The 7th and 8th Skill that you cannot do without, if you seek your dream job

7. Sales and Customer Service

Real Case Study

Mahesh and Anil finished their MBA in 2010, and both got a job in a company manufacturing and selling goggles, both started their career at a salary of INR 12000/, Mahesh wanted to get into back office operations so he became the MIS Coordinator. Anil was taken in sales. Anil used to go around the market, builds new relationships with retailers and service existing business partners; his target was to increase sales. Mahesh used to maintain MIS of inventory, record of total sales, revenue generated and outstanding payments on the company’s software. By 2013, Anil’s salary is INR30000 whereas Mahesh is getting INR15000. Mahesh at times cribs about the low salary he is getting in spite of the tremendous inflation we have seen over last 3 years. Dipping profits, thin margins and the macroeconomic environment forced the management to downsize the organization.

Now, if you head the management and you have to show the door to any one of them, who will you choose between Mahesh and Anil. Who should get the pink slip?

Obviously Mahesh, reason Anil is connected to people and the market, he has been networking with human beings, he is the one who gets business and generates revenue; businesses cannot do without their Anil’s. If the management did fire him a sizeable chunk of business can be taken by Anil to the competition.

Mahesh on the other hand dealt with systems and software’s, he had an expertise in computers, but at the same time he is expendable. You can get a 2013 graduate who will definitely be better and faster on spread sheets, having better computer knowledge and will be willing to join at INR10000/-.which will be 2/3^rd of Mahesh’s salary. Remember these words, in any organization all Mahesh’s are expendables whereas Anil’s are indispensables.

I remember a bank coming to Evolve XL to conduct interviews for MIS Coordinator wherein the salary that the bank offered was 12000 per month, about 80 people turned up for the interview and we were about to wind up the proceedings at about 4pm when this slim, lightly built guy came and pleaded that he was coming after having given 3 interviews and got delayed, requesting for a chance to be interviewed. The HR manager relented and interviewed him, he was knowledgeable and did rather well, but the moment he was about to go out of the room he did something which got him the job, he turned and told the HR manager “Sir, I desperately want this job, salary is not an issue even if I get 9000 I am ready to join from tomorrow.” You know what, he got the offer letter that very day and since then that bank has pegged the salary for this profile from 12000 to 9000. Why would any organization pay more when they can hire at a lesser amount?

95% of the youth I meet dreads three words “Sales, targets and field” and all those people who can be called successful are doing all three, remember if you ever want to drive a Mercedes or dream of having your own sea facing pent house, don’t shy from these three words. And I will not be mistaken if I say that 90% of the MD’s in the world came up the ladder from sales.

Let’s see an interesting statistics here.

70 Cr are searching for jobs, 95% of that want backend jobs, that means approx 66 Cr people want back end jobs, 5% of employees in any organization consists of backend profiles, now imagine the intense competition, and that is the reason no organization is willing to pay more than 10-12000 per month for these jobs because of the sheer numbers available. Further the moment you apply for a 15000 job you see that you are competing with CA’s and CFA’s.

MBA finance tells me I want a finance job in a bank, Let me clarify here there are no finance jobs in a banks. The nature of entry level jobs along with their respective percentages available in any bank are 85% in sales, 10% in credit 5% into operations.

Suppose you get INR 15000 per month that means that the company/bank you are employed with, will expect you to contribute INR 60000 per month to their bottom-line or net profit. How do you think someone can add that amount in the bottom-line, simple you have to sell something to do that, so sales becomes an intrinsic part of banking which each employee in a bank branch is supposed to do, even a teller has CASA and Insurance targets in the new age banking.

At Evolve XL we have hardcore operation jobs as well but candidates should understand that software’s have removed human intervention. All that the banks need is someone to just punch in the data and these jobs may not be able to give you the growth or the money most candidates aspire for. Further these data entry jobs are the most thankless job in a bank and people working in this profile end up working for 12 hours a day with no appreciation or pay hikes. Since most candidates might not like the nomenclature of data entry operator so some smart HR in some banks/ companies name it glamorously eg. Data Analyst for which many youngsters fall. A vogue I see in HR functions happening is coming up with new innovative names which can attract candidates. 

