Job 'Fair' - My experience

The newspapers called it the opportunity of a life time for freshers! The media dubbed it as the biggest event in Hyderabad in recent times! The unprecedented numbers that queued up before the entrance were fronpage news in many a daily. Even I registered myself online a full 12 days before the actual date of the fair ... I kept on pruning my resume since the last 2 weeks - took suggestions from my softskills trainers and mentors - I wanted to reach a point where I was satisfied with the way I presented myself in the resume. Now coming to the jobfair - I scheduled the visit on sunday. Friends detracted me saying that my resume would end-up in the dustbin, worse still, some said my pocket could be picked! Firm as I was in my decision to visit the fair, I paid a deaf ear to all that, dressed up in a navy blue trousers and a light-colored formal shirt just like my softskills trainer advised me to and arrived at the venue by 8.30 AM.

There was a long line of freshers stretching to about half a kilometer and I walked patiently seeking the end of the queue where I could join. Surprisingly none of the people coming in wanted to fight their way into the middle - Every one of them patiently walked to end and took their position - a rarity indeed! People - I observed were coming in from places as far off as Machilipatnam! When the queue stopped moving we all used to sit on the footpath waiting for it to move. During one of those squats I noticed that people were turning up in jeans and t-shirts and even worse - party wear - contrary to the advice of writers like Mrs. Padma Ramesh and Mr. Abhimanyu Acharya in the Hindu opportunities column since the last few weeks.

Finally I got into this big hall and the sheer size of the crowd left me dumbfounded! I was at a loss of what to do when I saw the Patni stall collecting resumes from freshers - I joined the queue an submitted mine. I dont want to name the firm but he was literally pulling resumes off the hands of freshers and throwing them into what I thought was a dustbin covered in gift wrapper! That made me wonder If I did do a mistake in going to the fair ... But logic prevailed - As I have already gone there I submitted my resume to all the companies I was interested in! By then It was time for the seminar on pruning the CV.

I entered the seminar hall and after about 30 minutes into the seminar I had a feeling of deja-vu' - Why you may ask? We were shown the same presentation "That killer resume" which was presented to us about a week ago during our softskills training sessions which incidentally is conducted by the CnK! When some of the freshers asked the presenter whether their resumes are likely to end up in the dustbin (Even Mr. Acharya hinted at the same possibility in one of his articles) - The presenter asked us to imagine ourselves in a situation - A big cricket match going on in some stadium and huge crowds turned up because Sachin was playing - Imagine the wild crowd and the roar - Similar situation prevailed on saturday when 60000 people turned up! He went on to say that all those who have registered online - their resumes will be sent to all the companies participating in the fair basing on their requirements and there is no reason to worry. Fair enough. Point taken Sir. I really felt that the arrangements done were above average taking into consideration the huge crowd - anything could go wrong! At the end of it I could see the competition for jobs first-hand and I could prune my resume to my satisfaction because of this job fair. The only thing I felt could have been corrected was holding the seminar in an air conditioned room or atleast a room that had fans because it was neither comfortable to the audience nor the speaker - both perspiring as though they were working out in a gymnasium!

For all those who haven't been fortunate enough to go to the fair you can apply online at:

www.tmifirst.com

www.jobstreet.com

patni - www.patni.com - talent@patni.com

igate - jobs@igate.com

leadingc - india_info@leadingc.com

xinthe technologies - working@xinthe.com

ADP - www.adp.com - hrindia@adpindia.com