MBA talent pool report

8/7/2019 MBA talent pool report

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MBA Talent Pool Report

www.merittrac.com

Key Findings


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MeritTrac is India's Largest Skills Assessment Company.

MeritTrac designs and delivers assessments to evaluate abilities, skills and knowledge for both corporate & individual customers. Since its inception in 2000,

MeritTrac has assessed over 2 Million candidates for over 150 clients across industry verticals like IT, BPO, BFSI, Engineering, FMCG, Healthcare, Retail,

Manufacturing, Public Sector Units and Education among others.

MeritTrac is neither a Placement/Recruitment firm nor a Training organization. It is uniquely positioned to be an Independent assessment company

that provides quantitative inputs on the talent pool and helps in measuring competencies for specific roles.

Our suite of scientifically designed assessments is used by corporate customers for pre-recruitment and employee assessments, and by individuals for

measuring their skills for employability. MeritTrac's strong Test Development team has created a validated suite of tests in over 300 areas spanning

Communication Skills (English and other Indian Languages), General Abilities, Domains Skills (Technologies, Engineering, Accounting, etc.) and Behavioural

Assessments. The team has been instrumental in generating over 75,000 questions across all these test areas.

All the tests are delivered in both Online and Offline (paper pencil) modes, under supervision. All online tests are delivered using OnTrac a proprietary web-

based testing engine. Our Test Delivery team has administered tests in over 75 cities in India.

We currently test over 100,000 candidates every month across industry verticals and count among our cl ients some of the world's most admired & respected

companies like ABB, Accenture, Aricent, Cholamandalam DBS, Cognizant, EDS-Mphasis, Google, HAL, HP, HSBC GLT, ICICI Bank, ICICI Prudential, ITC

Foods, Microsoft, MindTree, NSE, SAP Labs, Satyam, TESCO, Wipro and Wockhardt.

TracSkills our Individual Certification program for IT, BPO, Services and the MBA Talent Pools has assessed and provided structured feedback on industry-

readiness to thousands of candidates across the country. TracSkills is endorsed by several companies across sectors and partners with academic institutions

like Bharathiar University, Visvesvaraya Technological University, among others on employability enhancement initiatives.

Pariksha - our program for Education Assessments has successfully supported educational institutions like Manipal University in conducting large scale

national level entrance examinations online, in a highly secure mode.

Headquartered in Bangalore, MeritTrac has 450+ fulltime employees and over 1000 certified test administrators operating out of offices in all the metros of

India. MeritTrac also operates 21 state-of-the-art online testing centers - MeritTrac Assessment Zones across 16 cities, having 1200+ online terminals.

MeritTrac is a winner of the Red Herring top 100 Asia award for 2007. The award is a recognition of the Top 100 Most Promising Private companies in Asia

and is probably the first instance of an assessment company winning this award- a testament to the importance being placed on innovation in talent

engagement practices globally.

MeritTrac assessments have also been delivered in countries like Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Mauritius & Philippines. MeritTrac is represented by business

partners in the USA & the Philippines.

MeritTrac is an investee company of Manipal Education Group (MEG).

About MeritTrac


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Around this time, a year ago, we profiled the availability of engineering talent in India. As part of our ongoing efforts in sizing up and characterizing th

employable pool of talent across various disciplines, we now bring you a report on the MBA talent pool in India

That the Indian economy is on the upswing is by now common knowledge. Equally common, ironically, is the knowledge that we have acutely inadequa

managerial talent to manage this growth. Despite several business schools mushrooming across the country, the supply of qualified and employable MBAs

woefully short of demand.

MeritTrac has tested a number of MBA graduates for its clients. How candidates fare across regions and business schools is the subject matter of th

report.

The report on the MBA talent pool in India aims at? Studying variances in test performances and thus industry-readiness of candidates across major cities in India and

? Profiling talent pool availability across these cities in terms of throughput rates from individual cities

A secondary information research exercise gathered facts and figures that provided us with the necessary means to arrive at a set of hypotheses that

would be validated with statistical tools. A primary data analysis then goes on to prove or disprove the hypotheses, thus arriving at conclusive insights

on the managerial talent pool.

