An exclusive series dedicated to the Career Gurus who have contributed most effectively to improve the employability of students and contribute to the employment ecosystem in India. In the second article to the series, career guru awardees of Hyderabad & Pune render their voice on why and how students should focus on improving their employability skills.

Vijaya Mair, CVR College of Engineering, Hyderabad, awarded the best career guru in the category, 'Inspiring Minds'.

Every student needs to choose his/her career options at an early age and pursue the related studies. Quite often, the student's qualification and his percentage do not match the requirements of his/her choice of career. This is the reason why students today in spite of having qualification are not getting employed. I would like to use this platform to communicate to every individual as to what are the benefits of discussing career options at an early stage i.e. during the first year of their graduation.

Every company needs good students to be employed. In an attempt to recruit the best student from the lot, academic percentage (i.e. 60% criterion) emerges out to be the most effective screening element. Despite this 60% criterion, most of the companies end up taking a student who is best on multiple aspects. This clearly states that 60% is only the eligibility to appear for the process but final selection has always been for high score, high problem solving skills, high logical and analytical ability, high organizational values, etc. Based on their scores and overall aptitude and personality, they get employed in different companies. It is very important for a student to focus on the prerequisites required to get selected and not just on the prerequisites required to appear for the process.

For a student to have successful career he needs to have very strong ethical values, be highly focused, zeal to learn and adaptability to any work environment.  These qualities would get them the best careers than just jobs.

Lastly I would like to compare Job and Career Vs Interest and Commitment with a proverb by Kenneth Blanchard

There's a difference between Interest and Commitment.
When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when it's convenient. But
when you're committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results. - Kenneth Blanchard

Do not look out for a job just because you're interested in doing one. Look out for your passion instead, wherein, you will be able to give your entire commitment!

Mr. Atul Kirdant, Sri Vishnu Educational Society, awarded the best career guru in the category, 'Visionary Minds'.

For individuals, employability depends on the knowledge, skills & abilities they possess. Employability skills are those skills which are necessary for getting and doing well at the work place. Greatest concern of employers today is finding a good candidate & enabling them to fit into the target role. Skills required for a job & those that are possessed by a candidate is what is called the skill-gap. Lesser the skill-gap, more suitable the candidate is from the employer's perspective. Though employers would prefer to recruit candidates with minimum skill-gap, not many candidates are available. To create a real differentiator, developing job skills in addition to academic qualification is the key to success for a job aspirant.

Following are the top reasons as to why is it difficult for one to get an employment suitable to his/her skills & competencies.

• Low academic percentage
• Lack of communication skills
• Lack of language skills [English]
• Lack of logical reasoning
• Lack of mathematical aptitude
• Lack of confidence
• Inadequate knowledge of technology
• Inadequate process / domain knowledge
• Not able to explain what is stated in the resume

In order to get a good job, a student must focus & work upon these pre-requisites.

To sum up I would say that in today's world nothing sells only on the basis of quality & potential it has. For people to look at your product & experience its quality, you need to reach out to them. In essence, no product can be successful unless it is properly positioned & marketed. Similarly, if you look towards the job market, you need to consider yourself as product & position yourself well. The document which helps you sell your services is called CV or resume. Your CV is like your sales brochure. You will need your sales brochure not only when you apply for your first job but also for better job. So you should see that your CV is properly written.

Prof. J.N Pitambare, Sinhgad College of Engineering, awarded the best career guru award under the category 'Inspiring Minds'

If we compare the present job market with the last decade, even a student with average skills could easily get a job back then since I.T companies were working towards expanding their workforce. These days, the requirement of the companies is less & therefore they judge a student on multiple parameters.

I think students with above-average communication skills, logical skills and an innovative mind set are the most sought after candidates by the companies. Gone are the days when an institute's responsibility was to impart mere theoretical knowledge, I guess we as a faculty also have an important role to play in the entire process. Bringing the corporates closer, training students as per the corporate wish list and focusing on their overall personality development are some of the steps we need to implement in our existing curriculum. 

As far as students are concerned, I would sincerely advise them to be not only well equipped in engineering subjects and software engineering fundamentals, but also have the ability to integrate the learning across the foundation areas, to apply them in practical situations, and also have professional skills to effectively compete in today's market place, such as teamwork, project management, cross functional networking, effective communications, logical & innovative thinking.