More than half of India's college graduates are jobless and they want to upskill themselves in the hope for employment

• According to a survey by job-search platform Firstnaukri, almost two-third of the freshers graduating this year are jobless at the moment as campus hirings take a hit.
  
• Nearly 44% of the graduates who have a job offer said that their companies have deferred the joining dates while the rest have their employment offers revoked.
  
• Freshers are now turning to referrals and tracing their alumni network while hunting for job opportunities.
  
• The survey highlights that more than 70% of the college students have already enrolled in reskilling courses online.

After news of massive pay cuts and job losses, fresh college graduates are the latest to be hit by the impact of Covid-19 on the business sector. According to a survey by job-search platform Firstnaukri, almost two-third of the freshers graduating this year are jobless at the moment as campus hirings take a hit.

In fact, the situation isn’t any better for even those who do have a job offer. According to the report, nearly 44% of the graduates who have a job offer said that their companies have deferred the joining dates while the rest saw their employment offers being revoked as businesses cut down costs to keep up with the operations.

The withdrawal of job offers by several companies has left many students stranded as the placement policy at several colleges does not allow a student — who has been offered once — to sit for other placements. Even the students at the premier IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) and IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management) — who bagged ‘above-average’ salary packages — are left without a job. Gartner, Uber also revoked job offers extended to the management graduates at IIMs.

The unemployment rate in India swelled to over 23% during the lockdown period, according to the Centre of Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). However, as the industries reopened and resumed operations, the unemployment also declined — showing signs of revival. The urban unemployment rate during the week ending June 28 stood at 10.6%.

Freshers get busy with upskilling

But as the situation might not get better anytime soon, freshers are now turning to referrals and tracing their alumni network while hunting for job opportunities.

Given the uncertainty, graduates are focussing on reskilling more than ever. With the availability of free skilling courses, the survey highlights that more than 70% of the college students have already enrolled in reskilling courses online.

The companies hiring are also looking for students who are prepped for the future and are shifting to virtual assessments and video interviews to assess their potential hires. “It will be imperative for students to start preparing for remote interviews as a new way of getting hired,” the report said.

“The pandemic has hit placement prospects of the 2020 batch across 82% colleges. It has further impacted internship offers of 74% pre-final year students. However, students are not losing morale and going virtual for their learning as well as job interviews. In fact, most companies are also using new-age technology to hire remotely,” said Sharad Sindhwani, CBO at Firstnaukri.com.

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