A supercharged economy that shows no signs of slowing down characterizes India Inc today. Ironically, in a land of plenty (of human resources, spread

across regions), hiring and retaining qualified managerial talent is increasingly turning into a nightmare for firms. Attrition, skyrocketing salaries and a

structurally deficient educational ecosystem are keeping the recruiter awake at night.

A bigger issue, however, is a fuzzy and multi faceted challenge of employability. As per McKinsey's study on The Emerging Global labour market, about a

tenth of all generalists graduating out of Indian institutions are industry-ready. And the explosion in the number of B-schools over the past decade has not

really helped. A demand-supply disparity plagues the availability of quality managerial talent in India.

We conclude the secondary research section with a quantification of the demand-supply gap that concerns the managerial talent pool.

The primary data analysis was carried out on a sample of 790 MBA graduates from across 6 major cities. Candidates were tested on Verbal, Quantitative

and Mental application abilities as well as four Group Interaction attributes: Articulation, Grammar, Assertiveness and Confidence. Those that were

shortlisted on the first three abilities were made to undergo the Group Interaction Test.

It was found that each city is characterized by a distinct style of performance and there is no single predictor of success in the tests. While Mumbai/Pune,

with occasional flashes of brilliance walked away with the top slot, Kolkata, with a superbly consistent performance came a close second. While Delhi

was conspicuous by its indifferent performance, Hyderabad rallied towards the end to occupy a spot of merit Bangalore and Chennai fell short of

expectations.

The report concludes with implications for industry, academia and students along with actionable recommendations.

Executive Summary

.

Preface


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The business of business schools

About 24% of the 547 offers made by a leading IT services company in India at tier-1 business schools, this year, were rejected. The experience of most othehitherto day-zero recruiters, especially Indian firms has been no different. Foreign companies and dollar salaries are crowding out Indian companies from tierinstitute campuses.

Whilst recruiters increasingly prefer to recruit from tier-2 institutes, and some even hire huge numbers from tier-3 business schools, the manner in which B-schostakeholders recruiters, functional heads, MBA wannabes, MBA students and young executives evaluate institutions has undergone a sea change.

For example, placements, the holy grail for any B-school, is no longer about the proportion of candidates placed. Tough questions are being asked about the quality oplacements which firms come calling and what they pay are critical success factors.

Performance of B-schools (surveys with prospective students, recruiters and academia)

132

487

1257

21

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600

1998 (BUSINESS

TODAY BEST INDIAN

B-SCHOOL SURVEY)

2006 (AIMA BEST BSCHOOL SURVEY

2006)

Number of B-schools

B-schools that scored average or better Total number of B-schools in India

In 1998, when Business Today carried out the Best B-school survey, respondents lamented on the state of the B-school mart. Many B-schools were viewed upon a

those set up to make a quick buck rather than provide quality management education. Of the 487 institutes surveyed, just 21 (or 4.3%) were considered average o

better.

The picture looks much better today though, the proportion of 'average or better' B-schools has just about doubled to 10.5%.

The Best versus the rest

While the 1,125 institutes rated below average may be discounted for the purpose of estimating the employable pool of MBAs for managerial roles, not all of th

MBAs graduating out of the 132 schools should amount to about 20,000, assuming an average class size of close to 150 may be employable.

To have a perspective of the demand for fresh MBA recruits, one needs to look at the demand for CEOs in India. India Inc requires about 2,000 CEOs every yeaConservative estimates plug the demand for senior managers at 4 times this level which works out to 8,000. Assuming a senior:middle manager ratio of 1:4 and

similar ratio for middle to junior managers, the gross requirement of fresh MBA recruits by India Inc is 128,000.


