ABOUT NAC – NASSCOM ASSESSMENT OF COMPETENCE

The ITeS-BPO industry is growing at an overwhelming pace and giving a major fillip to the Indian economy. India has established its leadership position globally in the offshoring market and now the availability of skilled manpower is one of the key barriers to the fast growth of the industry.NASSCOM along with program manager, has been working with the Indian ITeS-BPO industry players to create a national assessment and certification program - the NASSCOM Assessment of Competence (NAC). The initiative is aimed at creating a robust and continuous pipeline of talent. This will be done by continuously assessing candidates on key skills through a national standard assessment, thus making it easier for firms to screen candidates and also provide training need analysis to candidates. This will then be tied in to training and development efforts to help more candidates become competent to work in the industry. NASSCOM is following a multi-pronged approach to facilitate manpower development for the short and long term. By following a two-phase strategy, NASSCOM is aiming to build a pool of ITeS-BPO manpower which will be pre-certified, in tune with the needs of the industry and thereby gear up for the future requirements of the sector. In Phase I of this initiative, NASSCOM is looking at creating an Assessment and Certification Program which becomes an industry standard and ensures the transformation of a "trainable" workforce into an "employable" workforce.

CONCEPTUALIZATION OF NAC

In-depth meetings with close to 35 players in the ITeS-BPO industry were conducted to understand their recruitment practices, cause of attrition desired skills in a candidate, etc. Based on this, a job-skill matrix was developed which formed the basis for the design of this assessment program. Core and Working Committees from the industry were formed and constant interactions were made to make sure that the program has everything that the industry requires in terms of a pre-employment assessment. An evaluation committee was set up to finalize the vendors and decide on the approach to the pilot.Multi-tier evaluation of the vendors happened after the initial interaction. The identified vendors provided the content and technology to run the test. Amongst the current endorsers for NAC are companies like Genpact, Accenture, Convergys, IBM, WNS & EXL. Discussions have been initiated by NASSCOM with other companies as well to get more endorsements.

KEY FEATURES OF NAC

• Eligibility for NAC
  -  Any candidate appearing in 'final year' of under-graduation or an equivalent course is eligible to sit for NAC assessment
  -  Each College / University should be able to provide at least 70-80% of their 'final-year student population' to take NAC assessment
  
  
• NAC Commercials
  The price per NAC test is Rs.350 (plus taxes, if any)
  Rs.70 as infrastructure charges will be extra in case of test taking place at any of the designated 'NAC retail centers'

NAC TEST MATRIX

Skill	Competencies Checked	Duration (in mins.)	Mode of delivery
Speaking & Listening  - Sentence Mastery  - Vocabulary  - Fluency  - Pronunciation	Ability to understand spoken English and speak it intelligibly at a native-like conversational pace on everyday topics.	10	Online
Analytical Ability	Approach towards problem solving, understanding and accuracy while analyzing and organizing the given data to solve a given questions / problems / puzzles etc.	20	Online
Quantitative Ability	Ability to apply logic and calculations while tackling day-to-day arithmetic, involving simple-to-complicated problems / situations, understanding and accuracy while exercising calculations for arriving at answer / solution / conclusion for a given problem/puzzle.	20	Online
English Writing  - Grammar  - Content  - Vocabulary  - Spelling & Punctuation	Ability to use correct grammar, appropriate vocabulary, spellings and punctuation in written communication.	20	Online
Keyboard Skills  - Typing Speed  - Typing Accuracy	Replication ability while typing / keying-in the given content, speed and accuracy while typing.	05	Online
	total duration	75 mins.

The test taker is given a 'raw score' in each of the Skills mentioned above.

KEY BENEFITS TO VARIOUS STAKEHOLDERS

Job Aspirants / Test Takers

• A common, transparent recruitment process across all BPO companies
• No need to go through the same recruitment process at different companies
• Ability to identify self strengths and weaknesses through test scores
• Ability to do a 'training need analysis', which will help them improve on weak areas through training programs
• Employment facilitation using NAC scores

• Identifying the training needs of students and analyzing the gaps
• Aligning the course curricula with industry requirements – bridging the "education" to "employability" gap
• Preparing the students on skills that act as pre-requisites to work in the industry
• Contributing to the industry by preparing the students through a pre-defined approach

• Employment generation through increased employability of talent
• Help in attracting serious investors
• Preparing the students on skills that act as pre-requisites to work in the industry
• Will help create a concept of 'education' to 'employability'

EMPLOYMENT FACILITATION FOR NAC TEST TAKERS

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

• Where does Indian BPO industry stand today?
  Indian BPO sector continues to grow from strength to strength, witnessing high levels of activity - both onshore as well as offshore. The industry clocked export revenue of US$ 12.7 billion in FY2008-09 registering about 18% growth from FY2007-08. The BPO sector also created 86,000 jobs in FY08-09 adding the total employment to around 7,86,000 in the same period. According to various research agencies, the BPO sector is poised to register an even handed growth rate and is expected to generate 6 times more employment in next 12 years.
  
