A successful career is one which will answer all the three questions in the below diagram. You need to be good at something you do, which you enjoy, and for which people are ready to pay you.

The problem however is that in our current educational system is churning out graduates who cannot be employed. The National Employability Report of Engineering Graduates-2014, by Aspiring Minds released in January 2015 states that almost 70% of engineering graduates in India are not employable. ‘Higher Education in India: Vision 2030’, a report by Ernst & Young for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), reveals that employability of IT graduates at 75%, manufacturing and healthcare at 55% and banking and insurance at 50% is a cause for worry.

These are staggering figures by any standards and bring to light one of the most important challenges that India faces – the gap between academics and skill development and application. We have pedigree engineers who pass out in four years. They are smart and have first class marks or distinctions. But the majority have knowledge, but zero application. Out of the 4000 skill-sets recognized by the USA India only recognizes 300. In a nation where skills have no value, only degrees do, a deepening of the crisis is inevitable. The problem of non-employability in India can be tackled by helping students understand that developing their skills is as important as scoring good grades. We need to identify the inherent intelligences & skill sets that each individual is born with, and build on the strengths to ensure that they become successful.

In India, the choice of career path is made just after and based on the SSC or Std.X Board exams. However, these results are not an indicator of the student’s strengths or challenges. Also, in most cases, the parents or the peer group dictate the choice for higher education. Another study has highlighted that 60% of people in India are in the incorrect/wrong jobs in the private sector. In all likelihood they’ve made the wrong choice of career (for engineering) or even the wrong kind of engineering. Being in the wrong career can cause immense stress. You don’t want to be taking the path of becoming a doctor and then releasing you want to be an engineer. It is an expensive journey — not only financially, but health-wise too. The effect that such a wrong career choice does to your self-esteem and self-confidence is unimaginable.

Therefore it is very important to help a child figure out what is their interest area and help them develop it at an early age. The only way to connect all this scientifically – development of age appropriate skill sets that leads to a deeper understanding of a child’s inherent strengths and interests — is knowing the person and his qualities, not in a general way, but evaluated scientifically.

Evaluation of the person to understand her/his intelligence, aptitude, interests, skills and challenges is the first step for proper guidance. It is well known that there are eight multiple intelligences. And there are 3 or 4 skills associated with each intelligence. Every human being has a minimum of 3 such intelligences or up to 10 skills in his/her strengths zone. While this is possible at any age, it is most helpful at the age of 15-16 years, when students have already developed a foundation & a level of maturity to get assessed and display meaningful results, as well as learn to overcome any challenges. After the age of 23, the time zone to make corrective changes gets challenging. Which only means that it takes longer to inculcate the changes.

‘EVOLVO’ evaluates, scientifically, the individual’s strengths and challenges, then helps her/him develop the strengths and overcome the challenges, by using psychological principles & methods as well as traditional Indian practices & therapies.