The difference between MBA grads from the country’s top B-schools and their poorer country cousins is leading an astounding 77 per cent of them to be qualified as ‘unemployable’.
All said and done, you cannot really pass off a crow for a pigeon and get away with it for long. Sooner or later, the paint does wear off and do you know what you’re left with? A diploma that renders you “unemployable”. Oh yes! As far-fetched as this analogy may appear, the difference between MBA grads from the country’s top B-schools and their poorer country cousins is leading an astounding 77 per cent of them to be qualified as unemployable.
But facts first. According to one of the country’s largest skill assessment companies that tested MBA graduates from 790 B-schools across six cities in India, 77 per cent of them lack the skills required for recruitment. The test, based on seven different parameters which include “Verbal ability, quantitative ability, mental application, articulation, assertiveness and confidence,” according to R Pramod Harith, head, strategic marketing, of the company, shows how these grads “lack some critical skills that the industry is looking for,” says Harith. As grim as the ramifications of the paucity may be, market watchers and HR personnel will tell you they’re having a tough time hunting for eligible candidates.
And you can hardly blame them. If stats are to be believed, expanding business opportunities have scaled the MBA requirement in the country to a cool 1,28,000 a year. Of the 70,000 MBAs being churned out annually, three-quarters don’t merit jobs. Give the figures to Malay Chaturvedi, head, HR with a telecom major, and he’s wont to agree.
“There are plenty of jobs available, but we just don’t seem to be able to get the right people. There’s a huge gap between demand and supply,” says Chaturvedi even as he corroborates the parameters on which he finds prospective employees wanting: “They lack fundamental skills like computer literacy, knowledge of the English language and presentable personalities.”
So what could be the reason? “Discounting the IIMs and certain top B-schools, the standards in management institutes is pathetic,” answers HR consultant Raghav Chandra, and elaborates, “They teach you from the book! As a result, students lack the market-based knowledge which recruiters look for.” Agrees Chaturvedi and adds his perspective, “Everyone today wants to do an MBA and their aspiration levels are high. Unfortunately, they don’t have the personality or skills to match. Nor do they want to accept low-salary offers that do come their way.”
While Chandra feels top B-school alumni also cash in on their own networks, communities and contacts which other institutes again lack, Prof Pankaj Kumar, chairman placements, IIM-Lucknow adds the lack of a distinguished faculty to the kitty. “Even IIMs today are facing a faculty crunch, so the fact that these B-schools lack quality faculty shouldn’t really come as a surprise,” Kumar shrugs.
Not surprisingly then, intelligent recruiters have come up with their own way of fighting the malaise by ensuring sub-standard resumes don’t come their way. As Dr Anita Singh, learning manager of a well-known software consultancy, explains, “We cannot take the risk of recruiting people who lack the required standards and skills, which is why we do an aggradation of the schools we visit for campus recruitment and only after finding it suitable do we recruit its students.”
A practice that has led consultants like Chandra to quit placing employees at the entry level. As Chandra admits, “Attrition rates at the entry level are high and we’ve made a conscious choice to channelise people only at the middle and senior levels.” What happens to the grads who’re already finding it difficult to land jobs is the valid question now.