Let’s understand this phenomena in simple terms “Who is the decision maker in your family?” Most of you would answer “Dad” or “Mom”. My next question is “Why are they the decision makers?” The answer to this is your dad is the decision maker not because he is the eldest but because he is the revenue generator, he gets the money, the day you start earning more than him you will be the decision maker. We also see non working mothers having an equal say in the decision making process. That is simply because mother’s can assess the risk, so their decisions are given equal weight age, rest everyone in the family has a supporting role to play. Understanding that our family is like an organization, putting the same principal in a company/bank which is a profit driven organization. Who calls the shots in a bank? It is the sales because they generate revenues along with the under writers or chartered accountants who assess the risks, rest all functions be it HR, operations etc are support functions. What role do you want to play? I leave it to you.

8.  Basic Managerial skills

 “All of the top achievers I know are lifelong learners … looking for new skills, insights and ideas. If they’re not learning, they are not growing… not moving towards excellence.”- Denis Waitley

We have covered the first 7 skills which are critical in your search for your dream job. Since the unemployment in India is at an all time high and the competition is fierce, employers are spoilt for choices, so they emphasize and search for the under mentioned skills. A smart candidate will understand that it becomes extremely important for him/her to acquire these skills and abilities apart from their academic knowledge and demonstrate them in their resumes and in their interviews to get the employment offer.

These skills vary from industry to industry and company to company. Hence candidates need to research about the industry and company as to which are the must have skills to ensure selection.

The candidate needs to be organized, strong time management skills and personal efficiency are the key to success. At a typical day in office a professional will deal with an irate customer, an intermittent technical question from your boss, process delays, sales targets, hr issues involving a sub-ordinate. And that’s to say nothing of social media, personal growth, leave planning and a whole host of other things each one critical to someone.

When you get into a profession, remember priorities and business needs you to move fast and change fast, you need to have the dynamism to be able to handle it all, all at once. Companies today want multi-taskers.

Soon will be back, with the last two of this “Critical10 Skill-set recruiter want in you.” Till then “Happy reading”

General Awareness - The 6th skill set recruiters look for

Candidate in an interview: Good morning Sir, I have completed my MBA with specialization in Finance.

Interviewer: OK good. So tell me what is the impact of fiscal deficit on the economy of the country.

Stumped……

Are you reading economic times…..?

Human beings have seen 3 ages, the agricultural age when wealth was defined as ownership of land. In the second wave of the Industrial age it was defined by the ownership of capital such as factories, machinery etc. I was born in this era so when I look back, I remember bustling factories and huge manufacturing set ups. Post 1991 we have entered in the knowledge workers age where wealth is based on the ownership of knowledge and the ability to use that knowledge to create and improve goods or services.

The best of fortune 500 companies have two things in common, they are all born out of unique ideas their founders had in their minds and they made fortunes without really manufacturing anything, technically speaking just their idea which was a child of knowledge made billions for them from thin air. Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Apple all began this way.

So evolving from the Industrial worker to knowledge worker there is a need for a new kind of workers and managers. Sadly our education system is promoting the academic knowledge which was required in the industrial era and the fact of the matter is that what we are teaching our kids has no relevance. Kids today need application oriented knowledge and skill sets. Moreover what is taught in 9^th is not asked in class 10^th in other words our education system itself promotes short cuts and cramming. No wonder when I ask MBA’s and M.Com’s class 9^th Commerce questions like “What is the formula of Cash profit?”Or “What is amortization?” Most of them draw a blank.

Lack of general awareness shows lack of intellectual curiosity indicating mediocrity. How will you shine out of 70 Cr. young Indians searching for a good job?

You got it…….. Knowledge….. Start reading Economic Times from today and chew on whatever application oriented knowledge you can get. Happy reading.  

The Critical 3rd, 4th and 5th Skill sets recruiters search in candidates

I spoke about the importance of Attitude and Business ethics in my last blog, here we will see which are the other three skill-sets recruiters judge the candidates on

3.   Grooming

The way you carry yourself, the way you sit or stand, your poise, non verbal communication, your conduct, your smile, mannerism, facial expressions all form a part of your persona and grooming. Right from your head to your toe the message you send across, it tells a lot about the kind of upbringing the candidate has had.

I know of a bank that will reject all those candidates who come without wearing a tie to the interview, the logic given is quite simple, it shows the importance candidate gives to the occasion of the interview and the organization where he wants to work.

4.   Confidence

Confidence is of two kinds, the first kind is which you get when you wear a nice suit on some occasion and you know that you are looking awesome, you want people to observe you, this is external confidence which adds up to just about 10% of overall confidence. The remaining 90% comes is internal confidence which comes from your knowledge.

Let me exemplify this all of us remember our first serious examination that we gave in class 10^th the first board examination. Most of us would remember 2 subjects, the first in which we were the best, mine was English and I was so confident on my subject knowledge that even if someone woke me up at midnight to take the test I would easily score 90+, and then the second subject which was your worst, mine was Chemistry in this case.

