The Hindu Business Line : Are you ready for that job?

For all those candidates sitting on pins and needles prior to that all-important job interview and agonising about their chances, here is one way of getting some idea of how your interview may work out.

The Job Readiness Indicator (JRI) developed by Ma Foi Academy gives you a peek into your readiness for a job by assessing you on eight employability parameters: the willingness to communicate; problem solving ability; innovative thinking; learning focus; working in a team; entrepreneurial orientation; personal credibility; and resourcefulness.

The eight employability parameters identified specify acceptable behaviour for specific roles. These are, however, distinct from specific technical skills required for a particular job.

Every candidate interested in generating a report would have to first answer a set of questions. According to Nikhil Indrasenan, Business Head, Ma Foi Academy, each report would scientifically assess the responses of each candidate and assess their employability on the above parameters.

Often candidates suffer on account of a lack of awareness and the report could make some quick pointers to the candidate about areas that he or she needs to improve upon, he says. Ma Foi Academy is the training division of Ma Foi Management Consultants.

Target audience

The target audience for the JRI would fall into three main categories — students, freshers looking for jobs and employees already in employment.

From the employer’s perspective, the JRI could help align students better for jobs and thus reduce their time to employment.

The report may be condensed further and the organisation plans to update it regularly, coming out with a new version every year.

Ma Foi Academy has tie-ups with a 100 educational institutes currently. The JRI is proposed to be sold to students at all the institutions it is working with, he said.

It would also be available to walk-in candidates who visit their centres.

Another large market that could be tapped was the candidates enrolled in Government-run employment projects, he added.

The JRI’s value would be realised when it was integrated and used as an input for training programmes, he said.

“The report has the potential to become an industry endorsement and could also be used as part of certification,” says Indrasenan.

Queried about when the product would be available in the market, he said it was ready for roll out and the team was working on the backend support.

According to him, it would be sold both as a standalone product and could also be clubbed with Ma Foi’s training services. The pricing would be affordable to the average college student and was likely to be under Rs 400, he says.

The plan is to make the product available in four or five languages that would cover a wide swathe of the job market.

Initially, it would be available in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu to be followed closely by Kannada, Malayalam, and Bengali as well.

A team of four staff members from Ma Foi worked on the product development for about four months.

Competitive job market

Indrasenan adds that the job market is far from rosy. It is becoming very competitive and companies are hiring staff for specific skills.

Large industries are not hiring in droves any more and many IT companies have put their recruitment plans on hold.

Under the circumstances, “freshers would have to keep sharpening their saws.” The JRI could well serve as one of the tools for improving their chances of employment.

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