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The Yawning Gap

20,000

128,000

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

Demand for fresh recruits by

India Inc

Gross supply of MBAs by 132

B-schools

Num

berofgraduating

MB

As

Source: - AIMA Best B School Survey 2006 and Business Toda

What all of this implies is that even if firms happen to recruit from an average or better rated, tier-2 or tier-3 B-school, they are still not assured of qualified an

employable talent.

Regional Contribution to the Talent Pool

An estimation of the regional contribution to the MBA Talent Pool revealed an almost uniform contribution across the 6 hubs considered. Each of the 6 hub

substantially contributed to the pool with Delhi's contribution being the biggest.

Regional Contribution to the MBA Talent PoolTotal Estimated Pool Size: 70,000

Others, 10,200

Kolkata, 6,000Hyderabad,

6,900

Bangalore,

7,500Chennai,

7,500

Delhi, 12,900

Mumbai,

8100

Source: Based on the AIMA BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY 2006 and class size estimates of between 120 and 250 on an average per B-school in the regions considered.

Distribution of MBA colleges in India

30%

18%11%12%

12%

10% 7%Delhi

Bangalore

Mumbai

Chennai

Kolkata

Hyderabad

Others


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Skills assessments for MBA graduates

Let us say one gets the right spots to recruit on the right days in the right schools. In reality, however, assessing the candidate for employability is still a major issu

Add to this, the pressures of competing firms and multiple offers made to good candidates, and you have a potently heady task ahead.

Employability is a measure of the industry-readiness of the candidate. It is a combination of specific hard and soft skills that make one candidate better geared t

handle business situations than another. On the other hand, a general lack of employability means an inability to handle business situations well, making a candidat

unsuitable to be employed.

A recruiter strapped for time and wanting to pick the right candidates within the shortest possible time needs to screen out unemployable candidates right at th

outset. This would result in an improved likelihood of interviewing candidates that are industry-ready and choosing from among the best.

The MeritTrac Assessment Process

The MeritTrac Abilities test for management graduates is designed to evaluate fresh MBA graduates for managerial skills. The test has sections on Verbal Ability

Analytical Skills and Mental Application/Process Orientation.

MeritTrac has developed this suite of tests working closely with industry and based on a Competency Framework. The Competency Framework has been develope

using Job Descriptions, discussions with Recruiters/Trainer/Operations Managers and data from previous tests as sources.

The assessment process is designed and calibrated scientifically to ensure the selection of quality talent. These scientific means translate into Standard Tes

Templates for various Assessments. Test templates outline the distribution of questions from various Subject Areas and the appropriate difficulty levels within th

Subject Area. The Standard Test Templates, when administered, provide quantitative measures on key attributes.

Parameters for the Abilities Test

Sections No. of questions Duration (in mins) Shortlist criteriaVerbal ability 25 20 18 (60%)

Quantitative ability 20 25 6 (30%)

Mental application 20 20 11 (55%)

Group Interaction Test

Parameters Shortlist criteriaArticulation 3

Grammar 3Confidence 3

Assertiveness 3


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The selection criteria are based on statistical distribution of scores and have been validated by interview correlation. Based on the level of importance to busines

processes, an appropriate score distribution is used as the pass through cut off rate.

Test development: The Competency Framework

At the core of the test development process is the Competency Framework. The Competency Framework maps a recruiter's specific requirements into an evaluatio

methodology by identifying the skills, abilities and knowledge to look for in a candidate.

Job descriptions and discussions with recruiters are inputs to the Competency Framework. The Competency Framework translates recruiter requirements of sk

sets and competencies into appropriate tests. The test development process is il lustrated below.

The test delivery process

The Abilities tests are administered using both online and offline channels. In either case the delivery mechanisms ensure all tests are administered under supervisio

in order that candidates are authenticated to ensure fairness and credibility, maintaining the integrity of the process.

MeritTrac, with its pan India presence, has delivered assessments at over 67 locations in India.

