Breakthrough --IppStar creates
employment event Organizes unique countrywide
industrial recruitment
68 students short-listed so far by 11 companies
The first-ever countrywide recruitment event in the Graphic Arts was successfully held on June 3 and 4, 2002 at ippStar, Noida..
There were about 85 candidates and 11 printing, publishing, and packaging companies from north India who participated in the two-day event. The candidates included both freshers and experienced people from various institutes all over the country like NRIPT, Allahabad, Don Bosco Technical Institute, Pusa Polytechnic, RIPT, Jadavpur, Kolkata, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, Guru Jambheshwar University, Hisar, Salesian Institute of Graphic Arts, Chennai, Indian Institute of Packaging, and Government Schools of Printing in Kerala and Mumbai. Candidates from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani and the Indira Gandhi National Open University also participated.
Raman of Surya Print Process interviews a candidate on June 4
The 11 companies that participated have so far short listed 68 candidates out of the 85 who attended the event for various positions. These companies are India Offset, Gopsons, Express Colour Scan, Creed Engineers, Summit Information Technologies, Sai Packaging, Delhi Press, Surya Print Process, ippStar, New Model Impex and International Print-O-Pac. Additionally, two companies that had expressed interest at the outset of the exercise didn't manage to participate..
The need
The main idea behind IppStar organizing such an event
was to be a facilitator - for both the companies and the students of graphic
arts to have an opportunity to interact and understand each other. We
believe that most often industry does not get the right kind of people
to work for it nor do the people get into the right kind of job profiles.
This was an exercise to break the ice between the companies and the probable
recruits. Those who have been claiming to represent the cause of the industry
should have done what ippStar has ventured to do today, many years ago..
Each organization in the industry has a different work culture and sometimes does not want to share it. IppStar made a successful attempt to help proponents of diverse work cultures share a common platform. It was for the first time that north Indian printers, publishers and packaging professionals were congregating at a neutral venue for working together and fulfilling a common work-related agenda.
The methodology
The methodology adopted was simple but serious. All
the eight printing institutes and various diploma colleges were informed
about the event a fortnight in advance and a daily newspaper advertisement
was published all over the country. The companies were also simultaneously
informed. About 150 applications reached ippStar before June 3, which
were classified into various categories.
Candidates waiting in turn for interviews
On both days of the event, the candidates took a written test, which evaluated their personality, verbal, mathematical aptitude, reasoning ability, as well as technical skills. After the test, many of the companies introduced themselves to the candidates by making presentations before interviewing them. The companies as well as the candidates had a chance to choose the best. It was the first chance for many students as well as some companies to come face to face with each other. Those companies who were able to come to a preliminary decision handed us lists of short-listed candidates, which were announced on the same day.
Conclusion
The organization of the recruitment event was a small
but significant step towards greater transparency in the industry. The
very fact that the event drew a response far greater than expected from
the students and professionals is an indication that this was a step in
the right direction and there is further scope and a necessity for the
organization of such events. But at the same time, we are fully aware
that a lot more that needs to be done in this sphere and that this is
a mere drop in the ocean. IppStar proposes to hold more such events in
the future on a regular basis among the printing, publishing and packaging
fraternity. For this to happen and the idea to bear fruit, we need the
continued support and active involvement of the students, the faculty
from the various printing schools and the industry as a whole.
It is also clear that this activity can only proceed together with continuous visits and interaction with the print institutes and schools, government run and private. The teaching faculties have to be upgraded, and industry has to come forward with real equipment and money if it really wants better-trained personnel. Leaving everything to government to organize, regulate, and finance, will only perpetuate slow an uneven growth, and equally badly equipped private colleges that charge exorbitant fees. In addition, we may continue to get an influx of arrogant untrained graduates who think that in return for the exorbitant fees or a rubber stamp they are owed exalted positions and easy work. The clearest result of the recent exercise is that although industry thinks people grow on trees, and graduates and diploma holders think that good jobs are as easy to manufacture as soap, (or having an 'approach'), both sides need to think, act, and interact.
Quark support
for IppStar 28Jan02
Course in Xpress 4.1
from January 29 to Feb 2
Agfa donates scanner to IppStar 23Jan02
