Apna to upskill and make 1 million job seekers future-ready by 2024
New Delhi: The requirement for skilled professionals is the need of the hour in India’s job market. According to a report by McKinsey & Company, around 375 million people will have to change their field of work this decade to meet the expectations of employers. Aiming to make jobs more accessible and help users find the right opportunities in India, apna – the largest jobs and professional networking platform – has announced plans to upskill 1 million job seekers by 2024 through apnaAscend.
As a leading professional networking and job platform, apna has played a key role in providing job opportunities for millions of job seekers, especially in the rapidly expanding workforce. Recognizing the urgent need for skilled professionals across various industries, apna has launched a new initiative, apnaAscend, which aims to equip career aspirants with the necessary skills to secure their dream jobs within 4-6 weeks This groundbreaking program will help bridge the skill gap in the job market by providing top-notch upskilling, reskilling, and training to aspiring professionals and connecting them with top companies for relevant opportunities.
In just a few months, around 5,000 students with an equal split Between T1 and T2/T3 cities have enrolled in the program and upskilled themselves, with most aged between 20 and 25 years. Among these, 90% of students have secured job offers from organisations such as Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tech Mahindra, HCL, Bharti Airtel, Bharti AXA, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, HP, PolicyBazaar, Shaadi.com and more.
As per a recent International Labour Organisation report, digitization and the growing needs of the care economy are altering enterprises’ skill requirements and hence producing skills mismatch when skill need are not properly addressed. Therefore, due to the ever-evolving dynamics of the workplace and the emergence of new technologies, many job seekers in India are facing roadblocks in their search for employment due to a lack of proper guidance and mentorship.
The guidance is crucial, not just for job seekers, but also for employers who can have their current employees pick up the right skills to move laterally into open positions. In response to these challenges, apnaAscend is specifically designed to offer dedicated, individual attention from designated coaches, a valuable alumni network, one-on-one improvement sessions, and live insights from industry experts hailing from top organizations.
The Union Budget 2023 has highlighted the need to bridge the gap between the skills possessed by the current workforce and the skills demanded by employers, in order to create more job opportunities and drive the economy forward. In this rapidly evolving technological landscape, it is important for everyone to not only have the necessary qualifications but also receive training in industry-relevant skills to secure competitive employment. To this end, apna, a trusted platform with over 30 million users and 4 lac + recruiters, offers a convenient solution to upskill and find suitable job opportunities with the right salary, at a location that suits the user.
Commenting on the growth plans, Karthik Manivannan, COO – apnaAscend, apna, their skilling business line stated, “As a nation with millions of people in the workforce, there is an increasing need to upskill and reskill this talent pool for better opportunities. This need for skilling is reflected in the fact that our business is rapidly growing with rising interest from users and employers. We are committed to making millions of job seekers future-ready to bridge the talent gap. Thanks to robust participation in the apnaAscend program from students across India, we are confident they will be upskilled with the relevant requirements of organisations seeking talent to find their dream jobs.”
With the aim of alleviating persistent unemployment and penetrating deeper into Bharat, apnaAscend will launch more courses for job roles such as sales, relationship management, and analytic & data support services across BPO, hospitality and retail sectors.
These courses will help widen the scope of upskilling students for various job opportunities, especially in emerging technologies. Considering its expanding footprint and bouquet of courses, apna is poised to emerge as the go to platform for placements problems for both job seekers and the Indian industry at large.