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Suresh,

The training components you have outlined in your mail are awesome and they are no longer just "good to have" skills, it has become an imperative.

I would add two more components which are critical in today's context but rarely addressed by any stakeholder (academia, industry) - customer orientation is one and the other being Email writing (holds good for any other form of business communication as well). Many a time, entry level consultants are also required to correspond with customers and in most cases if one were to review those Emails, it is not only appalling but hugely embarrassing as well.

Training modules to address these areas would be a huge value addition.

Cheers!

Pramod

Pramod,

NuVeda has a impressive eLearning module on eMail writing / business communication. I have used it. Check it out: http://www.nuvedalearning.com/elearn.htm

Suresh

Hi Pramod,

Yes. Soft Skill and Communication skill training should be basically be addressed at basic education level itself. When we go for the campus recruitment in colleges we find many talented youngsters are not able to communicate both in written and oral. However talented the individual may be written and communication skills are mandatory to be recruited by any corporate.

There are a few good initiatives made by some selected colleges where in they have soft skill training as part of the education in the final two semesters. Although they are not part of syllabus this is a mandatory training for all the students. This gives the students a good oppurtunity to improve their soft skills.

The best way to improve the soft skill and communication skill among the students would be to make our basic education set up accept the medium of education as English in all classes right from I standard for all educational institutions in India.

On the other point which you mentioned on training "customer satisfaction", this is a critical success factor for any corporate. These training could be part of the orientation plan by any corporate.

Thanks & regards

Suresh

Jeevan Technologies

Hello Suresh,

I fully agree with you .Its well thought .I feel our education system as well as govt has to play a major role to make this happen .I had attended HR Summit in Chennai ,found engineering colleges already incorporated Training like ERP ,presentation skills ,communication etc. The way we choose our stream before entering to college ,we shd also given oppourtunity to select our future proffession and get trained accordingly and be  ready when we pass out . 

Thanks and Regards

Nirmala Udgata

iVitesse Technologies

Pune

Hi Pramod,

Yes I agree with you that the cost cutting on the training cost needs to be reviewed and refined.Therefore,remodelling could be thought of and the concepts like knowledge sharing ,implementation of internal knowledge datbase could be introduced .Also,trained resources of the organization could be used more agressively for the internal training purpose.The Monthly\Quarterly training plan shall be made by keeping in mind the organization's training needs nd shall cover all the training needs .However,training on processess,QMS structure,email writing ,Communication and awareness regarding the organizational standards shall be made mandatory part of the training plan .

Q. The next important aspect is how effective is our entry level talent? And how effective is our corporate entry level training?

I feel Entry level talent plays a major role within an organization.It could be due to following facts.

1) The entry level talent is flexible and could be moulded according to the requirements of the company.

2) The zeal to learn fast and the enthusiam again plays a major role.

However,the goals of the training shall be clearly defined to them and the questions like

1) The motive of the training ?

2) what does company expect from them?

3) Importance of the timelines and other standards etc

Shall be clearly conveyed and answered.

Lastly the awareness regarding the critical need for Customer satisfaction and importance of timelines in the competitive market must be conveyed to all . 

Warm Regards,

Abhishek Rautela

SVAM International Inc

Whatever training you give the new entrant, key issues remains as seen in many SMEs are that we are unable to give workload of enough depth/challenge with poor  effort on measurement benchmark.

Clarity in articulation of task, with streamlined work process/flow, reporting line and systems for the young raw recruit to escalate/share/get mentored is often missing. Often they are made to sit on bench, with debates at superior level on how he should be engaged.

And when he is left alone like that for 1-2 months, he starts finding his own buddy circles and starts complying with their influence. Investment on Training gets diluted. Training efforts requires a well laid down workload and measurement roadmap post training session.

There is nothing like best training , it all boils down to skill and mental attitude gap fullfilment to meet cos business goals. People who have been put on the hot waters of unforgiving pressure oriented, work load, with a aggressive superior/line hierarchy deliver better results, astonishing to themselves as well as management.

