Chennai: The problem of employability not only plagues engineering graduates but also MBAs. According to a survey conducted by Merit Trac Services, India's largest skills assessment company, only 23 per cent of the MBA graduates are employable.

The study was compiled from a sample of over 800 MBA graduates across six major cities. Each candidate was tested on verbal, quantitative and mental application abilities as well as four group interaction attributes – articulation, grammar, assertiveness and confidence.

The study places in a factual context the skills gap in the mushrooming B-school marketplace voiced by experts on many occasions and platforms for the past two years. That, the growth in the number of B-schools and the number of graduates they churn out has not translated into increased employable pool for India Inc. to hire from.

The study also reveals that each city is characterised by a distinct style of performance and there is no single predictor of success in the tests across the cities sampled.

On the geographical-divide in terms of the performance of the MBA talent pool:

• Mumbai tops the charts as the best city to hire an MBA from due to its flashes of brilliance.
• Kolkata emerges as the next best place to hire from due to its consistent performance across tests. Delhi was conspicuous by its indifferent performance;
• Hyderabad rallied towards the end to occupy a spot of merit while
• Bangalore and Chennai truly fell short of expectations but maintain the competitive edge owing to the quantum of the talent pool available

The MBA talent pool report is aimed at mapping and bringing forth the dynamics of the quality and availability of the MBA talent pool and will aid corporates in their talent acquisition strategy by helping them identify locations and regions with specific sub-skill sets in management.

The sample selection, administering and analysis were done using the best statistical and market research tools / methodologies available. This is the fourth such report from the MeritTrac intelligence and analytics team.

Commenting on the study and its key findings, Madan Padaki, co-founder and director, MeritTrac Services, said, "As much as it presents a picture of challenge, the concern areas highlighted by the report can be addressed effectively. Just to point out one such area - on plain abilities performance, almost 56 per cent of the management talent pool is employable and if combined with communication skills it drops to 23 per cent. Communication skills are an area that can effectively be addressed, as tools for the same are available."