Kelly Services, a leading staffing firm released its whitepaper titled ‘The Indian Workforce Today’, which gives an insight on the impact of quality of education in career growth. It gives a detailed summary of the Indian education system and its direct role in creating a brand value of an individual.
India has an advantage of the world’s largest youth population. Around 400 million people are in the age bracket of 25-35 years. This makes India a potential future supplier of skilled workforce. In order to produce a globally competitive workforce the Indian education system needs a renaissance of sorts. On the contrary, Indian technical institutes have consistently managed to meet demand globally. A large numbers of Indian scientists are working in prestigious research institutions around the world, doctors from India are some of the most celebrated around the globe and the contribution of the Indian workforce to the global IT industry. Kamal Karanth, Managing Director, Kelly Services India said, “It’s widely seen that professionals from certain branded institutes have an edge in gaining entry to many marquee companies. Branding has become an important tool for colleges or Business schools to stay ahead of the curve by clearly communicating this differentiation to students as their USP.”
The inevitable role of the private sector behind the unprecedented growth in the higher education segment will lead to battles for market share between established players, and exposing incumbents. To deal with these changes the role of branding has become extremely important as educational institutes use branding as a tool to meet the sustainable changes in the near future.
According to the study, 57 per cent respondents believe that the brand reputation of educational institute play an important role while job placement. College brand plays an important role during initial five years of one’s career; in exploring new opportunities and sustaining in the corporate sector because till then the employers perceive employees to be superior due to the college brand, provided the expectation are fulfilled.
Karanth further adds, “Education in a branded institution is a key factor, but it’s not a means of sustainability alone. Meritocratic organisations also take note of the employers one has worked for when they recruit senior candidates. The reality is that education in a branded institution and good tenures in reputed employers is a potent combination in professionals rise in career today
Other key findings of the survey include:
- 32.7 per cent respondents believe price to be the key factor while considering selection of an education institute/college
- 36 per cent respondents find previous work experience with alumni as a major factor which would classify an educational institute vis-à-vis its brand image
- Respondents believe that the role of college brand (76 per cent) and education (52 per cent) are significant at the junior level, while at mid level domain expertise has more weight (72 per cent) for career growth
- Almost 72 per cent of top-paid CEOs in India are from the branded colleges either from India or abroad. This statement is also validated by the survey result where 62 per cent of respondents agree that the alumni of branded institutes have proven themselves in the corporate world throughout their career.
- Employers prefer to offer 10 per cent–20 per cent more in terms of remuneration compared to a non-branded college pass out.
EP News Bureau – Mumbai