Firms Seek Skills beyond Test Scores

Perhaps, it would be obvious as for now, but there is lot more chances that your prospective employer might wish to have a comprehensive in-depth search on your background. The search will range from scanning your Facebook accounts to as far as your personal blogs. 

According to a report released by Associated Press on June 2013, top employers seek to have well rounded employees who do only excel at problem solving technicalities but also ace the so-called soft skills encompassing team spirit, creativity, interaction, later thinking and enthusiasm. 

Furthermore, the inductive process is geared up for entrepreneurial experience to check out the abilities that their potential employees can acquire by stepping outside the conventional clerical lists or internship networks. Despite the fact that internships get a bad rap- well who wishes to immerse himself in labor for little or no pay? 

Unfortunately, it can earn you sure-shot ticket to your dream firm for every 9 in 10 employers are looking for students who have sufficed internship experience? In addition, communication skills encompassing ability to compose emails interact and get along with others is also considered important during hiring spree. As an overall and fine note, good attitude is simple and obvious which implies soon-to-be-grads need to carve a way to maintaining their enthusiasm. Well, who wishes to hire someone coming of as duds! 

Faulty Education System Putting Little Lives At Stake

In an interesting trend, it has been found that students enrolled in coaching institutes are being robbed of their childhood in the mind numbing toil and tale of preparing for prestigious engineering and medical institutes. 

Their innocence and immaculateness is being ruined in by institutes and private tuitions preparing them for admission to the elite IITs and AIIMS. Students of these institutions are resorted to labor and studies, cramming pre existing material available on the modules of chemistry, physics and math for engineering, and an additional biology for medical aspirants. 

Voicing the concerns of the aggravated wards, a parent quoted,”   She had no time to play and this focus on competitive examinations robbed her of her childhood. Children all over India go through this grind year after year and for what? By creating a whole generation of uni-dimensional citizens we are playing with fire.”

Experienced Applicants Ahead Of Freshers In Race For IT Recruits

Most IT firms and consultancies have introduced changes in their hiring patterns from the ongoing academic year. In an interesting trend, companies that formerly recruited more freshers in lieu of experienced candidates are now resorting to an equal footing of 50:50. 

It simply implies a reduced employment prospects for the current pass outs. Among others, IT giants, viz, Microsoft, Google etc are planning to initiate campus placement drives in August and the inductive process will be followed by the placement drives of Infosys, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra during September.

Nevertheless, speculations hover that the placement session is going to be pretty promising for aspirants in the recent year forthwith recovery made by IT companies ahead of a giant economic slowdown. MorAeover, companies prefer to make in-time hiring with mission to reduce their hiring costs and better recruits. 

The registrar of JNTU-Hyderabad, Prof. N.V. Ramana Rao clarifies,” “Just a degree in computer science engineering or information technology is not enough to secure jobs in placement drives. Those with exceptional skills in mobile applications, cloud computing etc. will have the edge over others. These are the focus areas of the IT firms now.” 

B-Schools Attract Recruiters Despite A Stumbling Economy

This year will be the first in which top management institutes viz, IIMs are receiving pre-placement offers which is half the percent it witnessed last year.  During the previous year, PPOs accounted for more than half of a much bigger total. 

The placement cells of these institutes are striving to maintain recruitment levels despite fallout in market, raised as a consequence of unsteady economic crisis. Amidst all this, IIM Lucknow which has pan India pool of 430students to place has already registered 25 PPOs, a stark mismatch to 72 for the previous year.

The PPOs have been from recruiters like Boston Consulting Global, Aditya Birla Group, HUL, TAS and Accenture. The corporate vice president and chief human resources officer for Capgemini, Ramesh Padmanabhan quoted, "Volatility will not impact our hiring from the premier management colleges, because the graduates help us build leadership pipelines." Nevertheless, hiring patterns for engineering graduates are expected to witness slowdown in lieu of surplus hiring from these institutes.

An Analysis Of TV And Radio Broadcast Hiring Patterns

Hiring industry in the broadcasting sector is going through bad phase as sluggish economy and upcoming challenges have hit the market hard. Problems viz, TAM, net vs. gross billing, among others has hampered its progress at the worst. 

For radio broadcasting, pre planned elections, unexpectedly low progress in the expansion of phase 3 project accounts for the dwindling hiring patterns. Amidst the scenario, the executive director of K&J Search Consultants reported,” Everyone is concerned about the current state of the economy – the markets, tight liquidity, high interest rates and depreciating rupee. 

