Improving Employability Skills among IT and Engineering Students

Abstract

This paper discusses enhancing employability skills among young individuals, with a specific focus on engineering students. It highlights the industry’s skill demands, especially in the IT sector, and proposes methods to cultivate these skills among students to enhance their employability. The aim is to narrow the gap between industry requirements and educational institutions. With the IT boom, many students from all engineering streams chose a career in IT. This paper is beneficial for students from any stream, engineering or otherwise, looking to pursue a career in IT.

Many employability training programs for college students focus on superficial enhancements such as presentation style, personality development, and language skills, aimed at impressing interviewers. However, as a Senior IT professional with over 30 years of experience, primarily as a CIO, the author believes that these superficial attributes hold less significance for candidates from technical backgrounds like engineering, especially within the IT domain.

Interestingly, what truly appeals to interviewers is not solely the candidate’s personality or even their technical knowledge. It may seem counterintuitive to exclude technical knowledge from this equation, but the paper will soon clarify why this perspective is valid. Drawing from extensive experience working with and mentoring numerous young professionals, the author asserts that due to rapid technological advancements, the technical knowledge becomes obsolete in no time. In this scenario, what are these other skills that the industry needs? The paper delves into identifying and elucidating these critical skills.

This paper introduces a more compelling, effective and interesting approach to enhance the employability of IT and other engineering students. The method outlined here not only prepares them for their initial employment post-college but also equips them to sustain their employability, skills, and relevance throughout their careers.

The paper aims to identify these crucial skills and explain their significance. More importantly, it not only outlines a strategy for cultivating these skills in students early on but also demonstrates how this strategy was practically implemented to ensure tangible benefits for the students.

The training program is now accessible to students and colleges, featuring upgraded content, and is largely available free of charge. [Ref5: Employability Training]

Keywords: Employability Skill, Skill Development, Information Technology, IT, Engineering Students, College students, Job search, IT Skills, Engineering Skills, Career Development, Career Choice, Hobbies, Occupational Choice

JEL Classification: J24, J62, M53