GOPAl DEVANAHAllI tells PARTH TAYAl that while Indians concentrate on getting a degree, the need of the hour is practical knowledge
Tell us about Meritrac.
It is India’s a testing and assessment company, it has been the pioneer of conducting authentic assessments for corporates, educational institutions and governmental organisations. The company has administered more than 20 million pre-recruitment for over 300 of India’s largest hiring organisation.
Tell us about the new programme launched.
Our company has launched a unique employability enhancement programme — AceTrac — as a solution to positively impact the stagnant employability quotient of the graduates. It will assess candidates on employability skill set at regular intervals during the graduation study of a student; it is a culmination of years of industry research, data analysis and interaction with corporate and educational institutions employability.
What are you aiming forIJ
With our new programme we are looking towards enhancing employment and to complement India’s skill building initiative. AceTrac will allow academic institutions to design personalised, long term training interventions for their students early in their graduation, which is a departure from the current practices.
Why is there a need to introduce such a programmeIJ
The problem of employability has been prevalent for a long time in the industry. Several initiatives by stakeholders have at best been either ‘quick fixes’ or disintegrated efforts, offering marginal benefits or leading to higher costs. The fact that employability cannot be improved overnight has been well established and the need for long term, strategic and fundamental changes in approach is imperative.
How will it be beneficial for both job seekers and recruitersIJ
For students looking out for jobs, our programme will help them by providing the right kind of direction and will let them know their shortcomings, by explaining them the expectations of the recruiters. For employers we will provide them the kind of staff they require by the skills that they are looking for in a candidate.
How affordable is the programmeIJ
Since our programme will just keep a check on students performance and guides them to what corporate are expecting from them, we have kept it very much affordable. It can include in the fees of colleges itself and if few students from any college are interested in enrolling in our programme we have separate scheme from them too.
What is the difference between your portal and other portalsIJ
Other online sites just offer the employers with potential candidates according to their given resume, whereas we in MeritTrac keep track of the entire performance of the candidate throughout his period of study and so we know the skills of each candidate, thus balancing the equation between the employer and job seeker.
What are the challenges faced by students while applying for desired jobsIJ
In India much of the emphasis is still focused on theoretical knowledge, but what employers require is practical knowledge. Also there is gap between the skills needed at workplace and skills acquired by student from his respective college, so with Acetrac we are trying to bridge this gap and create employability.