How Can Candidates Become Job Ready at Class X or XII Itself?

It’s common for a person to have a vision of your ‘dream job’, but have you ever wondered if you are actually ready for it? In a typically-competitive market, just a fancy qualification is never enough to secure a job; the number of graduates who are unemployed or underemployed are a proof of that. India produces millions of engineers every year who own a certificate to authorise their academic credibility, but without the requisite skills for securing a job. This is not the case with the profession of engineering alone, other disciplines too are facing a similar issue.

The real problem

India’s education system is under constant transition. Even the introduction of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation in schools is not helping as rote learning continues to be the the most popular learning method. In fact, rote learning method has spread its tentacles from schools to colleges as well. This kind of learning is making students redundant as they are aware of the theoretical aspects, but lack the basic skills to use their knowledge. This has been posing a serious threat to the careers of graduates seeking jobs. Even candidates with the highest marks are not unable to crack the common aptitude tests. It’s ironic that despite years of education, students are still not job ready.

What is it to be like to be ’Job Ready’?

While all the theoretical knowledge that you imbibe in schools and colleges are important enough, but these are often inadequate to help you flourish and thrive on your job. Each and every job calls for skills that are above and beyond the learnings in the classroom. So, one needs to be proficient enough in skillsets required for the job. Job-readiness needs a candidate to have an updated knowledge about industry, tech-savvy in related software and a keen sense of mind to analyse and rectify the problems.

When do you start?

The pertinent question that bother many is when do you start preparing to a job and how? To be honest, a huge majority of the population has never considered it a process. However, along with your curriculum, there has to be practical education which could enable you to develop logical reasoning, aptitude and endurance. So, it’s always advisable to start learning early in life. Along with the curricula, involve yourself in activities to develop your communication skills and take up various tests like Olympiad and take up internships in your interested areas to gain practical knowledge about work. In case you don’t have much time to spare, then you can always take up MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) which can provide you the knowledge on the vast quantum of topics from the experts of various universities around the globe for free, except that one needs a certificate.

Talk to an expert

You need to recognise your interests and meticulously plan to achieve your dreams. So, it’s crucial for you to talk to an expert or go through career counselling sessions about what exactly you want to pursue. You have seen IIT coaching classes which have begun to train students earlier and earlier as competition to get into IITs is very tough. Every year, nearly 1.3 million aspirants apply for the JEE Mains and only 150,000 make it to the JEE Advanced. In case you find that you are good at English, and want a career that calls for greater use of the language, then, talk to your counsellor about the various opportunities in the field and pick your interests and work on them. For instance, if you are interested in literature; you can write poems and try to get them published or even can do freelance writing or internships during summer holidays. All these give you ideas about the career paths you wish to choose and could be a huge advantage for you, when you actually start working.

Set your goal

As clichéd as it may sound, it’s very important to set up a goal and that too, early in life, so that it could help you work better towards it as it lets you focus more. Setting a goal can nurture your ambition to reach greater heights and accelerate your performance.

Now, at this juncture of a student’s life, a prominent role is played by the education institution which can guide the pupil by leading them on the right path and provide proper assessments to check analytical and cognitive abilities and communication skills. This will help them determine clearly what are they actually good at?

As Plato said: “People are interested in doing what they want, rather than what they are capable of.” Similarly, at times, we fail to recognise what we are capable of. So, at times like that, a proper assessment could be of great help to you.

However, assessments, which determine your capabilities can help you shape an idea of where you stand and how much you need to work to accomplish your goals.

Make the right choice!

Until the 10th standard, it’s a uniform system that you follow. Later comes the hard part where you are bound to make a decision which can transform your life. A lot of times students take up streams under parental or peer pressures, but only to regret it later. The wrong choice can jeopardize not only the student’s career, but also their mental state. So, acquaint yourself with adequate practical knowledge way ahead and constantly take up employment assessments to update yourself