KATHMANDU, July 30: Job hunting is stressful at any stage in life, and more so when one is young and without any work experience. A few colleges in Nepal are slowly awakening to the concept of providing job placements to their students. They believe that it’s not enough to build their students into capable young people, but also assume responsibility to provide them with jobs.[break]
In May this year, Lord Buddha Education Foundation (LBEF), Maitidevi organized its first Placement Day for students. LBEF has tied up with merojob.com which manages the college’s placement center. Uday Kanta Jha, coordinator of LBEF states that the college grants its fresh graduates with the opportunity to meet potential employees on the Placement Day. More than 30 students from LBEF received positive feedbacks and went home with promising job offers from the various 30 odd companies that were recruiting graduates during the event.
An MBA graduate from LBEF, Saurav Shrestha was one of the students who found work in the event as a sales executive for a publishing house. The 26-year-old agrees that colleges should initiate such placement events so that students have an easier time approaching companies they would like to start their career with.
LBEF wants to continue this event and make Placement Day an annual event for its students.
When colleges organize a meeting ground between the students and the companies, it definitely makes job hunting convenient for the students. There are none of the uncertainties about where and how to find and approach the right channel. Companies can also find a variety of fresh and hopeful aspirants to choose from.
The recently established British College, Thapathali, is working to provide all its students with jobs when they graduate. According to Dipanker Sherpa, program director of the college, there’ll be a 100 per cent job placement guarantee. “We are setting up a placement center and we have signed up MoUs with corporate giants, like Khetan and Chaudhary Group. So we already have the kind of network with us which will ensure that our students will find internships and jobs when the time comes,” he says.
Sherpa points out that internships are mostly the preliminary phase of job placement and if the internship turns out well, the student may get hired at the same firm later. And in case of a student failing to land a job, the placement center will analyze and work on his weakness. “Whether it’s providing them with the right communication skills or helping them strengthen their CV, the placement center will train the students,” he states.
The majority of colleges, however, still believe in the time-tested belief that their responsibility is just to shape their students into saleable graduates. Ratna Prajapati, administrator of Kathmandu College of Management, Gwarko, states that the college doesn’t provide job placements and it’s up to the students to find it themselves. “Our duty is to make them marketable. If we provide them job placements then what will the students learn? They have to be able to find suitable jobs themselves,” he points out. The college, however, does assist needy students to find internships. Prajapati says, “In that case, we approach industries or companies that we have ties with to see whether they can train our students.”
Preeti Karna, 21, a student of Biomedical Engineering studying in College of Biomedical Engineering and Applied Sciences, Bishalnagar, believes that it’s important for every college to handle job placements for its students. She believes that it would be very helpful to the students. “My college is very helpful in this aspect, especially our principal. If we want references for internships, or even for jobs, they’re more than willing to go that extra mile for all of us. Of course, it also depends on how capable the students are and whether they can make use of the opportunity given to interact with the companies,” she says.
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