JOB DESCRIPTION ANALYSIS&

STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS(WITH RECRUITERS & DELIVERY TEAMS)

TEST RECOMMENDATION&

CREATION/ CUSTOMIZATION

TEST - PRE RELEASEVALIDITY, RELIABILITY, ITEM FACILITY VALUE

TEST ANALYSIS - ONGOINGVALIDITY, RELIABILITY, ITEM FACILITY VALUE

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK

TEST1Q ----

A) -- B) --C) -- D) --

TEST1BLUEPRINT

TEST2BLUEPRINT

TEST3BLUEPRINT

TEST2

Q ----A) --B) --C) --D) --

TEST3Q ----

A) -- B) --C) -- D) --

TEST SUITE

SCORE INTERPRETATION &SELECTION CRITERIA RECOMMENDATION

TEST MODIFICATIONS

JOB DESCRIPTION ANALYSIS&

STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS(WITH RECRUITERS & DELIVERY TEAMS)

TEST RECOMMENDATION&

CREATION/ CUSTOMIZATION

TEST - PRE RELEASEVALIDITY, RELIABILITY, ITEM FACILITY VALUE

TEST ANALYSIS - ONGOINGVALIDITY, RELIABILITY, ITEM FACILITY VALUE

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK

TEST1Q ----

A) -- B) --C) -- D) --

TEST1BLUEPRINT

TEST2BLUEPRINT

TEST3BLUEPRINT

TEST2

Q ----A) --B) --C) --D) --

TEST3Q ----

A) -- B) --C) -- D) --

TEST SUITE

TEST1Q ----

A) -- B) --C) -- D) --

TEST1BLUEPRINT

TEST2BLUEPRINT

TEST3BLUEPRINT

TEST2

Q ----A) --B) --C) --D) --

TEST3Q ----

A) -- B) --C) -- D) --

TEST SUITE

SCORE INTERPRETATION &SELECTION CRITERIA RECOMMENDATION

TEST MODIFICATIONS


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Research Objectives

A sample of 790 candidate performances in 6 major hubs Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai/Pune has been culled out for the purposes othis study. Candidates from surrounding cities come to the nearest 'hub' city to take up tests.

This study aims at assessing candidate performances in the tests and evaluating whether and what differences exist in performances between geographies

between specialization streams and at ascertaining if the individual components (abilities) of the tests have a bearing on the overall performance.

Research Hypotheses

The hypotheses that this study aims at testing are:

? Variation of throughput rates by geography

? Variation of scores of the abilities by geography

? Effect of each of the abilities on the test performance

Research Data

Candidate performances in MBA Abilities tests carried out in 6 centres across the country have been considered. Selected institutions from these hubs participate

in the tests. The sample is a base of 790 candidate scores spread across these centres.

To address the quality of skill-sets and the distribution of such skills across regions, the research uses data generated from having administered the Abilities Test o

students from different graduation streams, B-schools and geographies across India.


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Individual Ability Performances

Candidate Performance on Verbal Ability

Verbal Ability: Passthrough Rates

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

Bangalore Chennai Delhi Hyderabad Kolkata Mumbai

Mean

score

Individual City Passthrough Rate Overall Passthrough Rate

a) Kolkata, Bangalore and Delhi fare above the overall passthrough rate of 56.33% on Verbal Ability

b) Kolkata does very well with a passthrough rate of 83%, and Bangalore follows with 70.6%

c) Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai/Pune are almost on par with each other and are well below the overall passthrough rate

Citywise Mean Scores on Verbal Ability

15

15.5

16

16.5

17

17.5

18

18.5

19

19.5

20


Mean

score

a) Mean scores vary city-wise in accordance with the passthrough rates, with Kolkata scoring an impressive 19.4

b) Chennai brings up the rear with 16.63.

c) An Anova test proved that the difference in performances across cities was statistically significant