Now try to recall your body language and your state of mind of two different days when the respective examinations were conducted. On the morning of English examination I wanted to be seen and used to talk about my favorite subject with others, test the knowledge of my friends, I remember being super confident. Chemistry examinations always were slated during the final days of the examination. On the day of Chemistry paper I sincerely wished and I would not mind if there was a holocaust and the world came to an end. I would confess here I still get scary dreams telling me tomorrow is my final board examination and the paper is Chemistry and you know what I married a PhD, Chemistry to get over this. On a serious note when you have the subject knowledge it shows in your confident persona.

Food for thought- "Are you super confident going to interviews?"

5.    Communication Skills

You have technology in your palms, you have Watsapp, FB and Google, are you the only ones who is using technology? Think again, even the HR’s use it, your interview started the moment you walked in the Interview premises. Remember they made you wait in the hall for about an hour or maybe more. There are zooming CCTV’s where you are observed, then there are some dummy HR candidates who are planted to observe you up close. A great amount of your attitude, ethics, grooming and confidence by now is known to them.  Forty percent of your interview is over by now and you have not spoken a word. Wow are you surprised, it happens.

And now someone calls out the candidates name and he is invited to the interview cabin. “Good morning Sir, Please may I come in”, are the first words most candidates speak. Does it not give a 40% idea to the interviewer regarding the communication skills of the candidate, and now if interviewer wants to have a 100% understanding of his communication skills he will ask “Please tell me something about you” The candidate gives a small brief about his background for about 30 secs to a minute and the interviewer says “Thank you so much we will get back to you.” If the candidate is you something somewhere inside you explodes “ You gotta be kiddin, I’ve waited for over one and a half hour and all you ask is tell me something about yourself I was so keen to tell you the summer projects I did” and you feel inspite of the fact i majored in finance I can still be a better HR manager than this dud." 

No, sir please understand that approx 50% of the interview is over by the time you gave this answer and my little interaction with HR tells me 95% of job seekers are not able to make it beyond the first five skill sets.

I will be back with five more critical skill sets which are extremely desirable in candidates from the recruiter's perspective. Till then happy reading. 

The most important and the first two things HR wants in a candidate

No 1. Humility – having the right attitude

When I write this word “humility” I invariably get reminded of Mr. Sachin Tendulkar. Ever wondered what is special about his greatness, it’s his attitude, his humbleness. During my corporate career i have taken nearly 1500 interviews, just by the virtue of this experience on meeting a candidate i can fairly make out about 40%- 45% about one's candidature and whether he fits into the requirement. Now imagine a professional who for last 10 years has been interviewing day in and day out, he is like a scanner or an X ray machine. You do not need to open your mouth for him to judge you. Some of these recruitment guys are so good that they are literally see through you. Keep that in mind and now read on.

Because of the generic myth of importance of flashy degrees the candidates gets a misplaced attitude of high and hotheadedness which proves fatal for the job search. Some people feel that the value of the degree is directly proportional to the salary package (s) he will get. If a candidates starts feeling and demonstrating over confidence showing off his degrees it’s a sure shot recipe of being rejected. Humility is the first thing the HR's want in a candidate. The candidate’s needs to exhibit that he understands that there is a lot to learn and he is willing to learn. A lot of times unknowingly candidates display misplaced attitude in their resumes when they increase the font and highlight their degrees to grab the attention of the HR.

A leading Bank's HR head called and told me "Abhishek please stop lining up MBA's." I was flabbergasted, i asked "Why" and the reason he gave me was "You know what these guys are fed loads of redbull in their campuses so when they come out they all are 2 feet above the ground, whereas a normal graduate who is clearly an under dog is slightly on the defensive that he is competing with MBA's, in that scenario the graduate tends to work more at lesser pay package and definitely has lesser attitude.As regards to application oriented domain knowledge both are clueless so we have decided to hire more of graduates."

And this is absolutely true that some of the corp-orates are now slowing distancing themselves from the breed of these B and C class MBA's. 

I would like to add that MBA is quite useful provided you do it from an "A" class institute. If you really plan to go for MBA bell the CAT.

No 2. Business Ethics

Ethics are those things which a child learns at his mother’s feet which get cemented over the years with the paradigm one keeps. It’s a debate whether conditioning can change the attitude and ethics after certain age so this becomes second most important thing for the HR’s to see in the candidature of the person who has to be hired. Simply put it’s the way a person conducts himself in a business environment. The decision to behave ethically is a moral one, companies want employees to decide what they think is the right course of action.

