The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : “Job fair for disabled twice a year”

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 16, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

“Job fair for disabled twice a year”

S. Ganesan

— PHOTO: R.M. RAJARATHINAM.

ON CLOUD NINE: Collector Ashish Vachhani presenting an offer letter to a candidate.

TIRUCHI: Exhilaration was palpable among the 120 and odd disabled persons and destitute widows, whose long and arduous hunt for jobs culminated successfully at an exclusive job fair for them hosted jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the District Employment Office here on Tuesday.

The sense of optimism was shared by the recruiters and the officials of the district administration too. So much so that the CII has decided to make such job fairs a regular feature in its annual diary of events.

“Given the response to the fair, we have decided to host similar job fairs twice every year,” K. Premanathan, Chairman, CII, Tiruchi zone, announced.

Of the 381 candidates who attended the day-long fair, 120 got ‘offer letters’ by evening. Fifty others have been called for further screening by prospective employers.

28 companies

Twenty-eight companies, including some from Karur, scouted for prospective employees at the fair. The academic profile of the candidates ranged from SSLC to diplomas and from ITI certificates to post-graduation. The salary range of the successful candidate was between Rs.3,000 and Rs. 10,000. A group of candidates got placed at some handloom industries of Karur with free boarding and lodging.

The success of the fair reflects the confidence of the employers and also the capabilities of the disabled persons, observed Collector Ashish Vachhani. “We are not leaving out the candidates who could not find placement on Tuesday. We are planning to pool them into self-help groups and organise credit linkages to take up micro enterprises,” he said.

Though the district administration has launched the campaign to find private placement for disabled job seekers a year back, this was the first time that the CII has joined the initiative.

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