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a) Mumbai/Pune makes up for its poor performance on Verbal Ability here- comes out on top on Quantitative Ability with a stupendous 99.2% passthrougrate

b) Kolkata follows close on its heels with an almost equally impressive 97.87%

c) Chennai lags behind all others despite scoring 92.02%

d) At 94.68%, the overall passthrough rate is considerably high

Candidate Performance on Quantitative Ability

Quantitative Ability: Passthrough Rates

88.00%

90.00%

92.00%

94.00%

96.00%

98.00%

100.00%

Bangalore

Chennai

Delhi

Hyderabad

Kolkata

Mumbai

Meanscore


Citywise Mean Scores on Quantitative Ability

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16


Meanscore

a) The graph is in line with the passthrough trends, with one exception however, Kolkata marginally betters Mumbai/Pune with a mean score of 13.38

b) The other 4 cities perform below the overall mean, Chennai being an exception

c) Differences among cities is statistically significant here as well


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a) Cities fare neck-to-neck on Mental Application; Kolkata stays head and shoulders above the rest with a 95.74% passthrough rate

b) The overall passthrough rate is again an impressive 85.7%

c) Bangalore falls short considerably on this count with a 79.41% passthrough

Candidate Performance on Mental Application

Mental Application: Passthrough Rates

0.00%

20.00%

40.00%

60.00%

80.00%

100.00%

120.00%


Meanscore


Citywise Mean Scores on Mental Application

12.2

12.4

12.6

12.8

13

13.2

13.4

13.6

13.8

14

14.2

14.4


Meanscore

a) Mumbai/Pune and Kolkata fare almost equally well as do Delhi and Hyderabad

b) The differences between cities is significant here albeit, at the 5% level


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1

1. Kolkata scores the highest on Verbal and Quantitative abilities. Mumbai/Pune takes the lead on Mental application2. On a normalized scale, across abilities, candidates score the lowest on quantitative ability.

3. Across the cities, candidates score the highest on verbal ability, exceptions are Hyderabad and Mumbai/Pune, where candidates score better on Mentability

Mumbai kolkata Hyderabad delhi chennai bangalore

city

80

60

40

20

0

Mean

7170.769.5 68.96664.7 65.8 66.9

55.2 54.2 49.8 53.7

67.6 77.6

68.8 72.3

66.5

74.1

mental_ability (%)

quantitative(%)

verbal(%)

The Overall Picture on Abilities

Normalized scores: comparison across abilitiesIn order to make a comparison across the cities for all the three abilities, we examine the percentage of marks received by the students on a normalized scaof 100.


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a) The overall throughput rate stands at 49.5%; which means that about half the candidates that took the abilities test succeeded in clearing it

b) Kolkata stands tall with a 76.6% passthrough rate a clear 20 percentage points above the next in line: Delhi.

c) Passthroughs for Hyderabad, Mumbai/Pune an Chennai hover around 40%

The Group Interaction Test

The shortlist of candidates, city-wise, that made it to the Group Interaction Test was obviously different in composition from the sample and was in accordance wit

the passthrough trends. In all 447 candidates were shortlisted for the Group Interaction Test.

In terms of absolute numbers, Bangalore contributed the highest number of shortlisted candidates followed by Mumbai/Pune. It should be mentioned here tha

Kolkata is to be credited for contributing the highest throughput to this pool.

For GIT the students were tested on a 4 set criteria of communication skills - articulation, grammar, assertiveness and confidence. The test was conducted for fiv

marks and a pass in each of these tests was required for being shortlisted for a personal interview.

The cut-off mark in each of these tests was 3. The following table shows the classification of the average marks received by the candidates across the cities.

Throughput Rates

Throughput Rates across Cities

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%


Mean

score

Individual City Throughput Overall Throughput


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1

1. Hyderabad scores highest on articulation and is followed by Mumbai/Pune. Bangalore scores the lowest on this attribute.

