UNLOCKING JOBS

The pandemic has made many organisations to look at apprenticeships as part of talent development and hiring strategy to make it future proof, says Sumit Kumar, Vice President – NETAP, TeamLease Skills University.

- Niranjan Mudholkar

How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected the overall apprenticeship scenario in the country?

Pandemic did have an adverse impact on apprenticeships due to the lockdown. But from the very first phase of unlocking there has been an intake and there has been no looking back. Many of the organisations had some experience of doing apprenticeships in the past. Lack of manpower due to reverse migration added to the talent crunch which led to faster adoption of apprenticeships by the organisation to train the available local people to create productive resources to take care of demand for essential services and goods. The pandemic has made many organisations to look at apprenticeships as part of talent development and hiring strategy to make it future proof.

How will this further change the overall employment scenario in the nation?

Apprenticeship is the way to channelize youth into formal employment. The trend shows that about an average of 35-40 percent of the apprentices do get absorbed in into employment by the same organisations, and the rest get picked up by the industry due to the on the training they have gone through. The larger adoption of apprenticeship will ensure more formal employment which is good for the socio-economic development of the nation.

While the pandemic has certainly impacted the overall manufacturing industry in an adverse manner, there are also signs of a fresh revival. Do you think the industry will be in a full-fledged revival mode in the first two quarters?