Consider Internship Jobs
If you want to taste professional life before plunging into it and would like to experience what it feels like to handle a real time project, an internship can be a very good idea. Several major concerns offer opportunities for internship where you get to learn all about life at work and gain valuable experience in the domain of your choice. Internships can be part time or full time for a limited period, so you can probably take them up along with your studies. Internships can help you make up your mind on your choice of career as there is nothing better than to actually be a part of the industry and learn your work hands on.
Bear in mind however that internships might or might not come with a stipend all the time. So you might have to arrange for your accommodation and travel if your company asks you to report to an office in another state or country. However, good performance will always be rewarded and the company might offer you a position at the end of your internship if you manage to impress them. Google, Infosys and even the United Nations among many others, offer good internship opportunities.
Infosys Training Attempts to Address Employability Issues
How does an introduction to the booming IT industry at an early age by a premier company sound to you? That’s exactly what Infosys is doing in their “Catch Them Young” programme. The programme is aimed at identifying talented school students and training them for a successful IT career. The students are chosen through a written test and trained in computer languages and other IT functions.For outstanding performers,there are opportunities for working on a real time project with Infosys paying a stipend.
In addition to this, Infosys also runs the “Rural Reach Program” where school students in rural areas are exposed to the basics of computer education so that they can aspire to a career along those lines later. The “Train the Trainer” programme is also worth mentioning as it’s objective is to train the lecturers of technical institutions so that they can handle their courses better and equip their students with the right skills.
Industry Attempts to Bridge the Gap
“We align the college curriculum with the industry’s requirements, and work with educational bodies towards implementing it. We organize seminars and training sessions for the faculty to give them an industry perspective, enabling them to train the students accordingly.”- this is the motto of Infosys’s Campus Connect initiative. Previously i have posted on the problems ailing our education system and the gap between supply and demand. Where competition is cut-throat and the need to keep up a fast pace vital, the industry can’t wait for Universities and Colleges to revise their curriculum, add new courses and start equipping students with the desired skills. They recognise the potential of India as a provider of quality manpower and are getting up close and personal to ensure the potential is realised and fast.
Over the past few years, big names like Infosys and Wipro have come up with Campus Connect and Academy of Software Excellence respectively to train aspirants eyeing coveted positions in these companies. More companies are following suit and partnering with educational institutions. The partnership results in spreading awareness, letting the students know exactly what is expected out of them in the industry and training to make fresh graduates job-ready. While i personally think such initiatives are praise-worthy and necessary, we shouldn’t leave training and teaching solely to these ventures. I hope our education system changes for the better by observing and learning from every initiative to produce more employable graduates in future.