Top 5 Things You Can Do to Increase Your Employability

A candidate’s success is assessed not by the percentiles and grade points on the marksheet, but from their practical knowledge and technical skills. This justifies the significant role played by employment assessment programs at various institutions. Employment assessment programs at colleges aims at helping students attain their goals on completion of their educational program. It not only helps students select courses that suit their needs, but also enables them to secure skills that are sought by corporate organizations, far and beyond the educational qualifications.

An ASSOCHAM study said in 2016 that only 7% of the MBAs were suitable for employment. According to a National Employability Report, which is based on a study of more than 1, 50,000 engineering students who graduated in 2015 from over 650 colleges, 80% of them are unemployable!

While there are phenomenal investments made by corporates and educational institutions, the onus is on the individuals to acquire skills and traits to leverage the opportunitiesavailable at large that are absolutely needed in the corporate world. Here are a few things an individual can do to increase their employability.

Additional Qualifications / Extra Courses

It is important that candidates expand their knowledge on subjects – both by width and depth, that may not be covered in a classroom curriculum. By way of short term courses, these skillets can be availed by enrolling for certificate courses that may be available through colleges, training center, or can be taken up online through a wide range of Online Courses. These online courses are often offered by recognized universities, organizations that are focused on assessment of skills and its subsequent development. Taking up such courses not only helps candidate’s with expanding their horizons by adding a few brownie points, but also helps to have an edge over the other average candidates.

Do an internship

The benefits of doing an internship cannot be over emphasized, as it provides a more realistic glimpse of what would be expected of you from your role in the organization. It offers candidates a hands-on experience at something one may most likely do, in the rest of their corporate career. Providing candidates with a playing ground to assess their abilities, internships helps candidates be better envisage the tasks and an efficient way to perform these in the larger organizational interest. It is extremely important to try and learn as much as one can, during an internship to gauge what one is extremely good at, and also helps with identifying those areas’ that needs development of skills or traits.

Take up an employability assessment test

With only 15-20% of the country’s graduates being employable, it is necessary to assess one’s own levels of employability. Scientific and reliable assessments can measure one’s level of employability – that have been tried and tested, and most importantly- in accordance with industry’s expectations. Some assessments even diagnose one’s strengths and weaknesses, thus mapping out the key problem areas – that needs immediate addressal and the important pre-requisite skills that one needs to work on. These assessment tests facilitate a comprehensive report on one’s level of employability and alternate routes to enhance it.

Network

Needless to say, that making contacts in adequate and most importantly appropriate, can further add to one’s career growth trajectory. It is important to be on a lookout for appropriate people in the industry, who could eventually be helpful in one’s career growth. A helping hand of this sort may be by way of offering relevant insights into industry or by helping with contacts that may help one’s career.

Research

Especially when it concerns career’s, the role of research is extremely critical for any student or candidate. Exhaustive and qualitative research on career path, industry verticals, markets, job roles and one’s own skillsets help with key indicators on a career, that one should possibly pursue. Being armed with enough knowledge of the market and the job can help candidates by way of – what to expect in a job market, possible competition and ways to have an upper hand, during an interview.

The employability rates as stated in the ASSOCHAM study, are definitely a cause for concern, especially considering the number of fresh graduates that flood the market in pursuit of a career. One has to take those proactive steps to ensure you a readiness to embrace a fast growing career trajectory.