Why Do Companies Say They're Hiring While Candidates See No Opportunities?

Understanding the Hiring Gap

This question has been revolving in my mind for a long time. Companies say "WE ARE HIRING" while candidates say "NO OPPORTUNITIES." Can anyone tell me where the gap is? I don't think candidates lack skills, as they are already prepared with courses, certifications, and possess complete knowledge and, of course, a good maturity level. Even then, candidates say there are no opportunities. Please share your views.

Regards,
Syed
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The Recruitment Gap in India

Nothing new. This is the prevalent phase in India—candidates are educated but bookish, with no real-life experience. Companies don't understand that recruitment needs to be skill-based and not interview-based. So, if a candidate fails an interview, the candidate says "no opportunity."

Yes, I agree with talentsorcerer. Our institute plays a very important role in building these candidates, and we have been successful in doing so. I keep meeting freshers who hardly know how to introduce themselves. Nowadays, everyone wants the best out of the lot. Therefore, one needs to be competent enough to face the interviews.

The Gap Between Supply and Demand

Companies want candidates who are smart, flexible, adaptable, ready to work hard, willing to learn new things, and ready to take on additional responsibilities. How many youngsters these days are truly prepared for this? Hence, the gap persists between supply and demand.

The Gap Between Fresh Graduates and Corporate Expectations

I have come across many highly qualified fresh engineers and MBAs who seem more demanding and reluctant to understand the practical experience needs. Apart from this, they also need to brush up on their personality and skills required for a successful entry into the corporate world. Patience, perseverance, and constant learning pay off. Candidates in the initial years lack in these areas. We all must understand that these candidates have great potential and energy to turn the tables. However, the business world cannot stop its work merely to allow someone to first learn and then be productive later. It's the other way around; one has to be more creative, optimistic, innovative, and intelligent to fit in and be productive from day one.

One example is that many fresh candidates doing the MS-CIT course (a government-approved basic computer course) hesitate to operate a computer and do not know how to work in Word and Excel properly, indicating a lack of skill development.

On the contrary, it's our new generation, and we are all responsible for leveraging the best quality education and awareness to these new generation professionals. Let's hope for the best and focus on creative team-building despite all the so-called gaps.

The Gap Between Education and Employability

This is my personal view based on my own experience and observation of others. Most people never attempt self-introspection about their potentialities and simply view education as a mere source of employment. Of course, in modern times where society comprises three different strata, namely the rich, the poor, and the middle class, distinctly different from the bipolar divisions of the haves and the have-nots of previous ages, it is not possible to completely delink education from employment.

Education may simply be a process of acquiring knowledge at the peripheral level, but deep down, it is a systematic endeavor of enriching one's innate qualities to chisel or reshape one's entire character accordingly. However, we make mistakes in choosing our field of study, aiming at employment rather than our employability. So, to me, the gap is not between aspiration and opportunity but between our expectation and employability. We should remember that the first doctor was not an M.B.B.S!

This is based on the ratio of vacancies versus freshers. For example, if 200 students graduate and there are only 25 job openings, no candidates have been selected yet.

The gap lies in the limited number of opportunities, i.e., supply is exceeding demand, giving rise to high competition and malpractices in the area of employment. Both companies and candidates provide a number of reasons to justify their stance, and to a certain extent, they are correct.

Regards,
V.B. Varkhede
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Thank you for your valuable feedback. Many candidates have attended so many interviews that they become depressed. They lose hope and just say, "I don't want to work in this stream," and change their streams. Because of this, they find it tough to settle into a new domain and find a path forward.

We have come across such candidates who were from MBA Finance and migrated to HR streams, saying there are no openings in the Finance domain. A few days later, unable to understand the process, they approached the management, saying that they would like to leave this organization as they are unable to cope.

I feel that this is one of the reasons that candidates don't get settled in one job. Please suggest...

Sincerely,
Syed