 NEXT unveils retail training initiative
NEXT, amongst India’s largest integrated training and recruitment management services firm for corporates, having trained over 60,000 people - one-tenth of the present workforce of the BPO sector, has announced that it is taking its flagship training offering to the individual, by an open programme through a novel new initiative called JPP (Job Preparatory
Programme).
To be rolled out simultaneously across all the southern states, the new initiative over the next year will expand to cover the other regions as well.
Founded on its over seven years' experience in training people for the corporates, JPP, a mid-intermediate rigorous course is one level above the English speaking and communications skills courses offered by multitudes of players. Targeted at candidates who are just below the employability cut-off, the new programme is expected to add a quarter million to the employable talent pool for the BPO, retail, telecom and financial services sectors, by 2008.
Announcing the new initiative, Manoj Pachisia, director, NEXT, said, "JPP is based on a strong and logical premise that the most feasible solution to increasing the employable talent pool lies in enabling candidates just below the hireable threshold to cross it through industry-oriented and structured training. It tries to create a win-win situation for all the audiences involved, the companies love it as it expands the talent pool to hire from without having to compromise and the candidates are happy as they get a job. Our experience in training over 60,000 candidates for corporates so far combined with our process-driven approach to training positions ourselves well to deliver such a
programme."
On the reason behind branching away from corporate training services, he added, "We have hit critical mass in our corporate training business and we felt the skills and expertise gathered are better leveraged through addressing a bigger opportunity which this retail foray allows us to. Over a period of time, we hope this combined corporate and retail training offering will build a strong competitive advantage for NEXT in the fast-growing space for providing skilled resources."
JPP has been launched in locations in the southern states where NEXT has a direct presence currently and shortly it will be extended to two more states -- West Bengal and Maharashtra. By December 2006, NEXT proposes to train over 3,000 candidates a month scaling up to 20,000 candidates a month by 2008 which adds up to a quarter million people passing through
JPP.
JPP is a comprehensive, hands-on programme which addresses an array of skills that enables a person to cross the hireable threshold - fluency, grammar, pronunciation, listening, comprehension, vocabulary building, keyboarding and computing skills, grooming and etiquette and interaction skills.
The ideal person for this course is a student who has completed at least class-12 and passed out of an English medium instructional environment. Spread over up to 120 hours, the programme is structured in such a way to lend maximum flexibility to the candidates with multiple slots (daytime, evening-cum-weekend and evening delivery) on offer.
Through its existing corporate relationships, NEXT would assist JPP pass-outs with placement though it does not guarantee it.
JPP has been designed to ensure at least 65-80 per cent of borderline candidates who undergo it become hireable within 3-6 weeks of training.
Founded in 1999 by two serial entrepreneurs, NEXT, which started off as a training institute to provide basic skills for trainees in the medical transcription vertical, later partnered with a leading global BPO player and forayed into the promising arena of training for the BPO industry. It is a fact that one in 10 of the present BPO workforce has been trained at NEXT.
With the regulatory framework stipulating norms for talent hire, for example IRDA insisting minimum soft skills, NEXT expanded its horizon to provide training for the insurance sector. With the retail boom heralding new opportunities for semi-skilled manpower, NEXT began to train talent for the retail vertical.
NEXT has made its mark as an exclusive corporate training organisation and is now ready to capitalise on emerging opportunities.
R Rangaraj
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