ONE DAY WORKSHOP ON EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGINEERS

                           A one day workshop on 'Employment Opportunities for Engineers' was held on October 22,2010 at Hotel Tamilnadu. This workshop was organised by Anna University of Technology,Madurai in association with The Board of Apprentices and Training,Chennai. Nearly 60 Placement Officers from 30 colleges affiliated to Anna University of Technology,Madurai participated in this programme. The Vice-Chancellor of Anna University of Technology,Madurai  Dr.R.Murugesan, presided over the meeting. Mr. A.Ayyakannu-Director Board of Apprentices and Training,  (Southern Region) Chennai was the Guest of Honour. The inaugural function was followed by the signing of Memorandum between AUT-Madurai and The Board of Apprentices and Training, Chennai on the training and placements to be conducted in the near future. The following topics were discussed in detail:  'What is Employability?','Industry Expectations from students',Training Needs and Employment Opportunities for Engineers. A short description of the session on 'Employability' and 'Industry Expectations' is given below:

EMPLOYABILITY

         This session was led by Mr.K.P Gopakumar, Director,Operations IIIItT,Coimbatore, who said that Employability is “…the possession by an individual of the qualities and competences required to meet the changing needs of employers and customers and thereby help to realise his or her aspirations and potential in work..” He said that the colleges must be flexible in approach in delivering the core skills and bringing awareness about the soft skills. To improve the skill of  employability among the students colleges can carry out employability audit,ammend frameworks...etc.Training programmes must be conducted raising student's awareness on personal presentation,personal attributes and communication skill. To improve Work  Placements in the area, the colleges can introduce live projects with in-built employability, conduct competitions testing various skills of the students and engage in voluntary/charity work or community projects. Every attempt must be made to 'think outside the box' and  as per the need and neccesity the college must not be afraid to change the timetable, attendance pattern, college year framework, teaching methodology and  the assessment tools. He concluded the session by giving a one word definition of 'employability' as  "ATTITUDE".

INDUSTRY EXPECTATIONS FROM STUDENTS

          This session was handled by Mr.S.Anand, MD-ASME Enterprises,Madurai. He said that the opportunities for the Engineers in the industries are plenty,but the students must be ready to meet out the challenges in the industry. The students must sharpen their axe in four areas to match up with the industry expectations. They are: 1) Analytical Ability   2) Communication Skills  3)Team work and Leadership  4) Innovation

Analytical Ability ;

             The industry expects the students to analyse problems in depth by asking relevant questions, diagnose problems effectively,solve problems after gathering and analysing relevant data,arrive at logical solutions,demonstrate structured thinking,draw sound inferences and utilise databases appropriately.

Communication Skills :

                                         In terms of communication skills the students must be able to understand information quickly and accurately and interpret as per the information provided.He/She must be persuasive and convincing in communicating. The students must be able to effectively explain issues to an audience or group,must be precise and must create accurate,clear and easily understood communincation.

Teamwork and Leadership:

                                      Teamwork and leadership plays an important role while joining an industry. Therefore, the students are expected to be issue-focused and not person focused. He/She must ensure that his team has a sense of purpose, must tolerate dissent and different view points and must have the practice of sharing information and data.

Innovation:

                   The industry looks forward for a candidate with a thirst for knowledge who keeps increasing the boundaries of his/her knowledge,willing to try anything-at least once,bring in fresh perspective,generates new and imaginative ideas/approaches and shows flexibility in approach to task and open to new ideas or methods.

                      The programme ended with the distribution of the participation certificate. I take this opportunity to thank the Management,Principal and my colleagues for giving this opportunity to attend this workshop.