Humans potentials can give you daily surprises, with astonishing results. Do not expect great results just because of training session, but the post training workload and leadership from team management.

Thanks for the wonderful inputs. I have just put together a program called PERP ( Program for Enterprise Ready Professionals) , where we are embedding a 1000 hour program from first year in college for BBA,BCA, BE, BTECH and MBA students. Two colleges are currently running this pilot program . I will share our experience ( as we progress) in this forum and also take  your valuable inputs to make the program better.

I have been an entrepreneur for 20 years and I have built several teams over the years, but the current challenge that we have in the colleges ( that we are handling) is quite different than what I have handled before. Students are from rural and backward areas and only a small percentage are from cities. Most of them cant speak good English. The subjects and contents of a typical course that is taught in our colleges is not quite relevant to what we do or need in the industry. We require attitude and drive from first time job seekers . In my opinion these qualities are formed at an early stage in life and it is an uphill task to change these at a later part in life.

Educational institutes ( specially the Tier 3 & Tier 4)  are struggling to get good teachers and relevant content which can prepare a first jobber to do well in an interview and then shine in their job. This void is an opportunity where industry can play a big role in partnering with institutions. In our initial pilots we have witnessed very good results with new learning designs. For example we have used movies ( Hindi & English)  as a great tool to educate and expose students and we have seen remarkable improvement in students in terms of their approach and attitude to life. Team building through sporting activities is another great way of engaging students to learn about several aspects of life . 

We have found that mentoring in college is also a very useful tool to prepare students for corporate readiness.  It is our belief that Students would get a decent foundation  if corporate India can provide some quality time in  small doses ( at frequent intervals) spread over the three or four years a student in engaged in college.  I think corporate readiness must be inculcated in the  college and industry can benefit significantly if they can get into partnerships with colleges .

Hi,

As part of our discussion on the effectiveness of Corporate Readiness Training for a entry level consultant which could help both Corporate and Consultants, at Jeevan IT Academy we started a initiative in training the Freshers (Consultants who passed out in 2008) on the overall expectations of any corporate. The training is for 04 months which includes technical, soft skill and communication skill, real time project exposures, Software Engineering and Project Management and value pack which covers every minor expectations of every corporate. You could see the details of this RTD course in our website www.jeevanitacademy.com

To take this training as part of the education curriculum itself we improvised the content and worked with Colleges and Universities and framed the new training initiative as Campus Readiness Project- CRP. In this training we use the 3 to 6 months (depending on the graduation course) of the project time allotted for the students as part of the final year education curriculum to incorporate the CRP training.

In the Campus Readiness Project training we offer the following curriculum.

 1. Technical Training ( We also enable them for certification in selected technologies)

The full course is planned for 02 months which consists of 400 hours of training which includes a real time project (On Job Training) as part of the project curriculum. On completion of the CRP successfully every consultant would be issued with a Project Report. We intend to conduct the CRP at the college campus itself apart from conducting at Jeevan IT Academy in Chennai.

The training module undertaken by JITA, Campus Readiness Project - CRP aims to enhance the individual potential and increase the talent level of all the students which in turn will make them be prepared to face the corporate. The training also is intended in giving the real time exposures in technical projects apart from enhancing the soft skills and communication skills. JITA through CRP will help the Corporate to cut down the costs of training to a significant percentage and enhances the productivity of the Employee. This in turn will help the corporate to get the best talent from the campus recruitment. CRP will also help the consultants in their Campus Interviews and Off campus.

I also take this opportunity to request you to kindly inform the consultants selected through the campus Interviews by your company to use this good opportunity and undertake the CRP. We also could customize the course based on your requirements for the consultants selected through the Campus drive of your organization as part of the CRP program.