  
• What role do BPO companies play in NAC?
  This initiative will always be driven by the 'need of the BPO industry' when it comes to the human talent / skills required for different types of jobs that the industry offers, hence BPO companies are bound to play a vital role here. During the conceptualization of NAC, the BPO majors that helped devise the NAC program are Genpact, Accenture, Convergys, IBM, WNS & EXL.
  
  Discussions have been initiated by NASSCOM with other BPO companies to get more endorsements.
  
  During the current phase and the times to come, industry will play a more crucial role in lending credibility / endorsement to the NAC and will help ensuring that this program gets differentiated amongst other similar products which are available in the market. Companies would support the program by various means and ensure that, over a period of time, NAC is mandated to be the first-level filter while they hire for entry-level positions.
  
  
• What are the skills being assessed in NAC?
  Please see "NAC Test Matrix" section above
  
  
• What is the minimum educational qualification / eligibility required to participate in the program?
  Final-Year Undergraduate (according to the '10+2+3' system) – all 'General' streams
  
  
• Are there any training programs / courses that one needs to attend before attempting NAC?
  Since NAC encapsulates skills which are extremely basic in nature, NASSCOM does not endorse/recommend any Training or Training Company for the preparation of NAC. However, there are very many training programs, specific to BPO skills, which are available across the country that may be attended if found convincing by the candidate.
  
  
• How to participate in the program and take the test?
  Currently, one can take the test only if:
  • A state is holding the test and is inviting candidates for it
  • A college/university/institute is holding the test for its own students
  
  In the current scenario, one cannot take the test as an individual; however, necessary work is underway in order to have the 'retail drives' in place, where individual candidates will be able to register 'as an individual' and take the test. The 'retail model' is anticipated to be in place by Mar / Apr 2011.
  
  
• Does one need to pay for this program?
  Under the two currently-running models/approaches (as mentioned above) may/may not require the candidate to pay for the test as this is completely at the discretion of the client organizing for the test (e.g. state / college / university / institute). However, once the retail model is launched, candidates will essentially have to pay the test fee.
  
  
• Will people have access to NAC from small / tier-II, III cities?
  'Retail model' will surely cater to small towns/cities. However, currently, with the two above-stated approaches, these towns/cities can still be served by the organizing bodies (i.e. state / college / university / institute).
  
  
• What is the progress on NAC initiative?
  In pilot phase, NAC was conducted in 14 states across India and also with few individual colleges/universities with about 20,000+ candidates appearing for it.
  
  To take this forward, multiple approaches will be looked into to cover the country, schedules regarding which, will be published on the NAC website time-to-time and shall also be made known to the public through various media sources.
  
  
• Who will own this program going forward?
  NASSCOM, on behalf of the industry, will continue to play the central role. However, the business & governing model of this program, in view of long term, is under consideration.
  
  
• Whom should we contact at NASSCOM for further details?
  For further details on NAC, please contact Dr. Sandhya Chintala, Senior Director (Education Initiatives) / Mr. Nikhil Gupta, Manager (Education Initiatives) at nac@nasscom.in
  
  

OFFICIAL VENDOR FOR NAC

With the participation of the Industry Council, 'Globarena Technologies Pvt. Ltd.' has been chosen by NASSCOM as the official vendor for holding the NAC administrations across the country. Under the aegis of NASSCOM, Globarena can spearhead and conduct NAC assessment for individual colleges, universities, companies, etc.

About Globarena Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Globarena Technologies is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company with a PAN India presence with over a decade’s experience in the education service industry providing training, eLearning, assessment and examination solutions. Globarena has been working closely with many colleges, universities, government department, corporate and has developed eLearning content and delivered training programmes in the areas of English language skills, aptitude skills, soft skills, IT and domains skills.

Currently, the company works with over 18 universities, 1500+ institutions and 3 state government departments on various educational and eLearning initiatives impacting over 30 Lakh students through its products and services. Globarena Technologies has over 1000 hours of self-learn programs that can be delivered to students though multimode delivery mechanism (i.e., LAN and/or WEB)

Request For Conducting NAC

For conducting NAC event, please connect with the NAC vendor using the following information:

Globarena Technologies Private Limited
F-28, Madhuranagar, Yousufguda, Hyderabad - 500038
Andhra Pradesh, India
Tel: 91-40-23750190/91
www.globarena.com