Why there is a Gap between Jobs and Training?

To be ready for today's job market students need industry-ready skills. Today there is an emphasis on teaching theory, but a gap in translating theoretical concepts into industry-ready skills remains. Professionals with vast theoretical knowledge but no industry-ready skills find it difficult to add value to employers and society. An important reason for the gap between jobs and training is as follows.

No Interaction between Academia and Industry

Today there is little to no interaction between industry and academia. The lack of communication between the two produces professionals who don't have industry-relevant skills. As students, professionals learn decades’ old concepts that have little relevance today. A sclerotic academia is unwilling to adopt new curriculum that aligns learning to skills industry requires. Worryingly, some in academia live in ivory towers and dismiss critique of their pedagogy as beyond the pale.

Thankfully, a few entities are designing curriculum that incorporates industries requirements. The results so far have been impressive. Such bodies work with the industry to understand what skills employees should have. Equipped with such understanding, they incorporate relevant specialisations into curriculum. Students who undergo courses designed alongside industry become specialised in Digital Marketing, BFSI, and Supply Chain Management. Knowledge of these specialisations helps them hit the ground running when they join employers.

The gap between what students learn and what industry needs could only be overcome by bridging the gap between industry and academia. What a sclerotic academia was unwilling to do earlier is being done by progressive entities that recognise the root of the problem plaguing higher education.

Students need knowledge of the following specialisations to succeed because technology is rapidly developing and becoming more deeply interwoven with business.

Digital Technologies and Marketing

A good understanding of digital technologies, including digital marketing, is essential for professionals. Businesses that use digital technologies can serve a broader market than those that don't use them. A marketing professional who knows little or nothing about digital marketing is a dinosaur. Because companies run digital campaigns to reach thousands of consumers; marketing professional's knowledge of traditional marketing channels must be supplemented with awareness of digital marketing channels.

Aside from the top-ranking business schools, few others institutes supplement learning about marketing with specialisations in digital marketing. Because graduates of lower-ranked schools don't know about digital marketing, they are less valuable to employers.

Banking, Finance Services, and Insurance (BFSI)

The banking, financial services, and insurance industries are using digital technologies to serve consumers better. Each sector is the backbone of a modern economy. Technology has broadened the reach of each industry. To work in banking, professionals need to understand nearly as much about technology as accounting and finance. Technology has simplified banking by making complex financial calculations a breeze. Most importantly, it helps present complex financial information in simple to understand formats.

Professionals need to understand the underlying architectures of BFSI and how technology can simplify it. Knowing how to use technology meant for the BFSI sector is a pre-requisite to working in these sectors. Without this understanding, people cannot be employed in the BFSI sector.

Logistics and Supply Chain Management

At the heart of commerce are sophisticated supply chains that grow in complexity every year. Only sharp minds have what it takes to optimise logistics. And in a climate where trade wars are disrupting established routes, there is increasing pressure on managers to discover new suppliers and channels. Such constraints will remain in the future.

Students who study supply chain management learn to align supply chains to save costs. They master techniques like “Just in Time Inventory Management” ensuring their employer has the right inventory precisely to meet its obligations. They also learn to allocate labour productively, increase sales, differentiate products, and conquer new markets. New entrants in the education space are helping students master these complex skills.

Sound Communication and Presentation Skills

In the business world, professionals have to be good at communicating and presenting. In most existing programs, very few students formally learn these skills. Not knowing how to communicate and speak well is a considerable impediment to employment. For this reason, new centres of learning are incorporating courses that teach public speaking and sound communication. How to use word processing software, spreadsheets, and email is also shown by these entities.

Only by incorporating the newest specialisations in curriculum can students acquire industry-relevant skills. Also, every good leader has personal qualities that attract others. So, in addition to expertise in unique specialities, students also need to develop their personalities. Currently, only a fraction of universities have curriculum that imparts industry-ready skills and cultivates students’ personalities. The lack of industry-ready skills is the primary reason a majority of graduates are unemployable while impoverished characters prevent them from stepping into leadership roles.

To ensure students remain abreast with the newest specialisations, new entities, working with industry, have added programs that teach skills industries needs. These institutes of learning realised that working closely with industry to formulate new specialisations is the only way for students to be industry-ready. They also mould students’ personalities so they can step into leadership roles.

 Piyush Nangru, COO and Co-founder, Sunstone Eduversity