The Delhi Government organises a job fair each year. This year, the two-day job fair was held at the Thyagraj Stadium in the national capital from February 15 to February 16.
More than 15,000 vacancies were filled through recruitment at the job fair. The candidates were supposed to register on the Delhi job fair portal and apply for the available vacancies before going to the venue.
In 2017, 82 companies had participated in the job fair. Eight thousand and two hundred candidates had received on-the-spot offers and another 25,787 had been shortlisted.
The fair started from 11 am and lasted till 5 pm in the evening. The crowd was worth looking at – from mothers carrying babies in their laps to old and young people queuing outside the stadium and waiting for it to open. Graduates, students, engineers – everyone was present holding documents in their hands, desperately hoping to be shortlisted.
This was the third job fair organised by the Delhi government. The venue had various counters with the required qualifications written on top. There were many people who joined the queue after hearing about the job fair. From Sales Associate to Ward Boys, the fair had jobs of all kinds.
“Maine online registration nahi kiya, mujhe yeh karna nahi aata. Maine ye ek form liya wahan se aur abhi isko bharungi (I did not register online and I don’t know how to do that. I took this form from there and now I will fill this form),” said Ishita, a local girl from the area.
Shivanshu, 23, who lives in Malviya Nagar applied for the position of the Airport Ground Staff. He is currently pursuing graduation from Delhi University and was rejected. “I came here in the morning at 10 with all the documents and these people are telling me that I lack experience. They want experience of minimum six months and I have only three months of it,” he said. On being asked what would he do further, he remarked, “I don’t know. I had hopes of getting this job. I don’t know what I will say at home.”
Kundan, another job seeker who came directly from Laxmi Nagar, was determined to get ‘any’ job at the venue. Having finished his diploma in Civil Engineering from Rohtak University, he had applied at counter 22 for the position of ‘attendance taker at the hospitals’. “I want to do any job as of now to earn some money. If I do not get the job I want, I will take anything I can get,” said Kundan.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the unemployment rate in India is projected to increase from 18.3 million in 2017 to 18.6 million in 2018 and 18.9 million by 2019. The increased unemployment in India will create problems for many job seekers who will be forced to go for jobs which do not suit their degrees and qualifications.