For two days on Monday and Tuesday, Dr. Zakir Hussain Lecture Hall complex at University of Hyderabad was teeming with youngsters with disabilities, who were seen walking out of classrooms lost in discussion on which skills they should to acquire to bag a job in top corporate companies and what should companies have to do to make work spaces disability-friendly.
The busy registration counter and the number of youngsters waiting for their turn to be interviewed resembled a job fair. But it was ‘Career Expo for Persons with Disabilities’ organised by Youth4Jobs in association with University of Hyderabad, which concluded here on Tuesday.
Skill set
Attended by over 367 youth, the expo was a platform for them to know the companies that are open to hiring people with disabilities, the kind of jobs that they can apply for and the skill set required for the same. In the first-of-its-kind career expo, the representatives of corporate companies gave a pre-placement talk, conducted mock interviews to access the skills of the attendees, and told them where they stand in the employability chart. At the expo, the youth were suggested the companies that they apply for based on their disabilities and qualifications, and their profiles were evaluated. At the end of the event, at least eleven were short-listed for jobs. Meera Shenoy, founder CEO of Youth4Jobs, said until five years ago, they were imparting skill training to lesser-educated youth with disabilities to help them secure jobs. “But when top companies started enquiring about educated workforce, we interacted with toppers in universities and got to know that some youth topped all the online interviews, but companies were reluctant to have face-to-face interviews with them,” she said. “They did not know how to interview people with disabilities,” she added.
Vice-president of Youth4Jobs, Gopal Garg, said disabled youngsters did not have any idea on which company to apply to for a job.
“The students in universities were clueless about what they would do after graduation. Besides, companies that have diversity as their agenda did not know where the talent pool exists. So we thought of bringing them together on a common platform,” Mr. Gopal said.
Panel discussions
As part of the expo, panel discussions were held where representatives of top companies spoke on what should physically-challenged youth do to get jobs and policy changes that they were willing to make to accommodate them in their offices.
