Portal launched for blue-collar job seekers

It will help unorganised workers

For blue-collar workers such as drivers, receptionists, office assistants, etc, finding out about the jobs available with various employers is often an arduous task.

The employers, too, struggle to attract the right people for the various vacancies they intend to fill.
The present situation, however, will soon be a thing of the past. skillconnect.in, a job portal developed mainly for unorganised workers, was launched by Labour Minister B N Bachegowda here on Thursday.

The minister said the government had requested the Centre to consider sanctioning 763 skill development centres at sub-taluk levels. The portal is an initiative of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Karnataka, to bridge the large gap between the demand and supply of skilled manpower in the unorganised sector.

The portal, Gowda said, would help not only the job aspirants and the employers but also service providers and the vocational training providers.

“Till now, there was no platform to help workers in the informal sector find jobs. Also, freshers looking for jobs were clueless about where to find them. The portal will help them a great deal,” Gowda told Deccan Herald. The worries of employers, too, are set to end. So will be those of service providers and institutions that train prospective workers.

At present, 65 companies (employers) offering numerous manual jobs have registered with the portal.  Aroon Raman, immediate past chairman of CII Karnataka, says the portal offers a cluster topical module for unorganised workers. That is, it will inform them about jobs in their localities, instead of in far-off areas.

“It is essential to popularise the portal among both the industry as well as organisations working on building skills for the unorganised workers,” Raman said. The Labour Commissioner, N Manjunath Prasad, said that the database of workers registered with the employment exchanges will be shared with the portal in the days to come.

“Ultimately, we will try to link the database of all unorganised workers. This will offer the workers as well as the employers a host of options to explore,” Prasad said.  Shridhar Pabbisetty, Enterprise Development Specialist, CHF International India which is funding the portal, hoped the initiative would help fill an information gap that prevents both workers and employers from understanding the larger labour market.

How it works?
* Fresh as well as experienced unorganised workers can register with www.skillconnect.in, by providing an e-mail ID and its password. Employers, service providers, and job trainers can also register in the same way. Registration is free.

* Upon registration, they will have to create their respective profiles.

For example, a candidate will have to mention which job he/she is looking for and the necessary details therein. Likewise, employers are required to specify the jobs they wish to hire people for and the details. Service providers and trainers can provide their relevant details.

* Since many candidates looking for jobs in the unorganised sector might not be proficient in using the internet and thereby creating their profiles properly, vocational training institutes should submit the details on their behalf.

* Currently, the portal offers information about jobs in Bangalore only.