Just a small example; I get more than 200 resumes every day, the other day I got a resume from rita4funinmumbai123@____.com, now what do you think this email id gives a picture of, should I seriously take Rita as a candidate ready to be a Pro or should I delete the mail, small mistakes like these jeopardize your chances of getting a job. Have you got a professional email id which is different from your personal email id. Try and get mail id’s like abhishek.singh@evolvexl.com if you cannot find it available on Gmail who stops you to have one on zoho.com or for that matter any new mail id. It does not make any difference whether your mail id is on gmail or zoho, but more importantly it should have a professional look and feel. These are the first lessons that professional education should teach there students.

The Evolve XL Research (Ten Critical Skill sets employers look for)

A research arm of Evolve XL is devoted to discovering and documenting the new trends and changes in the job environment of the geographies we operate in. For the last three years we have studied over hundred companies, SME’s, B-Schools and other organisations. We have asked questions, listened, gathered and analyzed data using modern methodological tools. Center for research has been developing world class content after doing internal researches and consulting Industry experts.

We see every candidate's resumes on literally all job portals, even companies like Citibank and others are on these job portals, then why can't these companies straight away hire from these job portals, ok, if the companies want to hire the creamy layer why can't they have a filter in terms of the percentages students score. 

Why companies pay the recruitment consultants when nearly 70 Crore Indians are searching for jobs, or is it that there are no jobs which again would not be a correct statement. Only the BFSI  segment generates Lacs of jobs every year. This got us thinking and we started off with our research.

We went to various private sector banks and met the hiring managers, the recruitment managers, the business managers anybody involved in the hiring process and asked them questions like

Why don't you hire from all the MBA Colleges?

Why can't you send emails directly to candidates and  hire from the job portals?

Why do you have to pay the recruitment consultant through your nose when you can simply give an ad in newspapers say like a Mumbai mirror and organize a drive and i am sure seeing the amount of people looking for jobs, it will be a huge drive?

We then went to various B and C Class B Schools and met the deans, directors, placement co-ordinators and anyone who was involved in placements of the students and asked them questions like

Why can the college not manage a single multinational bank for the campus interviews?

Why the MBA students land up with the same jobs which normal graduates get?

What is the value addition that the MBA degree did wrt the placement of the students?

Why is the feedback of the students on the college so poor on course completion?

Then we met sampled students across various functions and asked them questions like

What is the dream job they want?

What are the skill sets they have which qualifies them for that job?

From all of these three sources we got some answers and once we completed our 360 degree research involving the three pillars of the job market the corporate, the colleges and the candidates we came to a conclusion that

85% of today’s graduates don’t have the basic employ-ability skills our surveys prove this and more so these findings are also similar to the research done by Mc Kinsey and Nasscomm which says 87% of graduates are not job ready.

After a research which took us more than an year to complete involving nearly 30 Corporates 30 odd b schools and nearly a sample size of 1000 candidates who responded we hit a dead end and were stuck with a problem statement, to break down the code we needed to break down the two words - Employ-ability Skill sets  What are these employ-ability skill sets? To get an answer to this we met 50 HR managers having an experience of over 10 years who were in the domain of talent acquisition, recruitment and hiring and asked them a simple question  What is the skill set that you benchmark the candidates on and on the basis you select?

With nearly 500 years of experience we came to a unanimous conclusion of 10 critical skill sets which the HR checks out across industries, and in the order of their importance they are listed in an ascending order. Will be writing on each of these in subsequent blogs

The Solutions

1. Differentiating between a Job and a Career (A real case study)

At 21 Mahesh finishes his B.Com and looks for a job, he is told that a multinational bank is hiring and interviews are on, Mahesh goes there with his certificates and on facing the interview panel he is asked whether he is ready for sales, he declines. After sitting at home for next two months he again comes across an interview advertisement of a bank, he goes to attend but the same story is repeated. It is extremely frustrating for Mahesh as the jobs available are not matching his aspirations.

One day he gets a call from his friend Vikram saying there is a vacancy in the office he works, Mahesh goes for the interview in his Vikram's employer's office M/S Sameer Shah and associates, a CA firm, he inquires about the job profile, it would be data entry, managing MIS and day to day operations, Mahesh likes the profile but is disappointed to know the salary is only INR 6000pm. Having no other option Mahesh accepts the offer as it is certainly better than being jobless sitting at home.

