Indian employers are 'very satisfied' with recent engineering graduates

World Bank-Ficci survey puts up this number for Indian employers in 2014. In 2009, only 33% of the Indian employers said they were satisfied

A majority of Indian employers are satisfied with the engineering graduates that they recruit from campuses across India.

According to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci)-World Bank Employer Satisfaction Survey released at the Ficci Higher Education Summit here on Friday, 75 per cent employers are very satisfied with the recruits.

The survey said 17 per cent respondents were somewhat satisfied, while three per cent employers said they were not very satisfied. Only a few said they were not at all satisfied. This year, 896 companies were surveyed, including sectors such as infrastructure, automobiles, power and oil and gas among others.

Ficci and World Bank support the Technical Education Quality Improvement Project (TEQIP II) of the Human Resource Development ministry. TEQIP I and II are aimed at improving the quality of engineering graduates, including building their technical and soft skills.

To take stock of the progress in terms of employers satisfaction with respect to the skills of fresh engineering graduates, Ficci and World Bank have conducted the survey. The survey is a follow-up of the 2009 Ficci-World Bank Employer Satisfaction Survey.

In 2009, only 33 per cent of the employers said they were satisfied with the fresh engineering graduates that they were planning to hire. Then, employers had said soft skills of these graduates had to be looked into, apart from having a problem-solving focused curriculum.

Tara Beteille, economist, World Bank, and one of the co-authors of the survey report, said it has been shown that lack of technical skills followed by soft skills are one of the most important factors for rejecting a candidate.

She added hiring mainly happens on the basis of the ranking of the institute. With nearly 1.5 million engineering graduating every year from institutes in India, there is no dearth of talent. The survey showed that 96 per cent employers had no difficulty in hiring.

It showed that training is generally on-the-job for these graduates. Most of the training happens on the job, while classroom and cross-functional methods are also used for this purpose. Some companies have innovative training methods like shadowing wherein junior engineers go with senior engineers to meet clients and then have to use their own problem-solving techniques to deal with different issues.

The survey said companies generally train these graduates for over a month with a median cost of Rs 45,000 being spent per person on this. While companies spend this over employees, some firms also get employees to sign bonds that mandate them to work with the company for at least three years.

Beteille said at present, the soft skills of these graduates have improved due to the interactions they have with alumni, apart from the support of the placement cells and student clubs. Further, some private colleges also hire behaviour coaches for this purpose.

On one side where there is an over-supply of engineers, employers have said problem-solving skills and technical abilities remain weak in some private colleges. According to the survey, institutes should keep the momentum on building soft skills. Further, reorienting curriculum and assessment towards problem-solving and teamwork is a solution to deal with the issue, it said.

Apart from filling questionnaires, employers were also engaged in focussed group discussions and one-on-one interactions to understand their perceptions.