Unlike other tests, which only measure the state of employability just before hiring, this comprehensive programme will assess candidates on their employability skills.
MeritTrac Services, provider of innovative scientific assessment solutions, just launched a unique employability enhancement programme—‘AceTrac’. The programme is meant to positively impact the stagnant employability quotient of graduates.
This comprehensive employability enhancement programme will assess candidates on employability skills at regular intervals during the graduation study of a student. AceTrac provides developmental inputs and detailed feedback to students by benchmarking them against the industry hiring standards, and thus helping them prepare better.
The programme is a culmination of years of industry research, data analyses and interaction with corporates and educational institutions on employability. Based on their feedback, MeritTrac conceptualised a complete programme with continuous assessments at its core. AceTrac will allow academic institutions to design personalised, long-term training interventions for their students early in their graduation.
The problem of employability has been prevalent for a long time in the industry and the fact that employability cannot be improved overnight has been well established. Thus, the need for long-term, strategic and fundamental changes in approach is imperative.
Gopal Devanahalli, CEO, MeritTrac Services says, “With its years of experience, MeritTrac has a clear understanding of what the corporates want and the state of talent pool in academic institutions. We believe that AceTrac will complement India’s skill building initiatives by systematically enhancing job-readiness of candidates thereby making them gainfully employable.”
AceTrac is a three-stage programme comprising diagnostic, review and final employability assessments. The diagnostic assessment will evaluate students in the first or the second year of graduate education and generate personalised feedback on strengths and areas of improvement. The prevailing level of student’s employability is benchmarked against the industry standards. The feedback from the assessment will be used as an input for designing training interventions.
In six to twelve months after the diagnostic assessment, the students undergo a review assessment. Their improvement is analysed and training needs are fine-tuned. The final employability test is undertaken few months before graduation or the placement season. The continuous assessment, feedback and training, guarantees improvement and readiness for the workplace.
The programme complements the academic system and assesses candidates on key employability parameters—cognitive abilities, communication skills, interest and personality. The design of the test is based on key employability constructs that are typically assessed by corporates for recruitment.
AceTrac monitors students’ proficiency and progress in interactive English, number dexterity, problem solving and decision making. English language communication has been identified as a key requirement by corporates for employability. Thus, the programme assesses candidates on written, spoken and listening skills in the English language. In addition, it gauges their interest and personality, which is important for ‘person–job’ fitment.
Authenticated corporate and hiring managers are given free access to the platform from where they can identify employable student groups, communities and colleges. The intuitive search facility will allow corporates to search for employable student communities from specific cities, colleges and for specific skills.
Nagendran Sundararajan, executive vice president, MeritTrac Services says, “Corporates and their recruiters have been looking for a solution that can help them recruit job-ready candidates. The educational institutions and the student community have been looking for solutions that will help them improve their employability quotient during their college study. AceTrac has evolved out of this market need and MeritTrac’s 17 years of experience in employability assessments. The AceTrac platform has been made intuitive to help corporates identify the employable talent they look for. We believe, AceTrac will immensely help the student community to transform themselves as job and career ready.”