Employability Enhancement Skills and Digital Literacy

One of the major concerns of most of the organizations conducting campus recruitments in India is that the students lack necessary skill sets and knowledge level essentially required for good placement. The knowledge of changing environment and emerging economy as well as a fairer picture of the requirements of the companies for various job profiles is the key. This is major because of the lack of skill development training. Therefore, employability training plays a major role in shaping up the career goals of students as it enhances their employability skills and helps in the transition from academics to industry. The Center for Placements and Career Guidance, Christ (Deemed to be University) conducted soft skills placement training session for the final year PG and UG students who had registered for placements.

The objective of this session was to help students get an insight into various processes that happen during a campus placement drive and to equip them with the necessary skill sets to successfully clear each stage of the process. Different train-ing organizations were utilized for the soft skills training programmes which were conducted at the beginning of the academic year (odd semester) as well as during the even semester as below.

Ms Jyothi P S and Ms Sapna Pius from ‘Bianhua’ team conducted a"Campus to Corporate" module which broadly covered topics like Business Etiquette, Email Etiquette, Body Language, Professional dressing, Power Dressing, Grooming & Hygiene and Business Communication. 

Soft Skills training sessions were also conducted by Mr Abhishek Aiyappan & Ms Megha, Soft Skills trainers from the ‘Para’ team. Topics covered were Resume Writing, Video Resume, Personal Interview Skills, Mock GD sessions, Basics of Digital Literacy, Grooming, dressing & basic behavioural etiquettes & Communication Skills.

The placement training objectives were as follows. The students would be more confident while attending interviews, build a good resume that they could use for interviews and the ability to crack group discussion and personal interview rounds. Feedback from Students on Soft Skills Training sessions was very positive. Some of the comments that were made about the placement training sessions were as follows. Interactive and engaging; doubts were clarified effectively; content was relevant; mock GD and interview sessions were good; LinkedIn walkthrough was helpful; sessions included informative activities which pushed students out of their comfort zones etc.

A few companies that recruit from campus also briefed students on how to prepare for the placement process, e.g. Deloitte and KPMG, specifically in the following three areas. Resume Writing Skills: how to build a resume, do’s and dont’s, keeping things concise etc Group Discussion: Basic etiquettes to practice during the group discussion and how to create an impression; and Personal Interview: details like dress code, the importance of body language, how to tackle tricky questions during interviews, and tips on how to interact with the interviewer were discussed. Students were also briefed on what qualities organizations look forward to during campus placements.

Another skill set that organizations look forward to in the current age of technology is Digital Literacy. It is the ability to navigate various digital platforms and understand, assess and communicate through them. Digital literacy is important, especially for campus placements, because we live in a technology-savvy world. En-cyclopedias are replaced by google search engines, air ticket bookings through mobile applications, doctor appointments are now online etc. Digital literacy is not about posts on Facebook or posting pictures on Instagram. It is about seeking answers or information on the internet and to authenticate the reliability of the source of information before presenting in the online platform with the help of images and texts. Students, especially those participating in campus recruitment, should know basic differences between domain names. They should also understand the difference between posting a status on Facebook or Instagram from writing a research blog or article. The need to learn the basics of formatting the text and different writing styles available. Few soft skills students are required to learn in the Digital era are Microsoft Word, Powerpoint & Excel (Advanced excel for finance students); using data on cloud platforms; using google spreadsheets to collate da-ta; basics of Email communication, creating a LinkedIn profile, a social platform for professionals; knowledge of cybersecurity laws; learn how to use video conferencing platforms to collaborate and work in the digital world etc. Andrew Keen, a British-American entrepreneur and author had remarked :

"Being Human in the digital world is about building a digital world for humans."

The placement training programmes conducted by the Placement Office has immensely helped a lot of students get campus placements in many of the top recruiters with high packages such as Bain Capability Network, DE Shaw, Goldman Sachs, Boston Consulting Group, Arcesium, ZS Associates, Axxela Advisory, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC, Deloitte, Aon, Oracle, ICICI Bank, Deutsche Bank, Exxon Mobil, Shell, JP Morgan etc.