NAC-Tech to gauge employability IT freshers

Beginning this academic year, NASSCOM’s GMAT-like standardised test to gauge employability of fresh graduates in engineering and technology-based industries will allow students to take a single test that will be valid for multiple employers.

Termed NAC-Tech (NASSCOM’s Assessment of Competence – Technology), it will be used to screen applicants for jobs in the two specific segments, according to Sandhya Chintala, Director – Education Initiative, NASSCOM. The test has been evolved with inputs from some of the IT majors in India, including TCS, Cognizant, Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, Hexaware, IBM, and Accenture. It will evaluate both soft skills and domain competence of candidates. “NAC-Tech is built like a first filter for all educational institutions, companies, and candidates. Students can take the tests online and will be assigned a score, which will facilitate employment,” says Ms. Chintala. In collaboration with universities, the test can also be administered much ahead of campus interviews to identify any shortcomings in the students and address them.

Split in two halves, Part A of NAC-Tech, which is compulsory, will test verbal skills, analytical and logical reasoning, attention to detail, strength of written English, ability to learn and programming fundamentals. In Part B, students will have to answer questions on the fundamentals and applications in their particular area of specialisation among various engineering streams. Currently, these include IT, Electronics, Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, Textile, Chemical, Biotechnology; other areas will be included soon, according to Ms. Chintala. Students in non-engineering streams can take the first part of the test (NAC) alone. The score will be valid for a year. In addition to saving students the trouble of taking multiple tests for different companies, the test will enable corporates to pick talent from a benchmarked pool of students. For recruiters, the costs of administering tests will come down. Its success, she adds, hinges on the cooperation from corporates, universities, colleges, and to a large extent, the government. Bhaskar Das, Cognizant’s Vice-President (HR), says the company has agreed to consider the NAC-Tech test scores on campus recruitments, instead of their own test process (though interviews will continue to be conducted by Cognizant).