In an age where traditional education systems are increasingly scrutinised for their inability to bridge the growing employability gap, some innovative companies are stepping up with practical solutions. Kraftshala, led by its founder Varun Satia, has disrupted the education-to-employment journey by emphasising skill development over rote learning. In this interview, Varun shares how Kraftshala is empowering students, particularly those from non-premium academic backgrounds, to land high-potential jobs, and why adaptability and practical experience matter more than ever in today's job market.
1. Kraftshala addresses the employability gap by prioritising practical skills over theoretical knowledge. How does this differ from traditional education models?
Kraftshala has achieved a 94% placement record which is 3 times better than what anyone else has been able to do. We have been able to achieve this by understanding gaps in the traditional education system and plugging them.
Traditional education focuses on memorization. Exams are in the written format. You cram knowledge the night before and vomit it on that day. This never builds long term memory. And because you have not applied the information anywhere, you are not able to retain knowledge and you then go into the real world pretty much knowledge free. The traditional model also fails because there are so many things you can't really test in a written format. Written exams incentivise speed where the more questions you can answer, the better it is, however in the real world, ability to pause and reflect matters far more.
At Kraftshala, we have different kinds of assessments to test for different kinds of conceptual areas. E.g. If I have to test someone's ability to come up with a solution to a marketing problem, a written exam will only ask them to write down a strategy. But our assessment would have a marketing expert with say 5 years of experience who will understand from the student on what they are proposing and why, respond with implications, ask follow-up questions. All of this helps them gauge the true conceptual clarity of students and their capacity to learn and adapt with new data. Much like how the real world works.
These are 2 of the many such examples of how we are delivering the kind of talent that our recruiting partners keep coming back for!
2. In India, many believe that getting into top-tier institutions is the only way to achieve career success. What would you say to those who don’t make it into these schools? What are some of the alternates that people can consider to build their careers?
To build a great career you have to work at a great company. Great companies either need an educational credential of a top tier institution, like the older IIMs or an ability to deliver from Day 1.
A top-tier institution is valued because it's hard to get into. One of the mistakes that students make is they end up buying the online versions or smaller side courses of these institutions. This does not lead to even remotely similar results as anyone can buy those degrees and by virtue of that, they are not hard to get.
So if you are not able to get into a top-tier institution, your best shot at these companies is to have the ability to deliver from Day 1.
This comes from 2 things - having in-demand functional skills and having timeless skills like problem solving, communication, curiosity and empathy.
For example, if you are targeting marketing roles, you need to be well acquainted with Digital Marketing today. Similarly, if you are skilled at AI and prompt engineering, it will not be enough without the timeless skills of problem solving and persuasion.
These skills can be built on the job or in a program like the Marketing Launchpad where you get practical experience within the course itself. In Fact there are so many of our students from 2 years ago who came as freshers from non-elite colleges, and have already transitioned to brands like Meta, Amazon, Google, Nestle, Nykaa earning upwards of 20 Lakh rupees. What they focused on was building their skills instead of wasting their productive years preparing for these exams.
The companies are crying out for good talent and so if you are not making it to these top schools, my urge is to look at it as an opportunity and consider the many other ways in which you can build your career in today's day and age!
3. Kraftshala has achieved notable placement rates. How have your students, especially those from non-premium academic backgrounds, managed to secure impressive opportunities in the industry?
Today, the Marketing Launchpad is the most certain way to land a high potential marketing job. The reason I say that is because we are the largest talent provider to the largest brands and agencies, with a placement record of 94% + with over 1,800 students placed already.
To understand how these students are cracking amazing roles, let's first understand what companies need from young talent.
Companies need the skill to deliver from the first day, or at least the first week. This comes from 4 areas-
First, students learn from material which is built and taught by outstanding marketing leaders.
But learning only from interactions with leaders is not enough. Imagine if someone asked you to compete in a swimming competition and gave you a book to learn swimming but no swimming pool. Would you be able to learn anything without diving into the pool? Of course not! And that’s why the second thing which helps students in our programs is that they work on real projects. So in the Paid Ads module, students run real ads, learn from the results, and optimise campaigns accordingly. Third, if students do projects only by themselves without guidance, the learning will be very slow. That’s why we have amazing experts who give you feedback every single day. Bit by bit, day by day, students get better over the 16 weeks. Fourth- students learn and practise timeless skills like problem solving, excel, empathy, communicating with confidence and clarity under the Human Skills section of the program. And all of this combined makes our students truly ready to deliver from Day 1.
