http://www.rediff.com/getahead/slide-show/slide-show-1-career-dont-miss-this-organisation-helps-tribals-find-jobs/20120216.htm
What causes unemployment in our country?
The primary reason why graduates in India are unemployable is because they lack the skills that make them job-ready.
Let me give you an example. I once met a carpenter who was looking for an assistant at his shop. When I asked him what his requirement for the position was, he said, "Find me a person who is able to hammer a nail into a given piece of wood in the first attempt. And I will teach him the rest."
Simple as it sounded, the carpenter's example emphasises the fact that job providers are looking for candidates who have the skills that the position requires. They are not looking at how much you scored in Class 10 and 12.
While academic scores may be important to secure admission to a college of your choice, job skills are different from academic proficiency.
When the candidate lacks the skills expected of him by the job provider, it leads to unemployment.
What challenges did you face while dealing with the unemployed in rural areas?
Rural areas have limited access to information. In states like Gujarat, people are content with the income they make out of farming.
Some of them who are Class 10 or 12 dropouts are not keen to travel to the city to work. Accomodation is a major concern for them. Besides, the jobs we are offering them are from private firms, which don't excite them much.
People from rural areas believe that public sector jobs are far more secure and better than private sector jobs. Even though some of them consider the offers, a good number of them later complain to us that they have to spend 50 percent of their incomes on accommodation, so they are not able to save much.
Some of them quit after three to six months, which brings up the unemployment rate. So after training them we also have to help them find jobs that are closer to home.
What inspired you to join Teamlease and work with unemployed youth?
I have been closely working with job seekers and providers for a long time now.
While studying the reports on employment and the reasons behind unemployment in our country, I realised that the 'unemployability' of an individual is the root cause of the situation and hence it was important to address unemployability in order to tackle unemployment.
If you look at India, alone, there are only two bodies that look after the employment needs of the country -- the National Human Resource Development Council and the district employment centres.
Although the government introduces new schemes every year for the benefit of the people, seldom do they reach those who need them.
The state of government-run employment exchanges are also dismal, given the fact that they are not able to match the rising demand of employment with unskilled resources.
The only way we could tackle unemployment was by training the unemployed to be job ready and by offering them the advantage of opting for private sector jobs.
How did you convince the government to allow a private staffing firm to use public employment exchanges to offer jobs in the private sector?
It took us several months of meetings and negotiations to convince the authorities that we wanted to partner with the government and make use of their schemes to help improve the rate of employment in the country.
Also, the fact that we were offering private jobs worked to our disadvantage. Eventually, when they learnt that we were using the employment exchanges as a ground to improve education, impart training and boost employment in the country, they agreed to give us an opportunity.
Image: Neeti Sharma, vice-president, TeamLease
What causes unemployment in our country?
The primary reason why graduates in India are unemployable is because they lack the skills that make them job-ready.
Let me give you an example. I once met a carpenter who was looking for an assistant at his shop. When I asked him what his requirement for the position was, he said, "Find me a person who is able to hammer a nail into a given piece of wood in the first attempt. And I will teach him the rest."
Simple as it sounded, the carpenter's example emphasises the fact that job providers are looking for candidates who have the skills that the position requires. They are not looking at how much you scored in Class 10 and 12.
While academic scores may be important to secure admission to a college of your choice, job skills are different from academic proficiency.
When the candidate lacks the skills expected of him by the job provider, it leads to unemployment.
What challenges did you face while dealing with the unemployed in rural areas?
Rural areas have limited access to information. In states like Gujarat, people are content with the income they make out of farming.
Some of them who are Class 10 or 12 dropouts are not keen to travel to the city to work. Accomodation is a major concern for them. Besides, the jobs we are offering them are from private firms, which don't excite them much.
People from rural areas believe that public sector jobs are far more secure and better than private sector jobs. Even though some of them consider the offers, a good number of them later complain to us that they have to spend 50 percent of their incomes on accommodation, so they are not able to save much.
Some of them quit after three to six months, which brings up the unemployment rate. So after training them we also have to help them find jobs that are closer to home.
What inspired you to join Teamlease and work with unemployed youth?
I have been closely working with job seekers and providers for a long time now.
While studying the reports on employment and the reasons behind unemployment in our country, I realised that the 'unemployability' of an individual is the root cause of the situation and hence it was important to address unemployability in order to tackle unemployment.
If you look at India, alone, there are only two bodies that look after the employment needs of the country -- the National Human Resource Development Council and the district employment centres.
Although the government introduces new schemes every year for the benefit of the people, seldom do they reach those who need them.
The state of government-run employment exchanges are also dismal, given the fact that they are not able to match the rising demand of employment with unskilled resources.
The only way we could tackle unemployment was by training the unemployed to be job ready and by offering them the advantage of opting for private sector jobs.
How did you convince the government to allow a private staffing firm to use public employment exchanges to offer jobs in the private sector?
It took us several months of meetings and negotiations to convince the authorities that we wanted to partner with the government and make use of their schemes to help improve the rate of employment in the country.
Also, the fact that we were offering private jobs worked to our disadvantage. Eventually, when they learnt that we were using the employment exchanges as a ground to improve education, impart training and boost employment in the country, they agreed to give us an opportunity.
Image: Neeti Sharma, vice-president, TeamLease
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