Ahead of Union Budget, a Business Insider-Aspiring Minds Survey finds out the real problems Indian students face in getting jobs

Just days ahead of the Union Budget 2016 where Arun Jaitley is likely to be seen pumping more power into Modi government’s big schemes like ‘Make In India’ and ‘Skill India’ for the purpose of enhanced job creation in India, an Aspiring Minds-Business Insider joint survey attempts to highlight the aspirations and on-the-ground challenges faced by students searching for employment opportunities in the Indian job market.

The survey, which is a stratified sample of 5,000 students across tier I, II and III cities and campuses, points out that the desire to work in startups among youth has increased from 8% last year to 14% this year. Almost half the respondents would want to start their own company, but ¾ of these students have no idea how to take their ideas forward. This has left majority of the students looking for alternate stable options like wanting to work with an MNC and the number is closely followed by students who want to join an SME.



But do they have access to enough job opportunities in these sectors and the others? More than 71% students from Tier II and III campuses feel Tier I campuses have better career opportunities. Notably, this is line with the bias seen in hiring, as revealed in Aspiring Minds National Employability Report 2014, wherein an applicant from a Tier III campus has 25% lower odds of getting a job even with equal merit.

What’s more disturbing is that even as 80% of the students are aware of the platforms where they can look for/apply for jobs, at least more than 64% say it’s not helpful because they do not get interview calls relevant to their capabilities. These findings show discrimination and huge gap in the demand and supply in the job market.

Another crucial finding of this report links it to a previous survey on the challenges corporate sector faces while hiring talent in India. While corporates feel students are not job ready even after graduation, thereby raising questions on India’s education system, this survey shows the real picture on the other side. It points out that majority of the students are interested in internships and know it can help them in understanding what companies expect and also give them an opportunity to realise their strengths and weaknesses. But, the stark reality is not everyone is lucky to get an internship offer in India. Less than 40% of the students actually get the privilege of an internship opportunity during or after the completion of their course.

In the absence of a highly competitive educational system, students are now looking towards alternate means like online education to become more job-ready and increase their chances of getting hired. The survey notes that unlike popular discourse, more than 60% of the students now believe that online courses/training programs can help them learn skills needed ‘on-the-job’.

Even as the onus lies on the Indian universities and colleges to shape the future of children in our country, this still comes as a positive signal for scaling up education efforts across the country.

Aspiring Minds is a global leader in job-skills credentialing and matching. The flagship product AMCAT, is the world's most widely-taken employability test helping over two million candidates find the 'right' jobs every year.