| Monday, May 19, 2008
Single test for employability
The NAC-Tech test succeeds where university examinations fail
— producing a standardised assessment
If you are an engineering student, imagine not going for a dozen
interviews answering the same questions being asked in different
ways. Imagine having one score sheet that you can wave in the
face of any prospective employer.
Well, now that NAC Tech is here, shrug off wishful thinking
and get ready to do just what you’ve wished for. NASSCOM’s
Assessement of Competence - Technology (NAC-Tech) test is your
trump card. Much like writing a GMAT test, except the NAC Tech’s
score will be valid only for a year.
A follow-up to Nasscom’s NAC test initiative to develop
entry-level human power for the BPO industry and equip them
with relevant hard and soft skills that ensure employability,
the organisation has launched NAC Tech targeting graduates from
engineering streams. Again the certification seeks to transform
a “trainable” workforce into an “employable”
workforce.
Hitherto only introduced as an experiment in Punjab, NAC-Tech
has already scored high among students who took the online test.
“Students loved it and saw the value in it,” said
Sandhya Chintala, Director-Education Initiative, NASSCOM.
With IT majors, universities and colleges reacting positively
to the suggestion of accepting a single test, it is likely to
gain more acceptance, which would make it better for students.
The standardised test pattern intends to gauge employability,
based not only on core competence, but also on soft skills.
More recently, a large number of software companies have expressed
dissatisfaction with the verbal and communicative skills of
their recruits, their inability to work together in group situations
and with clients, even if in their own area of specialisation,
they continue to be some of the best.
In its two-part matrix, the test has a compulsory component
to test soft skills such as verbal skills, analytical and logical
reasoning, attention to detail, strength of written English,
ability to learn and programming fundamentals.
The second part pays attention to core engineering subjects
and every student can choose the subject that he or she has
focused on.
For instance, some of the domains (among engineering streams)
that are available currently on the online test include Information
Technology, Electronics, Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, Textile,
Chemical and Biotechnology. It is likely that Telecommunications,
Aeronautical engineering, manufacturing will also be incorporated
in the tests, Dr. Chintala said.
In addition to being a single filter to gauge employability,
it provides students an opportunity to test their capacities
even before the job market hits them in the face. The advantage
is that students can take the test online even a year before
the campus recruitment begins to evaluate their skills.
The score will provide them information about their strengths,
but also indicate their weaknesses, which they can work on
and remedy in time for the real interview.
Role of IT companies
The greatest strength of NAC-Tech itself is the involvement
of IT majors right from the conception stage. Companies such
as TCS, Cognizant, Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, Hexaware, IBM,
and Accenture have provided inputs to the evolution of the
test matrix. NASSCOM has received endorsements from over 50
companies already.
Some of them, including Cognizant, have agreed to substitute
their own written test with NAC-Tech, but still intend to stick
to their own personal interview modules. NAC-Tech will provide
recruiters an opportunity to choose from a pool of already graded
talent, instead of sifting through an entire class of students.
Ms. Chintala also says that several governments have expressed
their willingness to introduce NAC-Tech in the state-run colleges.
In this, she adds, the focus would be on colleges and students
in tier 2, 3 and 4 cities; to ensure they have equal opportunities
to groom their skills and compete for jobs in an open market.
Courtesy: The Hindu - Education Plus
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