Empowering students with career tips

Hyderabad: A host of issues, concerning the future of engineering students, beginning with the need for enhancing employable skills to providing practical guidance on building entrepreneurship abilities was taken up at the first ever youth empowerment programme – Yuva Nestham -organised by HMTV- The Hans India on Tuesday.

Students from two Hyderabad colleges- Methodist College of Engineering and Technology and Stanley College of Engineering and Technology for Women apart from Indur Institute of Engineering and Technology from Siddipet, participated in the event.

Going by the turnout and the responses to the various addresses made by domain experts from different fields, this programme, organised on Engineer’s Day was a visible success. Students were raising queries after every session making the interactions a very engaging affair.

The tempo to the day’s proceedings was set by a rousing speech by Prof K Nageshwar, Editor, The Hans India, who inspired the young crowd by making each one of them feel that they are all competent and intelligent to decide and conclude what is best for them .

He stated emphatically that it is technology-mediated process that is running the economy and that engineers who are responsible for creating a world which never existed are naturally the pivots around which the systems would revolve. World over, integration and assimilation of varied branches of education are happening and today’s engineers too need to innovate and adapt, he advised. The moot point is to challenge, discover and learn, he asserted.

While industry reports paint a bleak picture about the employability potential of today’s engineering graduates, Prof K Nageshwar said that the youth should think of employment generation as creation of jobs is more important than seeking them.

Taking off from where he ended, the welcome addresses by the organising team deliberated on the issue. Prof Giridhar Akula, Principal, Methodist College of Engineering & Technology, Hyderabad and one of the prime movers of the programme added that today hard skills need to be clubbed with soft skills to make a mark in the job market.

K Hanumanta Rao, Executive Director, HMTV- The Hans India wished that the theme of ‘Make in India’ become a reality with the efforts of this young generation, for whom his media group would help in facilitating and unlocking employment opportunities.

The sessions by domain specialists started off with the requisite amount of seriousness and attention. Ravindra Naik, Project Manager at AT & T, speaking on ‘industry expectations from engineering graduates’ came up with a very focused discussion which spoke the language which the students were comfortable with.

His advice was to make the engineering graduates feel the real world experiences and learn from them and not remain theory-oriented. He said technical skills are an absolute must to crack the interviews.

Raghu Korratla, Founder of Colebrata, in his lecture on entrepreneurship abilities said “India has the third largest entrepreneur ecosystem in the world but only ten per cent of the startups are successful, because many of us dream to become an entrepreneur but have no dedication to realise it,” he revealed.

There are more than 30,000 engineering graduates graduating every year but only 30 per cent of these graduates bag jobs and other 15 per cent turn into entrepreneurs while other 55 per cent are striving hard to fit in, he added.

Srikanth Kondapally, soft skills professional, highlighted the differences between hard skills and soft skills and also the growing need for developing both people skills and self-management skills.

Vikas Rajput, Dean of Lemon School of Entrepreneurship, took a different approach during his lecture session as he helped students walkthrough the process of entrepreneurship with interesting exercises and interactive anecdotes.

Students were both entertained and educated by the oration of the speakers. Mahesh, a student of Methodist said that he was inspired after listening to such experienced professionals and felt he had to work harder than what he thought if he was to realise his dream of being a social entrepreneur.

Shalini, another student from Indur College said she felt privileged to learn that small town environment need not prove to be a stumbling block for a person’s growth prospects and that with technology, today everyone is the same.

“It is really a great opportunity for the students and also for the colleges to be part of such programmes as they not only aid students in cracking the interview but also will help the college to share links with the industry,” said Giridhar Akula, Principal of Methodist College of Engineering and Technology.

“Most of the engineering colleges have CRT cell but the students are less exposed to the idea of entrepreneurship, such programmes will help them in understanding industry,” said T Sandeep, IT Faculty from Stanley College of Engineering and Technology for Women.

By:Vaishnavi Girish