Industry-Academia gap is probably the most clichéd term heard during campus placements. As campus recruits cannot be directly deployed in projects, rigorous training for them is a prime area of concern for many organizations. This entails a heavy investment of time and money and often becomes a reason to avoid campus hires.

Therefore, it is important for students to be job ready from Day 1. They should look upon college education as a medium of overall personality growth and not just facilitator of degree. There are a lot of focus areas for students during college education, which can help them in their professional beginning.

Technical Skills: Students should work towards honing their technical capabilities through all possible learning channels. They should be always in synchronization with the market demand and updated with the latest technology and skills.

Domain Knowledge: Having domain knowledge or at least the know-how of various industries can help students to adapt to the corporate lingo pretty quickly. This will also help them in understanding the practical usage of the code or module they would be working on.

Soft Skills: Working in teams and doing group assignments can help students learn a lot about team management and dynamics. Group assignments help students appreciate the challenges faced by a team and prepare them for working as a unit.

Time Management: Each student should have a habit of multitasking. Managing tasks and assigning priority is a crucial requirement for a job.

Networking: Getting to know peers and teachers is equally important. Students should learn to build relationships right from college and also mentor their juniors.

Live Projects: Try and get hands on experience by getting involved in live projects and if possible, doing internship in relevant areas. This will help the students in understanding the functioning of various departments in an organization and also make them comfortable while facing a client.

In addition to this, employers should also ensure that students get required exposure to the corporate culture before joining. With the emergence of digital and social platforms, employers now have the opportunity of multiple interactions with students which can be used for educating students about the organization.

Preparatory sessions: With the use of digital and web-based modules, students can be educated about the organization and the domains they will be working on. Interactive sessions can be designed to teach the various technical skills and students can be assigned small projects to work on.

Online engagement: With daily quizzes, facts and list of dos/donts, employers can educate the students about the company. They can also use this forum to answer their queries and solve their doubts.

College to Corporate training: Tailor-made learning programmes for students to help them cope with the transition and prepare them for domain-specific alignment. Senior leaders could be invited to speak to students and share their stories.

Mentorship: Assigning a mentor right from the time of extending the offer and encouraging students to reach out to their mentor for any help.

The outcome expected out of these activities is to make the students professional and acceptable to the business and clients right from day one of their on-boarding. These practices will not just help the employer, but also the industry in producing better professionals.