Mission 12 Million!

By 2022, India’s economic engine may require over 500 million skilled people. Now getting to this figure may not be possible. What is possible as of now is to take little steps, one after another.

NSDC – National Skill Development Corporation – has been taking these little steps in association with some leading training organisations, such as Centum Learning. And together – through the Joint Venture created by NSDC and Centum Learning - they have set the target of skilling and placing over 12 million youth across sectors, which include auto and auto components, building and construction materials, healthcare, textiles, real estate services, electronics and IT hardware, organised retail, and tourism & hospitality.

With their eyes set on ‘skilling and placing 12 million youth’, these organisations offer various employability programs that in turn create corporate ready workforce.

In all these decades, we have grown in numbers, but we still have miles to go to when it comes to having the right skills for the right job. Despite availability of millions of jobs across sectors, industries are facing an acute short of skilled workforce. And this shortage can be overcome only when companies, like Centum Learning (which is a highly reputed NSDC partner), keep on rolling out employability programs and take them to the remotest corners of India.

True, little steps are what we need; the good thing is we have started taking them.

PSUs are gradually changing their outlook towards customer service

When Wal-Mart Founder Sam Walton said “the goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best but legendary,” he stated the golden rule of running a profitmaking business in a highly competitive scenario. In the globalised world, competition is just a click away for the consumers and has changed the way companies have functioned so far. Of course, it has been particularly challenging for the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) to deal with this transformation. Since these government owned entities had followed the principles of bureaucratic administration from the time of independence when they were set up to further economic development, liberalisation in 1991 struck them hard.

Privatisation gave birth to a volatile market brimming with cut-throat struggle as consumers became aware of better quality and services especially in banking, health care and aviation sectors. Intensifying demands, archaic products, lack of human resource and poor facilities led to the downfall of these public corporations with huge losses in market share. The worst hit were definitely the public sector banks (PSBs) as advanced technology and customer relationship management (CRM) driven private banks started ruling the roost in the post-liberalisation era. In the wake of the plummeting public banking sector, the government set up the Narsimham Committee (1991) that recommended focusing on enhancing the quality of customer relations and improving transparency along with instituting the Banking Ombudsman Scheme and Customer Protection Act.

This paradigm shift required expanding the customer base through increased efficiency, financial inclusion, innovation and CRM. However, the main challenge was enticing the high net worth individual (HNWI), who had also evolved with the changing times. Being serviced at a bank was now considered a right by HNWIs rather than getting something extra while carrying out the financial operations. They became more analytical and comparative in terms of products and would settle for nothing but the best in each segment of transaction or savings. Thus, major PSBs in the country underwent a modification process to remodel themselves as a people-oriented organisation to stay ahead of the private players.

Tailoring products as per customer expectations and recent progressive technology like ATMs, phone banking, internet banking along with expansion to remote areas of the country and a performance propelled working environment have all contributed to the growth of PSBs in the current times. One such revolutionary example is Punjab National Bank’s ‘Pragati’ initiative that aims at preferential treatment to loyal and prospective customers at each level of banking through modernisation, answerability, governance, better infrastructure, incentive etc.

Another important aspect of this transformation among the public sector banks involved increasing the number of branches and improving the quality of staff to develop more and more touch points and maintain a healthy relationship. This led to the much required product differentiation and market segmentation for easy identification and gratification of individual needs. Since personal interaction is the most significant characteristic of service sector, PSBs have realised its prominence and are now building new ways of enhancing customer experience.

In addition, data warehouses due to computerisation have also helped in offering superior financial planning and wealth management related services to consumers. Special relationship managers have been appointed to adhere to the grievances and streamline the processes, making banking effortless for the customers. Apart from upgrading, PSBs have also been effectively communicating about their products and services through various multi-media channels for widespread awareness and engagement. Consequently, the stature of PSBs has seen a meteoric rise in the past few years, gaining an edge over the private entrants, by changing the outlook towards customer satisfaction. Similarly equipped with contemporary information technology architecture, impeccable services, trained staff, customisation policies and customer-friendly approach, other government controlled enterprises are now making their presence felt and will continue to grow in the future.     

The future of India is Vocational!

India would require over 500 million skilled people by 2022. Building such a large base of skilled manpower is a distant dream for the country. But, the policymakers and those working at the grass root levels are trying their best.

Auto and auto components, building and construction materials, real estate services, electronics and IT hardware, food processing, gems & jewellery, organised retail, and tourism & hospitality are amongst the sectors that are already feeling starved of skilled manpower; and their demand for skilled youth would only rise in the coming years.

To bridge the huge gap between demand and supply of skilled manpower, several reputed vocational skills training companies have started reaching out to government, their agencies, and NGOs to skill India so that it doesn’t lag behind in the global race for economic development and sustainability. 

Centum Learning is a fine example of the training companies that are truly dedicated for promoting vocational training in India; these companies also ensure that the participants, once they are finished with their vocational training programme, are duly placed with leading organisations across sectors.

Vocational training programme providers keep introducing more and more innovative skill building programs – such as Certificate Course in Mobile Repairing, Certificate Course in Spoken English, Livelihood Training Course, etc., - to enhance the employability quotient of the urban as well as rural youth of the country. And this skilled manpower would ensure that India’s economic engine does not stop, even for a minute.

What makes experiential learning training an instant hit with the participants?

