IIT-Madras job fair connects startups with rural talent
- Ramya Muruganantham, a computer science graduate from University College of Engineering in Ariyalur, cannot contain her excitement as she explains her first-ever experience of meeting numerous potential employers under one roof.
Ramya is one among the 400 freshers who participated in the Startups Job Utsav 2019, a job fair connecting rural and small-town engineers to startups, held at IIT-Madras’ Research Park, on Saturday. - Organised by IIT-M’s Incubation Cell (IIT-M IC) along with IIT-M Research Park and TiE-Chennai, in collaboration with Titan LeAP and Mahindra Pride Classroom, the job fair was aimed at connecting startups incubated at IIT-M to an untapped pool of engineering talent from tier-2 and 3 cities and towns in Tamil Nadu.
- Over 40 tech startups and small businesses from the IIT-M ecosystem registered for the placements to grow their business supported by the under-utilised engineering talent from rural Tamil Nadu.
- Colleges in Arni, Villupuram, Kancheepuram, Panruti, Vellore and Thindivanam, which are affiliated to Anna University, participated in the event. The registered candidates were all pre-trained by Mahindra Pride Classroom on employability and life skills.
- By the day end, around 250 students were shortlisted by the companies, which are now working to roll out offers based on further engagement with the selected candidates.
- Startups hired for entry-level openings across the areas of mechanical, electrical, information technology, and others, with demand highest for those with software programming skills.
- “For startups, hiring a right candidate is always challenge as they don’t have the bandwidth to reach out to large and diverse talent. On the other hand, tier-2 and tier 3 cities have a large number of talent pool,” a spokesperson for IIT-M IC told TOI, commenting on the first edition of the Job Utsav.
- The Incubation Cell plans to conduct similar drives in the coming months based on requirement needs of its startups. “Next one would be focusing on domains like finance, HR, marketing and others,” the spokesperson said.
- “Finding good talent is as difficult as raising funds as a startup, and the job fair was hence useful,” Srinath Ravichandran, co-founder and CEO, Agnikul Cosmos, a space startup incubated at IIT-M IC said.
- Agnikul interviewed around 80 students and has shortlisted around five engineers to their team.
- “It shows even students from tier-2 and 3 cities are willing to take risks and apply to smaller companies,” Ravichandran added.
- Other startup founders TOI spoke to said the candidates were strong in their core skills, and while they were initially nervous, their stress eased up after subsequent rounds.
- Ramya, who wants to become an entrepreneur herself in the long-term, attended interviews for three companies and has been shortlisted by a software startup. She counts the experience of interviewing with various tech companies as her biggest value-add from the sessions.
- Posted in https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/iit-madras-job-fair-connects-startups-with-rural-talent/articleshowprint/69416531.cms
