All Sailing in Same Ship

Amit, who earned his graduation in Production Engineering from one of the finest engineering colleges in India was very happy with his job offer from a well-known manufacturing company based near Pune, India. Just as all others student do, Amit appeared for all the companies visiting the college for campus recruitment not even bothering about the nature of work role which they were offering.
After completing the graduation, Amit enthusiastically went ahead to join this ‘dream company’. The grass was not as green as it appeared. Within six months, Amit resigned. Today he is clueless about what kind of job will give him satisfaction. A large number of students in India are sailing in the same ship; while selecting the job, they are very cautious about the compensation but least bothered about the job satisfaction.

The Startup Mantra

For past few years, startups are playing a major role in solving this problem-mutually benefitting the students and the industry.

Take the example of startup started by two ex-employees of Ford Motor Company, where I worked for almost one year. Soon after passing out from one of the best engineering colleges in India, I refused the offer which I had got from a banking company to join them as an analyst. I instead decided to work with this start-up. The decision which was very much criticized by my friends at that time has helped me tremendously along the way.  Working there was a win-win situation for both of us as I could explore different work roles to find out what I am best at while they got a young and passionate member in their team at a cost they could afford.
Startups are attracting a lot of young talent as they give students a freedom to be creative and try out their hands at different things. After experimenting for a year or so, students get a clear idea of what their skills are and what they enjoy the most. Many students switch to bigger company offering them that kind of role, some of them pursue higher education based on their discovery and yes, some of them start their own ventures.

The Root of the Problem

The academic institutions in India have quite a few problems which need an urgent solution. Probably the most important of them is the gap between skills developed by these institutes and the skills demanded by the industry. With the numbers of private institutes skyrocketing, there is no check on the quality of education. The effect of all this mess is surfacing up- a large number of ‘qualified’ students who are completely unaware of what kind of work they are good at and they enjoy the most.

On the other hand, the start-ups here suffer from the unavailability of talent. The success of any education system depends on how successful it is in helping students explore their talent, nurturing it and cultivating it in such a way that they can make a living out of it. Students in India are products of education system which emphasizes more on mugging up the information rather than nurturing skills and promoting the attitude of innovation.

Undergraduate students look at jobs just as a necessity and are hardly bothered about work satisfaction. This is injurious to both students and the industry; as students, over the period, keep on losing interest in their jobs and the industry finds it more and more difficult to keep their employees motivated and bubbling with new ideas.

Startups: End of Frustration

Startups are proactively solving this issue by offering a large number of internship and job opportunities to freshly passed-out students. Progressive institutes have started looking forward for opportunities to involve start-ups in various activities. This solution is working out so well that a large number of students are constantly looking out for internship opportunities with start-ups.
“I passed out in 2012, worked with a start-up for almost two years. When I got a fair idea of what kind of work I enjoy the most, I joined a company which offered me that kind of work role and a much higher pay”, tells Ravish, a student of one of the top 5 law colleges in India.

On the other hand, it is common observation across industry that employees who have prior work experience with start-ups are more enterprising and great team leaders. Let us hope this symbiotic relationship saves a large number of students from getting frustrated with their jobs!