2. Kolkata performs better than others on grammar and is followed by Mumbai/Pune. The lowest score here is by Chennai.

3. Mumbai/Pune scores the highest on assertiveness and confidence, followed closely by Kolkata.

Normalized scores: Comparison across attributes

MumbaiKolkataHyderabadDelhiChennaiBangalore

cities

4

3

2

1

0

Mean

3.243.222.96 2.88 2.48 2.58

3.31

3.222.84 2.88 2.36 2.52

2.812.842.67 2.61 2.14 2.33

3.022.983.03

2.66

2.83

2.52

confidence

Assertiveness

Grammar

articulation


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1

a) The Hyderabad set proves to be the most articulate; Chennai, Mumbai/Pune and Kolkata follow close

b) The overall passthrough for articulation is a fair 69.13%.

c) Bangalore and Delhi, surprisingly, do not fare as well on this attribute.

Candidate Performance on Articulation

Articulation: Passthrough Rates

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%


Mean

score


a) Mean scores lie within in a very narrow range for Articulation

b) Hyderabad and Mumbai/Pune lead the pack, Kolkata is not far behind

c) Bangalore and Delhi lag behind the rest

Citywise Mean Scores on Articulation

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5


Mean

score


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1

a) Kolkata leads with a 77.78% passthrough rate, Mumbai/Pune next at a distant 65.96%b) Chennai falls woefully behind with 22.41%, Bangalore disappoints too, with a 44.8% passthrough

Candidate Performance on Grammar

Grammar: Passthrough Rates

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%


Mean

score


Citywise Mean Scores on Grammar

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3


M

ean

score

a) The Mean score graph mirrors passthrough performance by cities with Kolkata and Chennai at the top and bottom, respectively

b) Only, the scores for Delhi and Hyderabad are close to those for Kolkata and Mumbai/Pune


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1

a) Mumbai/Pune candidates tower above the rest on the Assertiveness attribute

b) Chennai fares poorly, again, with a 41.4% passthrough, Bangalore just about breaches the 50% barrier

c) The average passthrough is a decent 68.23%, implying a good overall showing

Candidate Performance on Assertiveness

Assertiveness: Passthrough Rates

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%


Mean

score


Citywise Mean Scores on Assertiveness

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5


M

ean

score

a) Mumbai/Pune and Kolkata are neck and neck yet again, so are Delhi and Hyderabad

b) Chennai lags behind


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1

a) Mumbai/Pune stands tall again and along with Kolkata, leaves the rest far behind

b) The trend repeats with the rest of the pack

Candidate Performance on Confidence

Confidence: Passthrough Rates

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%


Mean

score


Citywise Mean Scores on Confidence

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5


Mean

score

a) The mean scores follow the same trend

Across all the attributes tracked under Group Interaction Test, it was found that there is a significant difference in performances of cities. An Anovatest was carried out to test this significance.


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1

a) The overall throughput in GIT stands at 41%.

b) Mumbai/Pune and Kolkata best the rest by far, and do it convincingly at that. The two cities fare very well across all the GIT attributesc) Hyderabad is the dark horse that triumphs over Delhi, albeit by a narrow margin

d) Chennai, at 13.79%, is the nadir while Bangalore settles at 31.25%

The Overall Picture on GIT attributes

Throughput Rates

GIT: Throughput Rates

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%


M

ean

score



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1

Conclusions

a. If the companies were to consider only good abilities skills as a pre-requisite for the candidates then the employable talent pool stands at 56%.If thecompanies were to consider both abilities as well as good communication a selection criteria then the study indicates that the employable talent pool

stands at 23%.

b. The study springs a pleasant set of surprises, yielding insights about a talent bouquet that is as diverse as it is consistent

i. Candidate performances on each of the abilities as well as on the interaction attributes are largely mutually exclusive and uncorrelated except

on a few sets of interaction attributes

ii. As an implication of the above finding, any intuitive evaluation of the talent pool is completely ruled out.

c. Kolkata and Mumbai/Pune steal the limelight away from all other cities. The two cities, each characterized by its own distinct performance style,

are by far the best cities to recruit management talent

i. Kolkata is most consistent across all abilities and interaction attributes. This consistency yields it the second spot on the throughput scaleii. Mumbai/Pune displays flashes of brilliance on specific abilities and, although it falters at a couple of places, takes the top spot away

d. Among the 6 cities, Hyderabad is the dark horse

i. It performs well below average on virtually all the abilities and still manages to equal the average final throughput

ii. Thanks to an inspired performance on the interaction attributes, candidates from this city catapult it to the third spot on the final shortlist

e. Delhi turns out an indifferent performance in spite of having a head start on the abilities.

