EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS IN THE INDIAN IT SECTOR: INSIGHTS FROM GRADUATES

Abstract

Employability skills are essential for attaining and retaining jobs and employers give due preference to employability skills over academic skills. The Indian economy has been transformed by the IT sector, but this sector is attempting to address the challenges of talent supply mismatch, skill shortages, and low employability skills among the graduate IT. This qualitative research aims to explore the IT Graduates' views on role employability skills in the Indian Tech Industry. The content analysis of the responses provided by the learners suggests that learners are well aware of the different types of employability skills needed in the IT industry. The results indicate the existence of four categories of graduates in for probability of getting employment in terms of employability skills. The new learners are proactive towards their careers and have a clear (not very clear) picture of the employability skills needed in the IT industry. However, the stakeholders need to work to meet the IT industry’s demand for job-ready graduates with relevant employability skills so that the employability skill mismatch can be bridged.