Experiential Training can be best understood as ‘training that is based on experience and observation’. The concept has been around for long; as a matter of fact, the theory was proposed by psychologist David Kolb who was influenced by the work of other theorists including John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, and Jean Piaget.

Whether you are into heavy earth moving equipment manufacturing or a global pharmaceutical company, you can promote cohesiveness, collaborative effort, and creativity in your teams by exposing them to corporate training programs, which are conducted by incorporating experiential learning training methodology.

A typical training program is made simple yet highly effective by including activities like Flag Hoisting, Egg Drop Exercise, Australian Walk, and Municipal Blues; direct interactions, effective sharing of the best practices and innovative ideas form the core of such corporate training programs. The participants enjoy themselves thoroughly yet gain substantial from the experiential learning training program.

Different corporate training programs providers come up with different techniques/activities for their clients. And they all are intended to help businesses achieve their goals and gain competitive edge in the market.

You too can boost your team performance with these corporate training programs. And there are many training companies around that would help you in this.

Now for more on experiential learning training and learning process outsourcing, follow us/subscribe to our blog.

How to create an extraordinary and highly effective training program?

Training Programs were always considered significant for enhancing the productivity of the employees. The importance, however, has risen sharply in the last couple of years due to economic recovery and because corporates are now seeing huge gaps in the skills of their employees. Although most corporations are fully aware of the incredible outcomes of the training programs, they often have trouble getting their employees excited about these programs. It is because most employees see trainings sessions as a waste of time or extra work pile on their desks. However, with a little homework you can make your training programs extraordinary and highly effective so that your employees develop a whole new perspective on training programs.


1. The fun element
The moment employees hear the word ‘training’, they start thinking about long, dull presentations that take up hours at a stretch and give little that they can use in their daily office life. So, first and foremost, you need to make the training fun, interesting, and engaging. Whether you are conducting customer service training programs or sales & distribution programs, plan the training content in advance. Thanks to technology, you can use some interesting training videos, set-up a quiz or plan a debate around interesting issues.

Look around for ideas (both online and offline) to add the fun element to the training programs that you wish to conduce in the near future.

2. The focused training

Your employees are not going to like the program if they feel the training would not help them in the slightest. Often, it’s the employees who know what would help them in performing their jobs effectively and efficiently. So, you better speak to your employees and design the training program in such a way that it truly aims to strengthen the skills of the participants that they can put to use the very next day. Keep your training focused on what would help your employees do their work better and faster. A training specialist can help you develop customer service training programs or other training programs in such a way that it primarily focuses on the individual needs of the training attendees.

3. Recognizing and rewarding your employees

Human-beings – whether they are school kids or grown-ups working in corporations - love to be rewarded and recognized. Take a clue from this insight and find innovative ways to reward the participants. The reward could be as simple as a certificate or a cash prize. There can be many other ways to recognize and reward the attendees so that they always come back enthusiastically when other training programs are conducted by the company.

Last, but not the least, your employees should know well in advance what they are expected to learn from the programs and how the learning would enable them do their office tasks faster and more effectively.

Sales training programs – sell more by doing less!

Remember the day when you’d joined this company? You were young, and full of doubts and dreams. You learnt the trade the hard way, but in the end you made it. And today, you are heading the sales force of the same company that you’d joined as a trainee many years ago. You are doing your best to update and motivate your sales people, but somehow you are not happy with their performance. And you want a solution, a real solution, for this; well, we have that solution.

Corporate sales training programs are the solution that we’re talking about. Okay, you’ve done it already, but still are not happy with the outcomes. See, the outcome of a training program would always depend on things like who gave the training, the methodologies that were used, and the support that was given after the completion of the program. To put it simply, you need the best inputs for the best outputs; and this is where an experienced corporate sales training company, such as Centum, comes into the scene!

These training specialists conduct in-depth analysis of the training needs of the selected group, and accordingly prepare training content and decide on the most-appropriate training methodology. These specialists go beyond the traditional ‘class room teaching’ and provide on-the-job training for better outcomes.

Thousands of organisations have witnessed the growth that comes with these training programs. It’s time you try it.

Vocational education and training holds the key to unleash the hidden talent that lies dormant in this country’s youth

The education system in India is doing pretty well. There is no doubt about it. But, at the same time we have to acknowledge the threat that the rising unemployment among youth is posing to the future of the country. The issue of unemployment can be categorized into two parts: in the first part it is the youth that could not get education because of one reason or another such as poverty; most of these youngsters are school drop-outs.

The second part consists of the youngsters who completed their education but couldn’t find a suitable job; above all, they weren’t taught any skill that could help them make a living.

Though the significance of mainstream education can’t be undermined, youth would benefit much more if the school and college education is taught along with vocational skills.

The good thing is that educational authorities of school and colleges have started partnering with leading vocational education and training companies to empower today’s youth by giving them exposure to new skills; by the time this youth would graduate from their colleges, they would be job-ready.

The government is doing its bit to promote vocational education in the country. Now it’s our turn – schools, colleges, business houses, etc. – to seriously do our part. To begin with, schools can arrange vocational education workshops/classes for their students; the same can be done by the colleges in the country. The industry players have to start giving due credit and recognition to the workforce that comes from the vocational route.

It’s high time we map the vocational courses with Industry requirement and make the programs a part of the curriculum as well.