The War for Talent: How the Best and Brightest are being wooed across Indian Campuses

The War for Talent in Indian Campuses

There is a war for talent going across campuses in India. With the placement season in full swing, the news these days is full of stories that report how the top tier students in IITs or the Indian Institutes of Technology and the IIMs or the Indian Institutes of Management in addition to the NITs or the National Institute of Technologies are being offered large starting salaries with sign on bonuses included.

Indeed, given the frenzy among recruiters for the top talent, it seems as though things have never looked brighter for Indian Students. However, the war for talent in the top campuses masks a grim reality wherein the institutes of management and the engineering colleges that are at the middle and bottom end of the rankings are scarcely able to attract firms and companies willing to hire their students.

The fact that many corporates complain that the quality of graduates from institutes that are in the top bracket is so poor that employability or the aspect of employing them becomes difficult since they neither have the technical knowledge nor the soft skills to be able to transition from being students to professionals.

What the Government Ought to Do

Given these aspects, the government should take steps to address the imbalances and the differences between the students from the top institutes and the bottom ones.

It is also the case that the best and brightest have never had it good as the present with foreign multinationals and premium domestic firms vying with each other for them. Thus, it is clear that the Indian Education sector has come a long way since the earlier decades where even top-tier colleges used to be mostly recruiting grounds for PSUs or Public Sector Undertakings and a few premium firms.

Indeed, since the Indian economy was liberalized and opened up to foreign investors, there has been a steady evolution in the way Indian students are perceived both internationally as well as domestically.

Perhaps the most important consequence of liberalization has been the development of the NITs and other second-tier institutes into centers of excellence which means that another round of reforms can help the institutes that are further down the rankings to attract the recruiters.

Indeed, if not anything else, if the Indian Government undertakes another reform of the education sector, then there would be much scope for such institutes and their students to be placed before graduation.

Implications for Aspiring Students and Graduates

Thus, if you are a student who is entering the job market or an aspiring graduate who is about to embark on higher education, the implications are clear and they are that you need to ensure that you get into a good institute that is worthy of the time and effort and more importantly, the money that you spend on your education.

While this creates pressure for you to strive to stand out, you need to remember that excellence comes only through hard work and due diligence and hence, you need to know that there are no shortcuts to success.

Moreover, you must be prepared to burn the midnight oil once you start your degree so that the chances of you bagging a good job increase. Indeed, be ready for the grind and do not let your focus waver and your aims diluted from the ultimate goal of graduating with a good job offer.

Also, ensure that your soft skills are up to the mark as far as recruiters are concerned and we suggest enrolling in courses that enhance your soft skills as well as learn a foreign language such as French or Mandarin to increase your chances of being placed globally.

No Room for Complacency

On the other hand, the fact that the best and the brightest across Indian Campuses are being wooed should make neither the campuses nor the students waiting in the wings complacent needs to be mentioned as well, for instance, there are many campuses in India that have fallen further in the rankings since they did not upgrade their infrastructure or their facilities once they saw that recruiters were flocking to them initially.

In other words, there is no room for taking it easy even for the best campuses since one never knows when the next recession might strike or when recruiters would choose other campuses instead.

Given the fact that recruiters go by past experience as well as rankings published by reputed agencies, it is incumbent upon the campuses to develop an extensive Alumni network that would vouch for them as well as ensure that they score well on the parameters on the basis of which the rankings are published.

Moreover, it is also the case that the government strives to develop the education sector by making it more market-friendly in addition to not losing the aim of assisting those that need assistance in the form of loans and funds.

Conclusion

In other words, the government has a balancing act to do when it sets aside funds for the education sector and this can take the form of keeping an eye on what global ranking and research firms favor when they rank institutes and at the same time, ensure that needy and less privileged students are provided the necessary assistance.

To conclude, there is a need for concerted action by all stakeholders so that the future of the Indian Campuses remains bright and that the best and the brightest are rewarded for their efforts.