I have been a keen observer of the skill development initiatives that both the central as well as the State Governments run in different names. It is interesting to note that many of these initiatives are run by different departments in different manners, each catering to different needs in different names. Well, as far as the outcomes are met, we can hope that these initiatives are on track. But, is it actually meeting the objectives? Have we reached a stage where we can confidently say that at least 80% of the students and young professionals are employable? Even today, every year we get to read the decreasing figures of employment and employability despite the fact that we vehemently promote entrepreneurship and skill development.
Let me share my own experience of running multiple start-ups and having interviewed at least 5000 candidates in the past decade for several of my clients as an HR Consultant. Most of the time, I realise that it’s not lack of skills that leads to denial of job. It’s actually lack of “matching skills”. Many times, we get candidates who apply for a post without even understanding how they can fit into the role. Secondly, in the case of fresh graduates, one of the key issues is their lack of soft skills and the right technological skills. And thirdly, many times, the employers only need someone with a bare minimum skill sets and learn-ability instead of someone with high level of specialised knowledge. Many start-up founders who are my clients ask this : “Can you please help me find someone with right attitude? I will train them” or “I just need someone with a willingness to join my team. I can train them, give them exposure. But I am not in a position to pay high salary since I am a start-up running on shoestring budget”. I also know of various bootstrapped start-up founders who struggle to balance their resource crunch and their funds. Some deny opportunities to freshers because they think its a wastage of time to train them by paying salary just to see that they leave the company in a few months.
Coming to the candidates side, most of the candidates are literally confused about which job to choose and despite having creative capabilities they end up choosing or waiting for that MNC job which is ultimately working on a process. Many candidates do not prefer working for a startup because there is no guarantee that they can continue in that job or because the startups cannot pay decent salary.
So, on one side, we have a large pool of semi –skilled talent sitting idle at home because they didn’t get a job in an MNC and on the other side, we have a pool of Start-ups who are struggling to find the right resource at cheap rates with their limited funds. Why don’t we connect these two segments and remodel the “Skill India” initiative?
One of the key costs for any start-up is paying salaries to the employees. If a start-up can get right employees who can work and if their salary (if not full, at least a portion) is met by the Skill India Mission, it’s a clear win-win situation. The current model of skilling via Training Service Providers who find out beneficiaries randomly from schools and colleges and then trying to place them as interns in some place for a week and then leaving them with a certificate is not benefiting anyone. Instead, if the same funds can be given to the Start-up as a “Start-up Salary Seed Fund” for hiring freshers as interns / employees for a few months, it leads to two things
1. The start-up survives with the indirect funding
2. The students get skilled with hands on experience of working in start-up which is equivalent to getting a long term skill development program
So, my proposal is this: Every Start-up India approved Start-up who have not received funding from investors shall become an authorised Training Service Provider of NSDC and they get financial support from NSDC / Skill India for every fresher hiring they make. This fund shall be used for the stipend / training of the candidate and they shall be employed for some minimum period with the start-up.
Of course, this is similar to the apprenticeship act through which technical candidates are employed by big industries. But in most of these big industries, the apprenticeship act is just one of their liabilities and neither the employer nor the employee gains much. In the case of start-ups, this promotes both skill development as well as enables start-ups to sustain longer because ultimately it’s the human resource that’s the most crucial resource in the case of a start-up.
I am putting this up here in my blog as an open proposal. Wish the concerned officials take this cue and develop this model for implementation.
#CeeVee
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