It has been six years since Mahesh joined M/S Sameer Shah and associates, now his salary is INR11000 and is soon going to get married. Over these years Mahesh has become much more aware of the job market and growth possibilities in the company he works.He realizes that he works in a proprietorship firm and unorganized sector, he will never have the growth here that he can expect in corporates. 

Mahesh starts searching for jobs again, he gets lucky with an interview with a leading bank, he goes for the interview and is asked the same question 

Interviewer "Are you ready for sales?"

Mahesh "Yes.I am"

Interviewer "What are your salary expectations?"

Mahesh "Sir i have an experience of 6 years and am currently getting 11000, so i expect some increment over that"

Interviewer "Where are you working?"

Mahesh "Sir, i have been working with M/S Sameer Shah and associates for last five years"

Interviewer "Sorry Mahesh but we will not take that as an experience, because the experience of unorganized sector is not counted. As regards to your candidature we will treat you as a fresher and for freshers our policy grants a maximum salary of INR 10000 pm. Tell me if you are interested?"

Noe Mahesh is in a typical catch 22 situation. The mistake Mahesh made at the start of his career is a common story in metropolitans. This not only robbed Mahesh of valuable six years of experience but now he starts his life with people five to six years younger to him. Its like having a feeling of failing in a class for six years and being with your juniors.

I always tell my students in various MBA colleges and the candidates who come to Evolve XL looking for jobs that if you are looking out only for jobs, chances are that you will be spoilt for choices but if you want a more fulfilling and a richer life concentrate on career look at a long term and a holistic vision of 20 to 25 years. Probably that's the reason why most of the interviewers ask the candidates" Where do you see yourself in five years from now?" Having a myopic vision will only inhibit your chances of having a great career.

2. Identifying the Sectors you would like to work for

Have you seen a surfer, he jumps on to a tide which is growing and the moment he feels the tide is about to collapse he jumps on to another which is growing? Similarly candidates should also identify which sectors are growing? In my seminars i always ask the candidates "Why do you want to get into banking?" and i get all sorts of answers. But the bottom-line is banking is growing and will continue to rock for next 20 to 25 years purely because the industry penetration is sub 30% levels which simply means 70% Indians are yet to open bank accounts. Which are the industries which are bound to grow faster than the others, my first five would be banking, education, retail, infrastructure and healthcare. Smart candidates choose growing sectors. I always maintain that you might be the smartest guy in your B School but god forbid if you choose a wrong industry you will go nowhere, had i been a fresher in today's time i would not dream of getting into a telecom company or a BPO. 

3. Zeroing on the profiles matching your skill sets

In my teens i was madly in love with Jennifer Lopez and wanted to marry her, not that my affinity to her has changed but i had an aspiration, when i tell this to my candidates they laugh and i ask them "Why are you guys laughing and then i tell them  "I know why you laughed because whenever someone aspires you start matching his skill sets to aspirations, she is an international star i am no-one, i am 5"7, she is maybe 5"10, she is a billionaire and i am a small time entrepreneur she has amazing head of hair and i am bald. Having aspirations is good, each one of us have a right to dream but then they should be achievable with the skill sets we have and if it is beyond our current skill sets we need to upgrade them to achieve our dreams and aspirations.

Whenever i ask candidates what is the dream profile they want in a bank i get different but very  interesting answers, but the most common is "Sir, i do not know what exactly i am looking for but one thing for sure i do not want three words in the job profile which are sales, targets and field." I always tell candidates job search is like searching for a new girl friend. If you have 20 girls in your class and you go out after all of them chances are quite bright that you will end up with none of them so you have to narrow your search to one particular girl and then see what it that she likes and dislikes. When you are ready with all the skill sets that she likes propose to her. Similarly zero down on the profile that matches with your skill sets in the industry you want to work for and how do you do that. Do your own research. If you want to get into banking industry go to the nearest bank branch meet the branch manager and gently ask him for two minutes of his, its highly unlikely that he would not entertain you. Ask him what are the job profiles according to your skill sets you can get if there were any vacancies. Hear it right from the horse's mouth, that might give you clarity of the job scenario in the sector you want to join.

The Reasons

Our Education System

The syllabus we follow till date be it MBA or any graduation program be it BBI, BMS, B.Com is obsolete, we are still following what was taught to our grandfathers in 1960's. Today we are in knowledge worker's age and we are teaching our youth redundant stuff which was followed in Industrial era. Proof of this would be India's poor performance in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests (India ranked 71 out of 73 nations) sparked a raging controversy about the adequacy of our education system. The fact is that in India we are still, by and large, trapped in the paradigm of teaching "content". All over the world (including China), the shift has been towards teaching "skills", that are necessary for making a truly global 21st century citizen.

