Apart from matchmaking, job fairs promote professional networking that is almost extinct in our society.
Finding a good job is the ultimate goal of individuals who want to excel in life after getting quality education. Similarly, those who are already employed want to climb up the ladder and are always on the hunt for suitable opportunities to make the move.
There are different ways to achieve this goal; some try to work as interns with good companies and secure permanent place with the dint of hard work, some try their luck by sending applications for every other job advertised in the mass media and some look out endlessly for references who can help them win the desired slot.
However, over the years, job fairs have also become a regular feature in Pakistan though their scale and reach are not as wide as the conventional media. The declared objective of these fairs is to bring jobseekers and job providers under one roof and provide an environment for perfect matchmaking.
There are fairs arranged by colleges and universities, vocational institutes, trade bodies, chambers of commerce and associations of professionals like engineers, accountants and so on. During these events, the visitors including the jobseekers and the prospective employers get a chance to meet each other and enter into comprehensive discussions. Such interactions help employers get a better idea of the qualities and traits of jobseekers whose paper CVs do not talk much about their personalities.
Recently, there has been a series of mega job fairs arranged by different organisations such as Technical and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA), Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC), National Vocational & Technical Training Commission (NAVTCC), Rozee.pk and others. These fairs were arranged at venues such as upscale hotels, convention centres, expo centres and even spacious lawn and banquet halls and attended by hundreds of thousands of people.
A question that arises here is that what are the ultimate benefits of holding such events and do the visitors gain anything or return empty handed. Is it possible for all those who visit these events to find jobs of their choice? Is job placement the only purpose for holding job fairs or do they hint at certain trends in the job market, identify shortage and surplus of available human resource in different sectors of economy and give a guideline to students on which careers to pursue.
Monis Rahman, CEO, Rozee.pk, believes job fairs help streamline recruitment and application processes and provide professionals unique opportunities to network with people coming from different fields of life. He says people here do not arrange get-togethers with professionals and the concept of professional networking is almost extinct. On the other hand, they have all the time in the world to attend weddings, weekend parties with friends and family and meetings arranged for political talks etc.
Talking to TNS, he says, though job seekers and employers are present in large numbers, there are many visitors who just want to get an idea of what is going on in the job market. For example, he says, there are students who may not be interested in finding jobs immediately but they can have mentoring sessions and get ideas from industry leaders on which profession to choose in future. Furthermore, students and jobseekers can meet the human resource department staff of different organisations and ask about the skills and qualifications that they should have in order to qualify for jobs they are offering, he adds.
Rahman says people think that jobseekers are nuisance for employers but this is not the case. “Employers are equally anxious to hire competent and suitable workers. So, the purpose of job fairs is to bring them face to face.” He says Rozee.pk job fairs have been a roaring success. Their database that consists of over 6.5 million registered members is expected to get a big boost by the eight events organised recently. Over 500 companies from different sectors have participated in this series of events and paid hefty fees to set up their stalls. This shows how serious they are in hiring suitable candidates.
From the trends observed at these events, it was found that FMCGs, IT startups, call centres, upscale educational institutions etc are offering maximum jobs and sales personnel are required in large numbers. Secondly, it was observed that accountants are in abundance and the professionals who have expertise in software programming in android and IoS environment are less in supply.
Kashif Ali, an IT student, tells TNS that job fairs help him and his friends identify emerging fields in the market. Besides, there are options that students can avail and earn while studying. For example, he says, one of his friends registered himself with a website development and content writing company during his visit to a job fair. This helps him earn enough money to pay his educational fees.
Similarly, he says, a couple of his friends have registered with Uber taxi service in Pakistan. They opted for this at a job fair. At first they were reluctant but later on they overcame their hesitation as people from different strata of the society queued up for this purpose. He says it was due to that fair and the overall environment there that educated people agreed to register as potential taxi owners/drivers who could earn extra cash by carrying passengers during free time.
news source: tns.thenews.com.pk
