No soft skills, no jobs

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu produces 1.5 lakh engineering graduates every year, in addition to the two lakh students who complete undergraduate programmes in Arts and Science colleges. However, all of them were not job ready.

There were several reasons including lack of communication skills and soft skills among students especially from the rural areas who were still struggling to get employment.

According to the statistics from the State Employment Exchange, about 25 lakh youths (between 18 and 30 years) are still waiting to get State government jobs. Adding to their woes was the pandemic-induced lockdown when students were forced to stay at home, thereby missing out on opportunities to develop their communication skills in higher education institutions.

Academicians and experts opine that though graduates get employment through job fairs and other sources, they’re unable to cope with the industry requirements and hence, sustain at a company for a limited time.

Inadequate preparation

Human Resources (HR) representatives pointed out that many students, especially in engineering stream, who score high marks, could not communicate properly during the interview.

“So, they were rejected at the first level itself,” said Kumar Syla, a HR official from a leading automobile company in the city.

He also stated that many students bring incomplete bio-data, which were downloaded from a website. “They just fill in the blanks or engage experts to prepare their resume. A separate subject on communication must be included as a part of regular curriculum. Communication skills is important for even local companies and in MNCs, it’s vital since the employees need to communicate each other in English,” he added. “Also, teaching technical aspects would be easy for freshers with good communication skills.”

B Santhosh Kumar, a HR professional, pointed out that in almost all software companies in the country, employees need to communicate well with foreign clients to retain them. “There’s a huge growing gap between technical skills and soft skills. This has impacted the job industry in a bad way,” he pointed out. “Communication and other soft skills are becoming mandatory for working professionals. Despite the availability of large talented and technically-sound youths, lack of soft skills is becoming a major setback to successful hiring.”

He also pointed out that the youth are unable to sustain in a company for a longer period. “Recently, I received a few bio-datas. I was shocked to see that students have changed four companies in just two years,” stated Santhosh.

Train faculty first

Former vice-chancellor of Anna University, professor E Balagurusamy, said that there were several colleges that do not have proper infrastructure to develop soft skills among students.

“Faculty members in every institution must provide a strong foundation to engineering students, especially in the area of soft skills to meet the needs of recruiters and MNCs,” he stated.

Pointing out various types of soft skills, a senior professor from the University of Madras said, “Interpersonal communication, pre-placement grooming, divergent thinking, goal setting, leadership skills, team building and decision making – these are also a part of soft skills that must be made mandatory.”

He added that every institution must make sure their students visit the company website before attending any pre-placement talks. “Students must avoid wearing jeans, t-shirts and half-sleeves to interviews. They must dress in formals. This must be added to any form of skills education,” said the senior professor.

Government’s initiative

A senior official from the Higher Education Department said that the State government had established soft skill centres in 62 Government Arts and Science colleges in computer literacy, communication skills and personality development.

“Under this scheme, every year Rs 1.55 crore is being spent on training 500 students,” he added. “The Slow Learners Scheme is being implemented by conducting coaching classes and remedial classes in 24 Arts and Science colleges across the State. And this year, Rs 30 lakh will be spent on this scheme.”

The State-sponsored Slow Learners’ Scheme focuses on preventing drop-outs in colleges, enabling slow learners to receive special care and attention, provide customised training, and also develop learning skills to complete their graduation.