Both, the manufacturing and service sectors have shown a contraction and the economy is stagnant. The media and entertainment space is a subset of this universe. In addition, it is facing its own multiple challenges that add to the pressure.” The inductive process is followed by assigning pink slips to the existing employees in an attempt to cut hiring costs and if rumors are to be believed, near around 300-500 employees have been laid off.

Ways to Reinventing Yourself during Layoffs

Amidst the present scenario whereby a plunging economy and obscure job market has snatched the jobs of many and countless others living with similar fears, we bring you a mini guide to coping with stress and disappointment weaning out. 

• Networking - Contacting people and building professional relationships is bound to help in the long run as employers generally recruit the known and credible. Socialize using networking tools viz, Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn. The executive chairman of ABC consultants, Bish Agrawal, remarked,” These are your lifelines that will keep you updated about possibilities. If you haven't cultivated them so far, begin now."
• Contacting ex- employers - Extending contacts with your previous employers could be great help as you might land up a short term assignment forthwith your history of a good, credible and trustworthy worker. Aggarwal recommends, “It’s best to be candid with your ex-employers. Since they know what kind of a worker you are, they could make important suggestions." In addition, reaching out to your alma mater will prove to be great aid as they always cherish a sense of affection and association with their pass out students.

Job Aspirants Require More than Academic Degree for Employment

An outstanding academic qualification from a decent engineering college is no longer your ticket to a dream job at a reputed firm. The trend is similar in the coveted firms of foreign nationals as well as India. 

The reason entails a stiff competition forthwith the burgeoning number of engineering graduates venturing the job market every year. Amidst the scenario, employers are pickier than ever and preferring candidates adorned with technical as well as non technical skill sets. They are focusing more on soft skills encompassing English communication and inter personal disciplines. 

The dean of engineering at the University of Bristol, Nishan Canagarajah, remarks,” I tell all our students that companies want to employ people with a real breadth of attributes, and so I work hard with my colleagues to give our students opportunities to develop different skills." Furthermore, knowledge about the company and prospective posts are the new requisites of the hiring industry. Among others, team spirit and entrepreneurship skills are also being sought after by job aspirants for success oriented action.

An Analysis of Education Quality in India

It is dismal to note that the senior advisor to top leader expressed his concerns over the deteriorating state of education in the country. Sam Pitroda, senior advisor to Manmohan Singh reported,” Leaving aside the top five percent universities, I feel the quality of education in India is pretty bad and I say it with a great deal of concern."  Pitroda quoted it at the eve of the first convocation of Presidency University. 

The guy behind the telecom revolution further accused the central government and its inept policies responsible for the present education scenario. Carrying forward his point, he said, “How to think out of the box and restructure education? This is where mindset comes in... The mindset of government, the ministries and UGC (University Grants Commission) is just not changing fast enough... Some of these people are living in dark ages."  

He also appreciated government programmes viz, the right to information, public information, connectivity of the panchayats etc designed to democratize and revolutionize education.

Education to Go Long Way for Autistic Kids

Amidst the scenario when education boards across the country are incorporating changes in their curricula to make it friendlier for autistic students and students with learning disability, a large proportion opines that the system still needs to do a great deal in this regard. 

The allegations have been laid forthwith the cases that have sprung up in the recent past. Many feel that such underprivileged kids have to confront mistreatment and apathy from students, management and society at large. A seven year old kid for example faced expulsion in Mumbai and was forced to be admitted into school for special children. 

The incident took place in Jamnabai Narsee School of Andheri whereby the parents of the child filed plea in court against the move. The case is withheld at the state commission under protection of child rights. A leading activist, Aarti Makhijia remarked,” There are several concessions for children with autism and LD, but the education department and schools are still not ready to accommodate them."

Growing Brain Drain is a Concern

Our education system needs immediate reforms. The call was made by experts ahead of the international youth day that focused on the topic that addressed plethoric upsurge of candidates in the recent years that have migrated to foreign nationals for pursuing higher education. 

The United Nations has also included brain drain issue as its theme for the current year. The key deterrents responsible for the upsurge are supposed to be unemployment and better education prospects. Nevertheless, exposure and stratospheric education costs were the initial reasons compelling the move. However, employment avenues and improved standards of life in the west accounts for the retention of the migrants in these countries. 

