Divya Jain is the Founder and CEO of Safeducate, India’s largest training, skilling and consulting firm that specializes in the domains of Supply Chain Management & Logistics. She spearheads the corporate training initiative by hiring and nurturing trainers, interacting with different stakeholders to design and cost-effectively impart training sessions in over 50 cities in India. In an interaction with Higher Education Digest, Divya Jain talks about the ways graduates and working professional can work to be fit for the future, Safeducate’s collaboration with Seekify to make a digital job preparedness platform, business expansion plans, and many more.
What is the impact of COVID-19 on the job market?
COVID 19 has impacted the job market significantly, it is currently highly unstable, with most workers facing unemployment across the spectrum. Low economic growth with a rise in inequality can be expected in the coming days. For knowledge workers like software engineers and data scientists whose jobs can be done remotely, the results are mixed. For many employees, work from home has become the new norm, as they have adapted to it and are now comfortable with it. However, a large part of the working class has faced unemployment and to overcome this difficult situation, I believe Upskilling has to become the need of the hour.
Tell us about the importance of upskilling for graduates and working professionals in today’s situation. How can they be fit for the future?
We are living in a period of uncertainty. Upskilling, in any stage of your career, is the only way one can survive continuous disruption. It is no longer relevant to have a mere college degree; real-life industry skills are equally needed, which can easily be provided through online courses. This aspect is more critical for high-school pass-outs and recent graduates. They need to be industry-ready and cannot merely expect to learn on the job.
How has been the response from learners since Safeducate collaborated with Seekify to make a digital job preparedness platform? Tell us about the uniqueness of the courses you offer today.
As educational institutions across the country experienced a halt due to the widespread COVID-19 outbreak, Safeducate partnered with Seekify to build Safejob to ensure uninterrupted skill-based learning for the youth. The platform is resolving the placement challenges faced by Indian youth through live and on-demand courses that are relevant to the Indian job market. We are offering these courses in vernacular languages too at affordable prices to reach out to the maximum number of youths. Masterclass in Logistics (Tamil), Masterclass in Advance Excel in Logistics (Hindi), Masterclass in Human Resources, Masterclass in Sales, Masterclass in SCM, Certificate in Retail Management, Certificate in CRM (English) are a few of our popular masterclass and certificate courses. We have also introduced the Safejob Xceed program, which is a unique learning path consisting of defined milestones to meet one’s learning & knowledge requirements to pursue any particular career. It comprises a mix of live masterclasses and pro-certification programs in the industry, functional, professional and technical skills to prepare one for an interview. By enrolling in Xceed, individuals can upgrade their skills, gain crucial industry knowledge and also improve their personality. At the same time, we prepare them to crack job interviews and give wings to their career by getting them job interview opportunities. We believe that India’s youth has the will and capacity to drive our nation towards a beautiful future, and in post-COVID India, a platform like ours is the need of the hour.
What are your plans on business expansion?
We are just getting started, and we will grow most importantly towards helping our students with job readiness and placement support. We will be going more in-depth in local languages and across Industries. We are working towards setting up a multilingual live and on-demand platform to offer short term skilling across sectors and profiles for entry-level job positions. Safejob is also planning to roll out an online subscription-based training model for corporates like Flipkart offering customized, off-the-shelf live and on-demand training for employees.
Why short – term courses (1.5 – 3 months) are helpful for professionals at any level?
Short term courses are easy to learn, considering the shortage of time in a working professional’s everyday life.
What is your advice to the working professionals across the sector?
Online education is now the best way to upskill in relevant areas. This will ensure that your job is secure in the future, no matter what the future may hold.
More about Divya Jain
Divya holds an LLB degree from the University of London and a Master’s degree in Management Studies from the University of Cambridge, UK and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Hindu College, Delhi University. She began her professional journey in 2005 as a financial analyst in Citibank. Divya then moved on to join Ernst and Young in India, and she worked as a Consultant with several Fortune 500 client companies, creating and validating business plans, conducting competitive analysis, and designing future business strategies for them.
In 2007, Divya joined Safexpress, India’s largest logistics and supply chain firm run by her father-in-law, Pawan Jain and her husband, Rubal Jain. At Safexpress, she spearheaded the training division along with creating systems and managing standard operating procedures for the company. During her stint at Safexpress, she realized the lack of manpower and skill gaps that existed within the logistics and supply chain workforce. To address this gap in the industry and to attract more talent, Divya decided to launch Safeducate, a new firm through which she could solve the existing manpower shortage witnessed in the domain. Today, Safeducate has set up 150 centres across India and trained more than 50,000 individuals using the latest technology and innovative tools and with the help of its rich pool of experienced, qualified and certified trainers, and subject matter experts.