The skills gap in the IT and ITeS industry remains an area of concern. Industry experts say that the percentage of employable candidates has not gone beyond the 25 per cent mark in spite of the efforts and initiatives taken by companies and various industry bodies such as the Confederation of Indian Industry to prepare the workforce to be industry-ready by the time they complete their academic programme.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the Coimbatore edition of ICTACT Bridge 2011, organised jointly by the ICT Academy of Tamil Nadu (ICTACT) and Nasscom (the National Association of Software and Services Companies) at Hotel Le Meridian here, Mr K. Jayaramakrishnan, Vice-President (Global Alliance), Tata Consultancy Services said “soft skills was and is still a major issue.”
McKinsey and the CII conducted a study to estimate the skill gap and project the manpower requirement across various industry verticals for the next 10 years in 2003-04. “It found then that only about 25 per cent of the candidates were employable and this percentage has not improved even by a percent till date,” said Mr Jayaramakrishnan.
The ICT Academy was mooted to address the issue of skills gap. Instead of going to the students directly, the academy trained the trainers' he said and stressed the need for better linkage between the industry and academia for improving the employability ratio.
Twin challenge
Mr Sridhar of Take Solutions and brand ambassador of ICTACT said the industry faced the twin challenge of gearing up to grow from $60 billion to $200+ billion in 10 years and in enhancing the skill sets of the people.
“On the former, the industry would have to redefine itself. A lot is happening on the business transformation front. If we continue as at present, there will be de-growth,” he said.
On lack of employable manpower, he said “unless supply is corrected, we cannot control cost.”
While conceding that the country's wealth is its people, he said, “academic institutions should lead the industry to resolve this issue and for this to happen, they (institutions) should invest to make the change happen.”
Restructuring educational system
Dr B.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, Chairman, Sakthi Textiles, stressed the need for reorienting and restructuring the educational system. He said, “while career is the goal in one's life, the goal should be independent of career.”
About 500 participants attended this second edition of ICTACT Bridge 2011 and an estimated 70,000 students across 170 colleges across Tamil Nadu are said to have watched the event live.
The focus was on ‘Recruitment trends 2011'.