solution is actually fairly straightforward. In the short term, students need to take the initiative to find the right courses and bridge the gap for themselves. Waiting around for the system to change may take too long. They then need to seek out mentors and get the guidance and support. They can network via various social media platforms.

Jobs today are significantly different from the jobs of the past, even as recent as the past decade. The recipe of success is now interdisciplinary, that involves varied and diverse skills. Building this skill-set requires candidates to first know themselves (introspect, assess), then prepare themselves (invest in learning and development) and lastly prove themselves (learn to showcase the skills when required).

Students should keep themselves updated on their fields of interest, develop transferable skills such as communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, teamwork, leadership, multi-tasking along with core hard skills such as analytics, coding or finance. Combining the softer skills and competencies with a few hard skills will make them truly work-ready and an all-round strong candidate. To improve their exposure to industry students can apply for internships in a variety of fields, and make sure to contribute to the organisations where they are interning.

In the medium term, colleges can work more closely with industry on internships and edtech firms on content  to solve the problem. This is a huge win for both the employer and the job seeker. If candidates get exposure to industry from a young age and have a relevant learning experience they will definitely get placed.

Companies can also invest in internship programs and on-boarding for fresh graduates.  Various Ed-tech firms assist businesses in upskilling employees, sourcing talent, recruiting new talent, implementing internal learning programs, and establishing internal knowledge academies. And it is up to businesses to take the initiative and collaborate with Ed-tech companies to implement such L&D and hiring strategies.

In conclusion

In 2014, we launched Talerang’s first cohort and placed them post a rigorous training program at some of India’s leading companies for internships. Post their internships, close to 50% of them were given call-back offers. We had gotten them ready for the jobs of the future. In the last few years, we have trained close to half a million people, collaborated with close to 400 corporate partners and mentored students from hundreds of colleges. We are doing our bit, but we need help. We need individuals, colleges, corporates and the government to focus on quality of training, upskilling and placement guarantee programs, real mentorship and guidance and avoid check in the box up skilling initiatives.

As per the World Economic Forum (WEF), the process of closing existing skills gaps could add $11.5 trillion to the global GDP by the end of 2028. If we all work together on bridging the work-readiness crisis, the entire nation and the world will see major benefits as well as significant social and economic progress.