‘Ability Fair’:Job fest is happy tidings for 97 disabled individuals
The joy of getting the first job offer is unique and this uninhibited joy can make people happy beyond words. This is what one felt at the 16th edition of the ‘Ability Fair’ in Sector 26, when one heard Pooja Sharma, a Class-8 pass partially-blind girl. “The first question they (representatives of Reliance) asked me was why I need a job. When I said, I wanted to work to support my parents, they shortlisted me,” she said.
The joy of getting the first job offer is unique and this uninhibited joy can make people happy beyond words. This is what one felt at the 16th edition of the ‘Ability Fair’ in Sector 26, when one heard Pooja Sharma, a Class-8 pass partially-blind girl. “The first question they (representatives of Reliance) asked me was why I need a job. When I said, I wanted to work to support my parents, they shortlisted me,” she said.
One was witness to similarly heartwarming tales from all 97 disabled people who were shortlisted at the job fest jointly conducted by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), National Institute for Technical Teachers’ Training and Research (NITTR) and Sarthak Educational Trust on the NITTTR campus on Friday.
HT was witness to another 24-year-old from Kaithal who got shortlisted for a job with Gilard Electronics. A visually and hearing impaired couple — Ritu Bhardwaj and Avpreet Singh — married in November — also tried their luck.
Among hospitality companies, Café Coffee Day shortlisted nine people, Hotel Lemon Tree also shortlisted nine. Most number of candidates shortlisted were by BPOs including Reliance, IDS, Concentrix, Kebera, Serco, Dr IT etc.
Punjab and Haryana governor and UT administrator Kaptan Singh Solanki inaugurated the fest. While addressing the gathering, he said, “Persons with any kind of physical disability must take it as a challenge and work towards becoming a blessing for the society.”
NITTTR dean Dr Jasmer Singh Saini said, “So far, the ‘Ability Fair’ has facilitated employment for visually-challenged, hearing and speech impaired and orthopedically-challenged persons. In future, we will also make efforts to arrange employment for mild and moderately mentally-challenged people.”
More than 200 participants had registered for the event. The positions for which the candidates were interviewed included customer care executive, fitters, electricians, refrigerator mechanics, front/back end desk executives, administrative jobs, data entry operators, office assistants etc.