Andhra Pradesh could be quoted as good example as several inhabitants left for the US despite declining rupee and the figures continue growing. “As many as 90 percent of students who go abroad for higher studies do not come back. There is a huge difference between the education system in our country and abroad”, quoted the dean of Ace Engineering College, Prof Lakshmana Rao.

Jobs Ahead of Rising Economy

A global management consultancy, Hay Group conducted a study that indicates that one in every fourth Indian is planning to flip his job the current year. The study was carried out in June as collaborative effort of Hay Group and the Center for Economic and Business Research. The findings indicate that the attrition will take place forthwith the speculations of a much awaited economic comeback.

Amidst all this, another survey report of the Manpower Employment Outlook conjecture a sky shot increase of 18% in the hiring sector following the months after September. The startling revelation of these surveys are much expected as hiring process heightens after June ahead of the accomplishment of appraisals and people look forward to better opportunities. The director of Experis, a manpower group initiative, G N Udiaver remarked,” This is what we call the 'passive pool', which tends not to easily reach out for jobs even at the best of times."

India in the Opinion of Amartya Sen

The Nobel Prize winner, Amartya Sen told during interview with the Forbes magazine that India needs to overhaul its sanctioned monetary help to its education and healthcare sector for revampening growth and economic environment. Amartya Sen launched his book, Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions, a collaborative effort of Sen and his long time associate, Jean Dreze. 

Furthermore, he has questioned the ill policies of Indian government in his work aiming for unjustified tax exemptions and ill directed subsidies. Moreover, the rising public agitations and people surging to streets for demonstrations have strengthened the hopes and faith of the economist in Indian democratic structure and its promising future. 

But as every coin has two sides, a rosy and seamy one, similarly, it has also aggravated concerns regarding the recent outrage by public ahead of Nirbhaya molestation case as although it raised awareness to rape issue but inadvertently drew curtain on a more serious and grave sexual trafficking issue.

Quality Initiatives in Higher Education

A one day national seminar was conducted by St Mary’s college addressing concerns related to the issue, ’Quality Initiatives in Higher Education: Exploring New Frontiers.’ The seminar was a collective effort of Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), and witnessed the presence of near around 30 representatives of several colleges and universities across the country. Dr. BS.Punmudiraj inaugurated the programme. 

He is the assistant advisor of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). He highlighted government plans and initiative aimed at promoting education in the country and to enhance the quality of education being delivered. Furthermore, he laid stress on the need of extending academic research to teaching patterns and efficiency of the teaching learning process. 

Amidst all this, former principal of St. Joseph’s degree and PG, Dr. V.K. Swamy also expressed his views and opinion during the seminar.  He drew attention to the cluster college programme and its importance to proliferating symbiotic development among one tier colleges.

Career Advice for Engineer Graduates

There is a good news lined up for internet system engineers as several opportunities have opened fresh vistas in broadband connectivity, internet security, email systems, webhosting and several other  RM cloud-based products and services. These services will be catered at 20+ data centers, 8000 network devices, 4000 servers, 800,000 email inboxes, 15TB of data backed up weekly and much more. 

Amidst all this, fortunate employees will be provided an opportunity to work in hi-fi ISP atmosphere and mould comprehensive technical networking skills. Moreover, it provides you platform to associate with ultra modern technologies viz, Cisco, Windows, Linux, among others. 

To put it in a nutshell, the golden chance may prove as stroke of luck and time for fresher aiming to promote into senior development engineering roles and to the designation of senior network engineers at the same network operations centre. To add to the treat, pay scales are also lucrative with starting salary ranging between £24000-26000.

Distance Education Heading for Improvisation

The well known Open and Distance Learning System (ODL), tracing its origin in 1962, has witnessed revolutionized success expanding to 13 state open universities, one National Open University, and a lot more than 200 distance education institutions and is continuing to multiply. These ventures are being successfully run under the guidance of pre eminent universities. 

 

The distance education council was primarily assigned the task of administering ODL, an initiative of IGNOU, established in 1991. The promotion, coordination and maintenance of ODL were initially looked after by DEC. Nevertheless, the organization has been recently facing allegations of stoicism, lethargy and indolence. Furthermore, institutions governing ODL ventures are accusing the DEC for inept, rigid, inefficient and unrealistic norms that are have been prescribed by the DEC for the functioning of the programme. 

Addressing the grievances of the concerned authorities, the Ministry of Human Resource and Development, abbreviated as MHRD set up a committee in August2010. The committee was headed by NR Madhava Menon who recommended steps to standardize education conveyed through distance education.