The increasing menace of Unemployable Graduates - I

“What made you go for Engineering in Computer Science?” I asked stretching back in my chair expecting an interesting answer from the fresh engineering graduate sitting in front of me in the conference room.

He was at ease by then due to my unconventional way of conversation during an interview. He smiled and I smiled back tweaking my eyebrow encouraging him to answer.

“Because I like computers.” was his answer. He was aware that it was not enough.

“Anything else?” I further probed as this was not the real answer. He looked up sideways indicating a thinking posture.

“Hmmmm...further because of better and high paying job opportunities in the IT field.” A much better response but not enough.

“What does your father do?”

“Oh...what! my father? He has a garment shop in Gurgaon.” he was not at all expecting this question now.

“Businessman! You are not interested in his business?” I asked with too many expressions on my face in one sentence.

“No. I don’t like sitting at the shop.” Spontaneity indicated genuineness.

 “But I think business has the best earning potential. Isn’t it?” I tried to trap him.

“Yes. But I don’t like it.” He was determined.

“So. Your father suggested you go for engineering?” I knew it could not have been his father for sure.

“No. My father doesn’t say anything regarding my career. I got inspired by one of my cousin who is a Software Engineer in US.” His eyes lit up while disclosing this.

“So you also aspire to be in US one day?” the picture was clear to me now.

“Yes. Why not.” Most confident reply till now.

“So. Did you speak to him about his work and life like where is he working? What is his job profile? How did he get there? What are his future plans? Etc.” I further asked about his inspiration.

“No. Not much as I don’t get much chance to interact with him. He just told me that it is best to go for 

Computer Science as maximum opportunities are there in this field only.” I smiled at his innocent reply.

“Hmm..interesting. Do you know in what capacity or designation he is working? Which company?” I wanted to know something.

“I don’t remember the company name as he has recently changed and I think he is working as a Software Engineer.” Again ending the sentence in a hesitating tone but I got to know what I wanted to know.

“Ok. Let us check what all technical skills you have acquired in your course. Which programming language, you are most comfortable with?” I had sensed that computer science was a wrong choice for him.

“Visual Basic.” He seemed happy that I started with his comfortability.

“Any specific reason?” I knew the answer. It is always the same for Visual Basic.

“It is user friendly and not that difficult.” He was smiling.

“Hmm...if I ask you to write a short program, would you like to do it?” I am always modest in interviews.

“Yes........I will try.” He had to give this answer.

“Ok. I have two problems. One is more difficult than the other and as you chose a not so difficult programming language, I give you this opportunity to choose which problem you want to solve.”  I looked at him smiling shrewdly.

He was finding it difficult to say.

“Don’t worry your choice will not affect your interview result because both are problems and it is my perception that one is easier than the other and I may be wrong because as you know that I am an HR person with very little technical knowledge. Hence, don’t hesitate. I will explain both the problems to you and then you can decide which one to go for.” I took him out of his dilemma.  .

I explained him both the problems and he chose the easier one according to me and I left the room for ten minutes to have coffee and when I returned, he was still furiously writing and cutting on the already messed up paper. I made him at ease and gestured him to continue but after further five minutes of scratching the paper and his head, he gave up.

I even tried to help him giving some hints but he was not able to catch up and finally admitted that he finds programming to be that most difficult part.

What do you notice from the above citation? This has been taken from a real situation and it is not that it happened with only one of the candidates but if I had taken 100 interviews of fresh computer engineers that year then only two could solve the problem correctly and probably three were in the right direction. Although they were from reputed colleges, it didn’t appear from the interview.

I would like all of you to read it again, think and analyse where does the problem lie?

For me the boy was not at all at fault and even though programming was not his cup of tea he had completed his engineering degree with good numbers and that showed that he was not dumb. He saw his destination but misjudged the way leading to it. So who were the people at fault?

His father, who didn’t not help him find his field of interest and left him on his own with only a vision of earning money knowing that he was not interested in his family business.

His cousin, who knowing the boy’s enticement towards a career in computer science didn’t show him the practical and real picture. The inspiration was very weak.

The colleges and universities, that rank the streams and courses on the basis of demand and enrol students further on the basis of their marks attained in the entrance exam. Why is computer science ranked above mechanical and civil? Was it the same way fifteen or twenty years back?

This is just one side of the picture, the story of the other side of the table. Let’s explore the interviewer side also.

When I got such pathetic response from the interviews I got sceptical about our methodology of recruitment also. I did spend close to an hour with each candidate to convince myself to take them before finally rejecting them. It was for the first time that I was so deeply involved in the campus recruitment drive in my organization.

I reviewed our process and everything seemed to be fine. I even spoke to the placement officer of the college regarding the performance of the students in the interview. She could also not give any satisfactory explanation but she did hint me that students found the written test to be a little difficult. I asked her for a sheet containing the 10^th onwards marks of all the students who had appeared for the test.

On thoroughly tallying the academic performance of the students with their written test marks I sensed the flaw in our system. I took out the question papers and started solving them myself. Either I was not able to solve or my choice of answer was wrong. To further clarify my doubts I enquired about the few best technically sound employees of our organisation and asked them to solve the paper and suggest.

I was correct; the whole question paper was a crap. Do you know how these question papers are prepared? They are blind copy & pastes from some other copy & paste stuff. Further most recruiters don't bother to remove the question papers with marked answers.

For the next drive I thoroughly prepared the question papers evenly changing the whole pattern and format. I got it solved by different levels of experts and further enhanced it on their feedback.

The result was amazing and I still feel proud of it.

We can’t put all the blame on the other half if I am equally involved in the process.

I have given a preview of my personal experience to bring to your notice and further discuss the menace that looms our country that different studies and surveys have recently indicated;

90% of Graduates, 75% of Engineering Graduates and 77% of MBAs in India are unemployable.