Education does not promise Employment

Yes, you read that right!
No matter which college you study from, if you do not have relevant skill set, it’s challenging to secure a good job.

Skill development is the new buzzword these days but what does the word, skill means? According to the American Merriam Webster Dictionary, skill is your ability to use your knowledge effectively.

Currently, our education system provides an individual only with the theoretical concepts and understanding but does not make the students job ready. It needs serious renovation and restructuring according to the growing demand of the skilled workforce in the market.

Gone are days when the recruiters used to give preference to the level of education and top tier colleges. Now, the focus has been shifted to the tangible quality outputs one can produce after acquiring all that knowledge. The youth today hold mere degrees but lack the expertise to compete and fit in the industry as per the demand. The lack of relevant skills of the young people who belong to the underprivileged section of the society and a mismatch between supply and demand in the market leads to very poor employability opportunities for them.

As per United Nations (UN) population prospects, out of the total youth in the world, every fifth resides (20 percent) in India (366 million), reflecting the importance of this segment of people in the country. The youth from the poorer section of the society is at risk of experiencing varying degree of social and economic marginalisation and are more likely to be left behind from mainstream development.

It is therefore, important to invest in skill development as it helps in attaining socio-economic empowerment along with creating a robust workforce for the country. With these thoughts, BharatCares started a Youth Job Readiness Program, BharatCareer.
BharatCareer is the catalyst that not only fastens one’s process of getting close to their dream job butalso makes one stand out in the large pool of applicants.

BharatCareer Youth Job Readiness Program is a flagship initiative under BharatCares (social impact arm of CSRBOX) that aims to serve as a pathway for the aspiring young graduates of our country to achieve a rewarding career and provide the youth with the real workplace skills that matter. It is an intensive placements-linked program to prepare the final year undergraduate and graduate students for the jobs-market.
While on one side, the program works to prepare youths for their career, on the other side, it works with employers to identify employability avenues and then host Career and Job Fairs for these youths.

It caters to the needs of the work-seekers as well as the opportunity providers in entry-level white- collar jobs. The program has a unique 90 hours’ module and usually takes 5-6 weeks, starting from training to placement. However, to achieve this, it requires students to dedicate at least 3 hours daily.

It is of paramount importance that any skill development program focuses on the professional development of an individual that ranges from understanding of various career options, cultivating professional knowledge, hard skills and competencies, soft skills, workplace ethics and attitude, being constructively engaged, etc.

BharatCareer aspires to contribute in India’s growing demographic dividend by leveraging the potential of young graduates and improve their employment outcomes.

As Planning minister, Rao Inderjit Singh rightly said, “Without the right conditions of education and gainful employment, India's demographics may not provide the expected dividend.

The views expressed are the author’s and do not reflect the views of BharatCares.

Isha Sharma

With an intriguing academic background in Philosophy and Development Management, Isha is an alumnus of Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi and Indian School of Development Management, Noida. Being a development professional, she curates the content to communicate the impact of sustainable interventions and is currently playing a role of Senior Communication Associate at CSRBOX. Prior to this, Isha worked with Digital Empowerment Foundation to optimize the value chain of the handmade products of artisans across India along with developing various communication strategies to increase the revenue and improve the outreach of the organisation. She is a craft enthusiast who loves to discover and preserve the lost art forms.