A Study on Gap Analysis of Employability Skills of Fresh MBA Graduates in Karnataka

Abstract

The issue of employability of MBA graduates has been very much at the forefront in newlineIndia. ASSOCHAM (2017-18), report says excluding graduates from top 20 colleges, only 7% of newlineMBA students from Indian business schools got jobs immediately after the completion of their newlinecourse. This reflects that around 85% of MBA graduates are from other Institutes than these top newlinecolleges which are inferred to be producing unemployable graduates. Further, it is well-known that newlinethe present nature of employment gives lots of importance to soft skills and Interpersonal skills newlinewhere most of the management graduates from this 85% population lack. Therefore this study has newlinebeen undertaken with the objective to assess the gap between expectation and existing skills sets newlineprofessional labor market. newlineThe study uses a structured questionnaire survey. Three separate questionnaires were used newlineto elicit the data from three stake holders Viz., Alumni, Training and Placement Officer and newlineCorporate. The findings exhibit there is a significant gap between employer s expectation and newlineacquired skill sets of MBA Graduates. The most essential skills as the research explores for newlineemployability of MBA graduates are Communication Skills, Team-Work, Leadership Skills, newlineSocial Skills (Interpersonal Skills), Values, Personal Grooming and Managerial Skills as they newlinewere rated on very high side by both the Employers and Training and Placement Officers. But newlinewhen compared to the MBA graduates perception on similar skills, the graduates did not match newlinewith the expectations of Employers and the TPOs . The study further explored on finding two newlineimportant domains in today s business world is that of having good marketing skills with ICT newlineknowledge as most businesses are working on ERP platforms and are service oriented too, where newlineboth ICT skills and Marketing skills stands out. The study further illustrates there was no newlineawareness on social capital among the Placement Officers for better employability of MBA newlineGraduates. This determines that training and p