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Education Plus
From college to corporate world
ANASUYA MENON
With competition in the job market having stiffened, most colleges have gathered their wits together to ensure placements to their students. Some have tied up with agencies offering intensive coaching programmes on employability skills.
While corporates strike a fine balance between academic achievement and interpersonal skills in potential employees, a majority of students passing out of colleges are found to be lacking in communication and interpersonal skills.
This gradually widening gap between the industry’s expectations and the students’ skill sets have motivated companies such as Expertus, an HR company based in Chennai, to collaborate with colleges for training programmes.
Expertus has a “College to Corporate” programme, through which, students are groomed according to the needs of corporate companies.
The programme is drawn over 36 to 60 hours and combines class-room training, e-learning as well as web-based assessments.
Designed for students who are in their final year, the College to Corporate programme sharpens their interpersonal skills and their personality.
“With India becoming a global economy, an employee of a corporate company is required to multitask and interact with clients worldwide,” says Srinivas Krishnamurthi, Managing Director of Expertus. In the case of engineering students, the “College to Corporate” programme focuses on numerical, verbal and analytical abilities. The communication development module focuses on English language skills and the finer aspects of interpersonal communication.
A platform is also provided for students to practice their language and communication skills.
The company has tied up with around 10 colleges in Chennai and is planning to expand it to other parts of Tamil Nadu too.
For colleges, tying up with an external agency helps in planning the training programme effectively. “The faculty members tend to concentrate on academics.
Their primary focus is on making the students strong in their core subjects. With help from experts in soft skill development, our students can be moulded according to the industry’s expectations,” says P.M.Beulah Devamalar, Dean, Placements, Sri Sairam Engineering College.
The college runs the “College to Corporate” programme for one year. For a student in college, the first year is purely for academics, the second for aptitude development and the third, for soft-skill development.
The experts know what exactly companies look for in candidates, she adds. Moreover, for engineering students, the syllabus is heavy.
Most often in colleges, soft-skill development takes a back seat in the scramble for academic pursuit.
From training fresh graduates in technical and soft skills, 3 Edge Solutions, an IT Finishing School based in Chennai, is expanding their operations to colleges this year.
It has already identified about 10 colleges in Chennai and Coimbatore for starting competency development programmes for pre-final year students.
It includes both technical as well as soft-skills. The programme is for 14 weeks. The firm is also eyeing smaller cities such as Erode for their programme, says V.K.Susil Kumar, Consultant, 3 Edge Solutions.
“The colleges have been very receptive to the programme,” he adds. However, not all students are selected for the programme.
They choose the candidates after a selection test, he adds.
Rajalakshmi Engineering College in Chennai has been conducting a residential programme for its pre-final year students during their summer and winter vacations since 2005.
For ten days during each break, students stay at college and undergo rigorous training, which includes basic aptitude, group discussion, HR and technical interview skills.
The college invites experts from the IT industry and corporate companies to conduct the training sessions. Also, the students don’t have to pay for the programme, says G.Visagan, Head of Placements and Training at the college.
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