In addition to the ability to deliver from Day 1, companies also need a credential to be able to identify you as a high potential talent. Top companies get tens of thousands of applications every year. And companies frequently look at where you have studied before deciding whether to interview you or not. That’s where Kraftshala comes in. As the largest talent provider to the top marketing companies, the industry really values the Kraftshala certification. It obviously took some effort to place the initial batches, but today our alumni community is so tight that no matter which company they go to, they love to hire from the fresh Kraftshala talent pool.
That would pretty much cover most of the reasons why top marketing companies like Publicis Media, GroupM, Nykaa, Google are hiring Kraftshala graduates.
4. How does India's intense exam culture impact the long-term growth and potential of students, and what aspects make it uniquely challenging for the country's economic development?
Let me start by describing how bad the situation is.
There are 13-14 lakh students who give UPSC every year. Success rate is 0.2%. Pause on that number. It means, 99.8% of these 13 lakh students are going to fail. And the time they are spending memorising dates, places, and other geopolitical facts for these exams, will be of very little value when they go into the industry. And yet, students spend lakhs from their parents' hard earned money for an exam where chances of success are nothing!
Ramamnuj published his most amazing work at the age of 19, Tendulkar had already scored his twin centuries (aka Desert Storm) against Australia in Sharjah in his mid twenties, Mark Zuckerberg had founded Facebook before 25, Steve Jobs founded Apple when he was 21. And we still have lakhs of students who are in their most productive years and instead of solving problems in business, society, science and arts, they are willing their time away chasing these exams. And nobody seems to think this is a bad idea!
And this is not just limited to UPSC. Even for CAT, 3.3 lakh students take the exam every year. Only ~3000 of them are going to get into decent institutes. Chances of success are always so low. For CAT, students are studying concepts in Geometry, Algebra and learning spellings of complicated words instead of learning productive skills like how to solve problems, building user centricity, how to create websites and so on.
At Kraftshala, we have so many students who after wasting years behind these exams come into our programs and then have a fantastic career. And each one of them always says they should have done this sooner!
These exams were, no doubt, a great way to build your career in our parent’s generation when there were very few jobs available. But now, there are more options available for anyone with skills. In our programs, we’ve had multiple instances of having to open placements for students even before they have completed the training because recruiters are desperate for good talent.
So I can't stress enough on how important it is for the youth of our country to stop wasting their time with these exams and learn something more valuable.
5. The recent increase in student suicides has drawn attention to the extreme pressures of exams in India. What factors do you see driving this issue, and what steps can be taken to build a more supportive system for students' well-being?
This starts with Indian parents. What they have to realise is that children are now growing up in a world which is markedly different from what they grew up in. In the 20th century, India had a scarcity of jobs. Anyone who could crack these exams was celebrated as someone who had achieved something of note.
However, today, things are different! People who do well in these exams will continue to do well. But people who don't, should look at it as a blessing in disguise to do something which they truly want to do and can be substantially better at.
This is not an age where talent is not appreciated. This is an age where talent is celebrated.
Every recruiting manager of all of India’s top 100 companies that I have spoken to is crying out for talent. And this is across sectors, across industries, across domains. Companies are desperately short of talent.
So if you are not clearing these exams, you have to still be optimistic about the future. Parents and institutes also need to feed in this optimism.
You have to have conviction that if you crack these exams, great! If not, something greater awaits! And get into action mode!
6. In today’s dynamic job market, how crucial is adaptability in building a successful career, beyond just focusing on a particular degree or institutional brand?
Adaptability has always been crucial and will keep getting more essential because technology is always changing the nature of job roles in one way or another. The pace of change is in fact accelerating. The good news is that adaptability comes with a positive mindset. By not being afraid of the future. By embracing possibilities that newness brings. And that positive approach will reflect in decisions you make
And with that, you stop being dependent on any one institute or degree or set path. You will always focus on getting better.
