INDIA: Youth connect with employers at job fair
Don Bosco Job Placement Network hosts job fair at Nitika Don Bosco for more than 160 youth
INDIA
(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco Job Placement Network hosted its first job fair at Nitika Don Bosco, located in Tangra, Kolkata, India. More than 160 youth registered for the event that featured seven companies. Don Bosco Job Placement Network was started four years ago to help youth find and retain employment. The organization has a deep reach within the business sector to connect with employers who need skilled employees.
At the event, Father Sunil Kerketta, the vice-provincial of Kolkata Province, welcomed participants and the organizers and spoke about Don Bosco. Father Charles, the national coordinator of Don Bosco Job Placement Network, encouraged youth to make the best use of the opportunity provided to them.
One youth, who finished a civil engineering technician course, said, “I am coming from Dankhuni because I am in desperate need of a job.” One of the human resource managers highlighted why the event is so helpful and said, “The job fair such as this provides an opportunity for us to be part of employing young people and we are happy to be part of Don Bosco.”
Ronald Das, the regional coordinator for Kolkata, noted, “We are happy that so many turned up for this event. Events such as these take away the inhibitions and fear most youth have while going for an interview.”
Access to professional training and workforce development services is highly valued in India. The country, which is home to 1.34 billion people (18 percent of the world’s population), will have overtaken China as the world’s most populous country by 2024, according to the World Economic Forum. While India has the world’s largest youth population, it has yet to capitalize on this, leaving some 30 percent of this population without employment, education or training.
India has the world’s fourth largest economy but more than 22 percent of the country lives in poverty. About 31 percent of the world’s multidimensionally poor children live in India, according to a report by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.
India’s youth face a lack of educational opportunities due to issues of caste, class and gender. Almost 44 percent of the workforce is illiterate and less than 10 percent of the working-age population has completed a secondary education. In addition, many secondary school graduates do not have the knowledge and skills to compete in today’s changing job market.
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