New Delhi, Aug 2 - What do you do for candidates who come to interviews armed with eveything except confidence, communications skills and business etiquette? Set up grooming schools.

Mansi Gupta, former regional manager of HDFC Bank, set up such a school in June after she saw about 95 percent of the candidates getting rejected during interviews at the bank year after year due to problems with their overall personality.

'It was heartbreaking to see the sad faces of the candidates who used to walk away after getting rejected just because they could not impress the interviewers with their communication skills. It was then I realised that what students need is a training institute where they will be taught how to face an interview panel,' Gupta told IANS.

Word's Worth Institute, as her school is called, trains people not only how to conduct themselves in front of recruiters but also how to carry themselves in their day-to-day lives, she added.

Gupta is not alone in her endeavour.

The Pria Warrick Finishing Academy is yet another corporate grooming institute, and its founder Pria Warrick states similar reasons for setting it up in 1990.

'Most people assume that anyone with a degree in MBA, IT or law can sail through life. But statistics reveal that you require 15 percent technical skills and 85 percent of a mix of social etiquette, business etiquette and dining etiquette to advance in your career or personal life,' Warrick said.

From Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and managing directors to top management executives and front line executives, Warrick's academy finds professionals from different walks of life among its students.

'What is the difference between one advocate and the other or one architect and the next? Both have technical skills, but it is the art of carrying yourself that makes you stand out,' Warrick said.

So what do these grooming institutes teach a student?

According to Nishant Saxena, one of the founders of Elements Akademia, there are several reasons why an interviewee can be rejected.