We look forward to your suggestions and guidance in making this training programme a great success which in turn would enhance the talent at the entry level of all the corporate. We are officially launching the Campus Readiness Project training program on Sep 15, 2008. The Launch of the CRP is scheduled in "Hotel Deccan Plaza" on Sep 15, 2008 at 7 pm IST.

Dr C. Chandramouli IT Secretary Government of Tamilnadu, Prof. Dr. Mannar Jawahar Vice Chancellor Anna University, Mr K Purushothaman Regional Director NASSCOM, Mr K Baalasundaram Head - Infrastructure Hexaware Technologies and Mr D Napoleon Chairman Jeevan Technologies and Jeevan IT Academy will be the guests of honor.

I request you to spare your valuable time to grace the occasion on Sep 15, 2008 at 7 pm IST at Hotel Deccan Plaza in # 36 Royapettah High Road, Royapettah, Chennai - 600 014.

Thank you for your time and please mail to p.suresh@jeevanitacademy.com or call at 98407 52961 for more information's. Looking forward for your support and presence.

With all the above aspect with the above mentioned training concept we can bridge the gap between the Institute and Corporate and aim at transforming the talented graduates from knowledgeable individuals to corporate ready consultants.  This training also has all the chances of enhancing the employability of the talent pool available across the country thereby improving the "Efficiency of Workforce".

Thanks and regards,

Suresh Periasami

CEO

Jeevan IT Academy

+ 91 44 2811 6935

www.jeevanitacademy.com

IT Service Industry is forced to pay the cost what Educational Institutions should have paid by way of serious learning environment inside their campus. They take huge capitation fee, huge fees under different heads, make huge money and yet do not get students ready for industry. That is the pity of Indian educational system.

That is why SMEs should spend more time to screen better communicative and assertive students, who will quickly mould into delivery with self passions....they should be able to be part of an ongoing delivery process and learn on the job...

For Indian SMEs, survival and paying salaray and ROI to invetsors is the big challenge...how can they afford to spend money to train freshers.....Best training is onjob training under good leadership oriented matures supervisors- at PL, TL or PM levels with personal coaching and mentoring by CxOs....

SMEs with funds, management bandwidth limitations can not just afford such exclusive training unless they can afford large bench.....Such training business is apt for BPO industry or large service cos above 1000 member headcount....

Yes many of the colleges have this as part of their syllabi (Soft skills and communication) but the kind of training they receive and by whom is very important. For most of the colleges it would probably be taken in one of the eight semesters they study and once the students finish the 'exam' they forget whatever they learn.  There is no concept of continuous improvement. Only a few very highly motivated students thus graduate with communication skills required by industry.

I am not too sure about Soft Skills techniques taught in colleges. If these classes are taught by existing full-time faculty, I am not too sure about the quality of the teachers themselves. There may be brilliant teachers here and there who do a good job but I would put more faith in full-time employees in large companies going there and teaching these things in the evenings as part-time faculty.

The other thing I have always found useful is to take some of your employees along when you go meet with your customers locally or when you have meetings on the phone. The best way to teach good communication skills is to show them how it is done!

We are a product company and I always make sure that I take one of my engineers along when we go call on our customers or prospects. They get to see how you communicate and more imprtantly for us, it teaches them the context for our products, how our prospects and customers use our products or what is lacking in them that they are looking for. This is a great motivator for engineers who would otherwise be sitting in their cubicle to get a sense of the precise context of how and where what you do, will be used. It may not be directly translatable for services companies, especially when you do offshore development, but every conference call is an opportunity to teach these skills by showing them how to do it!

If you want to teach them how to communicate well, show them how it is done!

Hope this helps!

In IT SMEs, CxOs and Unit heads must be able to demonstrate Comm skills by personal examples....that is the best way as expressed by Nari Kannan.....

I like that and endorse this methedology....Cos with 20-200 head count in consulting, customer services, SDLC sw dely cos-- that is the best way......

CxOs can not say, I do not know but young recruits must know that....????We just can not afford that, while we may prefer that ....Great piece