Bridging Skill-Gap in Indian Construction Industry

Skills Gaps in most sectors in alarming and calls for urgent attention.According to Manpower''s sixth annual Talent Shortage Survey, India results are well above the global average of 34 per cent and second only to Japan, where 80 per cent of employers are struggling to fill critical positions.Talent scarcity in India has worsened, as just a year ago, India was ranked 29th among 36 countries surveyed, when 16 per cent of employers faced difficulty to fill jobs.

Bridging the skill-gap is not only important to take advantage of the working population that we have  but also to create a sectoral engagement contributing ultimately in the growth of the industry.

One such industry facing an immense talent-shortage is the Construction Industry.

In an open-house discussion, comprising of my students of MBA January 2011-13 students (Sec.B) of School of Business, Alliance University, on  ‘What can be done to bridge the skill-gap in construction Industry?’ the following suggestions poured-in:

1.       In company Training Programs
2.       Hiring across sectors, looking for people who are trainable
3.       Setting-up of more Training Academics like NAL, NICMR
4.       Training Prospective Employees
5.       Offer challenging work environment & mobility to employees
6.       Tapping semi skilled population (contractors)
7.       Having a mix of skilled, semi skilled and low skilled labours.
8.       Offering vocational training and livelihood advancement facilties to under-privileged sections of the society
9.       Industry academia partnership in skill enhancement
10.   Sensitization on construction as a career among college graduates
11.   Improving ‘Quality of life’ perception regarding construction industry.
12.   Utilizing Industry Association forums for outreach activities to promote construction as a career
13.   Creating campus affinity through various events focusing on construction industry.
14.   Project based learning (Live Project to civil-engineering students)
15.   Pedagogical Transformation to make curriculum more relevant to industry requirements
16. Catch them young (school-level mentoring of students on construction industry)