What are these skills? They are, first and foremost, their ability to ask questions. Unless a child develops that innate curiosity, he /she will be a misfit in the new age work environment. In India, except for the most progressive schools (and how many of those exist?), questioning is seriously discouraged. This is partly the result of cultural conditioning (asking questions of elders is considered disrespectful), partly because of the extraordinarily large number of students in classes, and largely because the teachers do not know the answers.

Attitude of the students

1. Students and youth of India looking for jobs feel that the more fancy degrees/ fancy colleges they have or they go to, the better chances of employment they get which is a myth. A B.Com is considered to be a down market degree by a BMS because he has paid INR 20000 more, an MBA feels he is far better than graduates and will command a much better salary package. However the fact today is MBA's are getting the same jobs which are being offered to the graduates, so who gives the youth this misplaced attitude.

During the course of these degrees the educationist and the education system as a whole keeps the students ego's massaged about the great career that he/she is going to have as they have to ensure their fee installments come on time. It is only at the end of the course when the real picture gets clear to the students who are by now in a hopeless situation.

2. 90%of the candidates i meet are clueless about the job profiles available in banks; they have their own paradigm regarding the jobs which is far from reality. Moreover these days students prefer and are looking for band aids or quick fix solutions, short cuts to success, this is driven from the culture of giving important questions before examinations by teachers themselves and slowly this becomes a habit. Everyone seems to be driven by personality ethic and character ethic is a lost terminology. How to look good, speak well, be more popular has taken over the character ethics like loyalty, justness, integrity etc. 

Political Will

Someone on newshour asked one of the panelist representing the government on food security bill "Why don't you give us jobs we will feed ourselves? What I would have preferred is a focus on reforms in education sector, creating job opportunities, building infrastructure and clearing supply-side bottlenecks." Simply put old proverb aptly echoes my sentiments "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." 

The Problems of higher education in India

India is the youngest economy on the planet, about 60% of Indians are in the age bracket of 20 to 30 years! What an opportunity. As a nation if we channelize this work force we will zoom past any other... What an impact it can have on our GDP, but on the flip side if these kids go not get employment its a threat to the social fabric. I meet about 2000 such young dreamy eyed pass outs looking for jobs every month, with loads of aspiration and attitude. About 40 Lac young Indians graduate out of colleges and enter the race to a good job, but only 4 Lac get jobs in organised sector, these numbers are scary.I wonder at times whether this has anything to do with the increase of Maoism and Naxalism in India or the disturbing trends of  rapes in cities like Mumbai where it was unheard of and was supposed to be the safest city for women in the country. Is this the reason why four engineering graduates of Bangalore resorted to loot a bank of 15 Lacs and killed the security guard, imagine the desperation these kids have. Who is to blame?

Unlike kids of the 70's and 80's this young India has seen tremendous growth in 90's to 2008, they have seen bottom lines double every year, they saw their preceding generation buying flats and cars in their 30's due to the growth India saw post 91. So they expect the same growth for themselves as well, media exposure and the fast changing technological advancement makes them crave for a new smart phone when it is launched, today when i look around in my classes and seminars i find 90% of students on hi-end smart phones,don't get me wrong i am certainly not against anyone's aspirations, what is disturbing is the huge gap between the aspirations and skill sets to achieve them. This coupled with the obsolete Indian education standard is going to a perfect recipe for disaster. This GenX are damn good when it comes to handling smart phones or computers but beyond that is a question best left unanswered, thanks to our educationists and pedagogy which have made them the champions of short cut.

The MBA placement percentages are anywhere between 14%-16%, till recently the youth felt that having this degree under the belt would be the passport to a great career but the myth is shattered, why has the sheen deserted these so called B Schools? Why have over 500 MBA colleges closed down in last 18 months?
Some people get very annoyed when i put these facts across and love to rebut. Two questions to drive my point home.
1. If i am your younger brother would you fund my MBA degree from your own college?
(99% of my respondents reply in negative)
2. For those who are working please let me know what percentage of academic knowledge you acquired in two years of management have you been able to apply at your workplace?

Never before in the history of mankind has any generation faced such a tremendous battle to get a good job in order to survive.I dare say today the biggest national problem that we face is employ ability of our youth and the second would be Infrastructure.

Will be following it up with the reasons and solutions to counter this national threat.