i. The city does reasonably well on Verbal ability and Mental application, thus securing for itself an above average throughput on abilities

ii. Quantitative ability and Articulation, however, push the city down the order in the final shortlist.

f. Bangalore and Chennai put up a not very inspired performance across tests.

i. Bangalore starts very well with Verbal ability, this alone guaranteeing the city a great throughput on abilities, but does not deliver thereafter.

ii. Chennai score well on Articulation, but not so well on the other abilities.

g. The Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai hubs make up for their seemingly less than impressive performance on throughput proportions through numbers.

The smaller throughput rates from these hubs nevertheless translate in to big numbers in terms of absolute number of candidates, since their

contribution to the overall talent pool is higher.

h. The differences in ability performances are not significant. A blurred line distinguishes those cities that do well on abilities and those who do not. The

differences on group interaction attribute performances are significant, however.


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1

Implications and Recommendations

Industry:

? Adopting a scientific approach to hiring could ensure quality recruits for industry.

? Also, the measure of employability varies across cities. Varying ratios of talent pool maturity would mean differences in conversion rates acrosscampuses.

? The regional divergence in candidate performances needs to be taken cognizance of- one encounters a different breed of MBAs in each city. Thisimplies that a homogeneous, targets based approach to recruitment could throw up unpleasant surprises in future.

Academia:

? There could be no adequate substitute for industry interaction- an activity that is assuming greater importance in the best B-schools across theworld, compared with case studies and such other class based learning to improve the employability quotient.

? There are B-schools that admit students with similar behavioral and attitudinal make up and there are others who do not. Although this practice is

not proven to be effective, it does help predict employability.? Benchmarking the admission process against recruitment processes could prove to be valuable in improving the quality of talent and in increasing the

throughput.

? Subjecting the students to scientifically designed assessments can help them benchmark themselves against the industry expectations & therebyenabling them to be industry-ready.

Students:

? Students, especially those who opt to do an MBA with little or no prior work experience, need to work towards becoming industry-ready; anappreciation of the many skills that go into it could be the first step.

? Being ranked very well on just one or a few abilities/attributes does not guarantee industry-readiness. To make the cut, one needs to perform fairlywell on multiple abilities/attributes.


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Disclaimer

This MBA Talent Pool Report (the Report) is confidential, and has been prepared by MeritTrac Services Limited, solely for use by prospectiveclients/business partners.

The information contained herein has been prepared to assist interested parties in making their own evaluation of the project report and does not purport to beall-inclusive or to contain all of the information that a recipient or prospective recipient may desire. While the information contained herein is believed to beaccurate, MeritTrac Services has not audited all of the information contained herein and no representation or warranty is made by MeritTrac Services as tothe accuracy, reliability or completeness of this Report. In all cases, interested parties could conduct their own investigation and analysis of the data set forthin this Report.

MeritTrac Services expressly disclaims any and all liability for any representations (whether express or implied) contained in, or any omissions from , thisReport or any other written or oral communication transmitted to the recipient in the course of the recipients evaluation of the same.

This Report includes certain statements, estimates and projections provided by MeritTrac, which reflect MeritTracs views. Such statements, estimates andprojections reflect various assumptions, which may or may not prove to be correct. No representations are made as to the accuracy of such statements andestimates.

MeritTrac reserves the right to change or modify any or all of the information included as part of this Report at any time and without prior notice to therecipient or other prospective recipients. MeritTrac also reserves the right to terminate, at any time, the further participation in the analysis and reviewprocess by itself or by any other party and to modify, at any time, any procedure relating to such process without disclosing any reason therefore.

Dated: January 30, 2007

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MBA talent pool report

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