Date:18/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/18/stories/2008111860120600.htm

Tamil Nadu

Job fair in Virudhunagar

Special Correspondent

VIRUDHUNAGAR: A job fair, ‘Kalaignar 85,’ is to be held at the Kshatriya Vidyasala Girls Higher Secondary School here on November 20 and 21.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s MP, K. Kanimozhi, said that about 250 companies would participate in the fair in which 34, 000 job aspirants were expected to attend. Jobs would be offered under three categories – Category A (graduates); B (ITI certificate/diploma holders) and C (tenth/plus two pass). The job fair, being organised to commemorate the 85th birthday of DMK president and Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, in various towns and cities away from Chennai, has attracted leading manufacturing companies like TVS, Nokia, Hyundai and Reliance to Virudhunagar.

Ms. Kanimozhi was of the view that recruiting companies in job fairs held so far in places like Nagercoil and Vellore were impressed with the talent and dedication of candidates from smaller towns. The first day at the Virudhunagar fair would be devoted for A and B categories and the last day for C category. For the first time in the ongoing series of job fairs, all applications had been fed into the computer, she added.

Database

The Minister for School Education, Thangam Thennarasu, said that it had been planned to create a database of job seekers in Virudhunagar district with the applications received for the fair. A programme would be launched to hone the soft skills of unsuccessful candidates at the fair to make them employable. If found effective, the initiative would be extended to other places. Effort had been made, in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry and Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, to get companies from Madurai and Virudhunagar district to provide employment for aspirants locally, the Minister said.

The Minister for Backward Classes Welfare, K. K. S. S. R. Ramachandran, said the objective of organising such job fairs was to bring recruiting companies under one roof in places where people did not have easy access to jobs like in Chennai.