Although India’s young demographic profile and a huge talent pool are contributing to the current economic boom, the specter of youth ‘un-employability’ looms larger than life. Youth employability is a bigger crisis than unemployment itself, says the India Labour Report 2007. The myth of mere graduation is dying out with the growing industry demand for employable skill sets. Even the government has earmarked Rs 15,000 crore this fiscal, for employable skill building among the nation’s youth, which is the only way forward to sustain and enhance economic growth.

Of the total unemployed youth population of 232 million, a mere two per cent enter the services job market in the organized sector. A McKinsey study reports that only a quarter of all engineers, 15 per cent finance professionals and only 10 per cent of graduates can be employed for general positions. In such a scenario, the total addressable market for employable skills training in India has grown to a whopping $3-4 billion business, registering a ten-fold growth from just $420 million, four years ago.

“The Education market in India is around $40 billion and a large percentage of it, around $36 billion, goes into structured education, the rest of the $3-4 billion constitutes the total addressable market for employable skills training” pointed out Karthik K.S., CEO of 24x7 Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd, an e-learning implementation company. “For every 5 hires, there are 250 near-hires, which directly impacts the employee demand supply equation” he said.

According to Mr. Venkat Subramanian, founder and MD of Sri Guru Shishya Academy (SGSA), “With over 300 universities and 15,600 colleges churning out 2.5 million graduates each year, India trails behind only the US and recently China, in the volume of employable graduates.”. There is a vast market for employable skills training in Tier II and Tier III towns as well.

Capitalising on this demand, Soft skill Bhilai is targeting youth from semi-urban and rural areas. “We train engineering and non-engineering students in business English, behavioural characteristics like building a positive attitude, process and domain orientation.”

Soft skills for all 21st Century Professionals

Experts say there are several soft skills that are required in this fast changing global scenario. Some of them include:

I. Interpersonal skills

ii. Team spirit

iii. Social grace

iv. Business etiquette

v. Negotiation skills

vi. Behavioural traits such as attitude, motivation and time management

Do you have these? If your answer is yes, it is good for you.

But if your answer is no, then you know it is time to approach us – info.softskill@gmail.com

Important personality traits that a candidate should possess to do well at a Group Discussion are

1. Team Player

2. Reasoning Ability

3. Leadership

4. Flexibility

5. Assertiveness

6. Initiative

7. Creativity/ Out of the box thinking

8. Inspiring ability

9. Listening

10. Awareness

Do you have these? If your answer is yes, it is good for you.

But if your answer is no, then you must know that it is time to approach us – info.softskill@gmail.com