A recent article, titled Indian graduates, especially women, don’t want to work for startups, by Diksha Madhok in Quartz India talks about the reluctance or disinterest Indian engineering graduates have in joining and working for startups. The article is based on a recent study of 120,000 students who graduated last year from more than 500 engineering colleges.
The study, which was done by Gurgaon (Haryana) based career consulting firm Aspiring Minds, finds that only 6% of engineering graduates (both male and female students) would aspire to work for startups. Another 32% would consider small and medium enterprises as a career choice; while 62% of engineering students would prefer working for bigger companies.
Image courtesy qz.com and Aspiring Minds
The article mentions that, in comparison, 18% of students in China and nearly 50% of students in the US have indicated their interest in working for startups or small companies – broadly described as businesses employing less than 100 persons. That’s probably because India’s startup industry is in its nascent stages and the startup ecosystem is yet to be formed, suggests the article.
The article also offers possible reasons for such reluctance to seek employment at startups and/or small companies by graduate engineering students:
One of the reasons for such a lukewarm response is that working for startups is still not considered a respectable career choice by one’s family and peers. Startups tend to lack job security and the resources of larger firms.
“At a social gathering, you want to show off and tell people that you work for a big, famous company,” says Varun Aggarwal, director at Aspiring Minds. “If you work for a big brand, your marital prospects are also better.”
[Citation: Indian graduates, especially women, don’t want to work for startups by Diksha Madhok in Quartz India; Aspiring Minds, Gurgaon.]
