Vocational Training - Teamlease Style

Forbes India has an article on how staffing services firm Teamlease is transforming the vocational training firm IIJT that it acquired in March 2010.

If the term “university” evokes images of quadrangles, high ceilings and large windows, perish the thought. IIJT centre in Bangalore is a three-storied building not far from the bustling shops of Brigade Road. Inside, students in their late teens or early 20s occupy the classrooms — some so narrow that each row seats only four. The small, sparsely furnished offices behind the reception double up as interview rooms for visiting companies.

Not your typical university campus. Yet, this could do what some of the colleges have failed to do — produce employable students. The centres would be small, functional, located close to students and most importantly, cost less. TeamLease has centralised common functions (such as HR, legal, finance and IT) even to the level of trainers. Star trainers are hard to get in the hinterland, and expensive to hire anywhere. From its centres in Bangalore and Delhi, these trainers interact with students in multiple centres.

Centralisation and use of technology will not only bring the cost down, but also help in quality. The secret sauce of quality however comes from the staffing business. Over the years, TeamLease has developed a framework which looks at the specific skill sets that an ideal candidate needs for a specific job profile. It tweaks the syllabus every three months to keep it relevant to the job market. “Here we all pray to only one God, and that is Jobs,” says Davluri P. who is in charge of academics.

Arun Natarajan is the Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of data and analysis on private equity, venture capital and M&A deals in India. View free samples of Venture Intelligence newsletters and reports. Email the author at arun@ventureintelligence.in