Date:22/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/22/stories/2006052206440200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Candidates from many States attend The Hindu job fair

Special Correspondent

They were happy with the exposure; it was also a branding exercise for some firms

Bangalore: Jobseekers from other States turned up in significant numbers on the second day of The Hindu Opportunities Job Fair that concluded here Sunday. There were candidates from Punjab, Orissa and Maharashtra.

Among those who stood out in the crowd were twin brothers Koshy K. John and Varghese K. John of Thiruvalla in Kerala. These graduates of the Changanacherry Engineering College, armed with expertise in networking and C ++, said they had interacted with several participating companies and were hopeful of hearing from them soon.

Arun Pradhan and Santhoshini form Orrisa had three years' work experience. "We have skills in Java and came here because Bangalore offers the most in terms of jobs in IT,'' they said.

Shakthi Shankar from Madurai in Tamil Nadu, who has just completed his MCA, felt happy about the exposure. "Now I know the website to look for and post my resume," he said.

Subhakar from Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh came to the job fair because "Bangalore is not that far away and offers good jobs''. Adharsh Kurup from the Vellore Institute of Technology said he was sounding out some of the IT majors while weighing an offer from another company here. Like him there were young men and women from Mysore, Mangalore, Chikmagalur, Erode, Salem, Kochi and Patnamthitta trying their luck. Some felt the employers wanted only those with work experience, while a few firms had displayed placards inviting freshers. Most jobs offered were in the IT-enabled services and not calling for any technical expertise, some said.

People from Cognizant, event sponsors, said they made job offers to 125 candidates on day one and hoped to hire a similar number on Sunday. "Bangalore has market value when it comes to hiring because you get a good mix of skills sets,'' an executive said. The company with 27,000 employees globally plans to increase the number of its staff to 35,000 by December end and such job fairs helped in large-scale hiring, he added. Officials of Patni Computers said they sorted out more than 5,000 applications and were looking out for those with some industry experience. "We are happy to have a good stock of resumes which will help,'' an executive said.

ICICI One Resource was offering mainly BPO jobs, while the candidates looked for technical work. "We are looking for people with good communication skills and listening, comprehension and analytical skills, but the right mix is often difficult to find,'' an executive said. People from GE wanted candidates with experience and had some senior positions to fill. "Our participating in the job fair is to fill existing positions and to brand ourselves as many don't know the IT face of GE,'' Suresh Pradip, head, talent acquisition, India Innovation Centre of GE, said. Dell, Infosys Technologies, ABB and Slash Support India had specialised jobs to offer and were looking for candidates with some experience. Participation in the fair was also a branding exercise for them.