Introduction: The details of the One day workshop on Employment Opportunities For Engineers, held on 22-10-10, which was jointly organised by AUT, Madurai & Board of Apprenticeship & Training, are placed below:
I) Training Needs (by Prof. G.K.Rajesh)& II) Employment Opportunities For Engineers (By Mr. A. Ayyakkannu, Director, Board of Apprenticeship & Training)
Objectives
1) To provide quality education to students; 2) To imbibe in students our time-honoured value-system; 3) To effect wholesome development of personality; 4) To develop Aptitude, Attitude, Altitude of students; 5) To ensure promotion of employability skills; 6) To explore all avenues for placement of the students.                 

  Employability Skills required
• An engineering degree will not suffice; Good % of marks will not be considered a strong point. Mathematical aptitude; Analytical skill; Communication Skill; A good knowledge of the subject; Creativity & Originality in Project; Self-confidence; Good manners & etiquette
Focus on Placement Training:
Focus is on systematic training of students towards employability; Training tailored to develop the skills of students towards placement; Placement training is a continuous process of development of potential of students; Two days in a week can be focused on Placement Training.
The Modus Operandi:
1) Placement Training provided to Students by the Staff of the college. 2) Training the Trainers (Faculty Development Programme); 3) Training by Corporate Trainers, such as RIPE, SMART, Speech Masters,, Time etc., 4) The Alumni/ Senior Students.
Training Students by College Staff
Placement Training on a regular basis by the college staff regularly on convenient days for Students of II B.E., in the first week of each month & for Students of III B.E., in the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th weeks of each month. Aptitude Test is to be conducted with question papers devised by MNCs.
Syllabus: Stage Presentation ; Verbal Aptitude; Group Discussion/Seminar Presentation & Quantitative Aptitude.
Training by Alumni/ Senior Students; 1) Mathematical aptitude;2) Analytical skill; On a Feasible day, Aptitude Test is to be conducted with question papers devised by MNCs.
These Tests and further discussions can be accomplished by Alumni/ Senior Students.                                                                                                                                                                       

II) Employment Opportunities For Engineers
Evolution of IT industry
21st century is an age of opportunities. Globalization is a unique development. Liberalization of economy is a boon and not a bane, as was thought of. Liberalization brought in happy changes in the Indian market. Globalization & Liberalization opened up the doors for entry of MNCs in the Indian market. Hundreds of foreign companies established their branches in India. The result was that employment opportunities became abundant for engineers in IT; ITES and other industries.
MNCs & Big Players in Software & Hardware Industry
MNCs are organizations, which have their bases in Western countries. Their branches are found across the globe such as IBM, Microsoft, TCS, CTS, Infosys, Wipro, Polaris, Xanxa, etc. Modeled on these MNCs, several other companies emerged in the India, either in collaboration with foreign companies or independently with support from other industries.
Work of MNCs:
MNCs take up projects from organizations /governmental or non-governmental from the West & other parts of the globe & for execution of projects, smart people are recruited from colleges & engaged, who have distinctly significant achievements in their educational career. MNCs are paid huge amounts for the tasks being undertaken by them in terms of dollars by their clients. MNCs engage smart persons, and pay them high pay packages. MNCs expect projects to be carried out in a shorter duration of time, & with better efficiency.

Number of Jobs in IT & ITES
Job opportunities are in abundance in the years to come in the IT & ITES field & core industries. Job demand is so much that the graduates being produced by the engineering colleges will be inadequate. The availability of jobs in the year 2011 will be 5 lakhs, & in the year 2020, the demand will be as much as 23 lakh personnel in the IT 7 core industry, as per the study taken by NASSCOM (National Association of Software & Service Companies). NASSCOM estimates that in 2020, the shortage of candidates will be 5 lakhs. In IT industry, India holds 65% of the world market, & in ITES (IT Enabled Services), India has 45% of the world market.
Global Competition in the IT field
• India's competitors are China, Philippines & Taiwan. China has started as many as 1200 professional universities & colleges to meet the heavy global demand in the IT & ITES sectors. The sad trend is that these MNCs do not find adequate number of suitable graduates from engineering colleges. The grim situation is that jobs are aplenty; but employable graduates are a few.
India in software field
• The reason for the domination of Indians in the world market is their enhanced mathematical skills.
The Scenario in 2020
Prospects for employment are quite bright. Pay packages are attractive. Pay hikes are phenomenally higher, for a deserving person. NASSCOM estimates that in 2020, there will be a shortage of 5 lakhs of engineers in software industry. There will be mushroom growth of software & core industries. Training organizations will have a thriving time to tone up employability skills or efficiency of staff, to match with the growth of software companies . The need for commitment, creativity, & hard work is essential.
Where is the Software Industry moving towards and how to match their Requirements?
• Software industry is moving towards achievements in technology. Software industry is moving towards tough competition in the execution of various projects. Software industry is moving towards a situation, where the expectations from young professionals are quite high namely, industry-smartness, innovativeness, quickness, & intelligence. Good performers & high achievers will be assets to industries, drawing high scales of pay. All sectors of life depend upon software technology for their efficient performance. Hard working people, with commitment & perseverance, will win.

I extend my warmest Regards to the management for encouraging me to attend this programme.
 

                           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.

A one day 'Placement Training on Quantitative Aptitude' for the Eligible final year students was conducted on 21-10-10 to facliltate them to clear the placement drive by the company DATA PATTERN. The training was conducted in two session by Dr. David Chandrakumar, HOD, Dept. of Maths and Mr. R . Chandrasekaran, Placement and Training respectively.

The forenoon session was on mathematical aptitude based on selected topics. In the afternoon 45 min test based on MNC model question paper was conducted . After the evaluation, complicated questions were discussed. The participation of the students was encouraged. around 60 students from various department  participated in the training session.
 

A Lecture cum Demo class on Fire Fighting & first Aid Awareness, was conducted on 8-9-10 in front of the First year Block. The details are shown below:-

Time & Date : 3.15 pm on 8-9-2010
Venue : In front of I Year Block

Attended : I Year Students of Batch-A, Lab Assts, Teaching Staff, Librarian, Canteen, Hostel, office and Transport staff who were not on other essential duty attended.
Subject Covered: Various points about First Aid and Fire fighting were covered elaborately. At the end of the session students were asked to practise the operation of the fire Extinguishers themselves as a simulated exercise, which they could perform satisfactorily.
The lab and office in-charges were asked to maintain the First Aid Boxes properly, giving specific attention to the expiry date of the medicine.
 

Thanks to representations from the Heads of Departments, it has been decided to conduct a 4 Day Training Programme by Sri S. Krishnaraj from Innovative Services, Chennai, for the Final Year Students, who have 1 or 2 arrears in their university examinations. The Training Programme is conducted on 3rd, 4th, 6th, & 7th September 2010 in the Conference Hall. 

The purpose of this programme is to improve the employability of these students, and to enable them fare well in the Aptitude Tests conducted by MNCs, when they come for recruitment campaigns in our region. Study materials are provided to the students for their reference and study.

The beneficiaries of the programme are 64 students, (who have 1 or 2 arrears) -- 6 from Civil, 5 from Mech, 16 from EEE, 10 from ECE-A, 5 from ECE-B, 15 from CSE, & 7 from IT.

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Read more: http://greatday.com/motivate/index.html#ixzz0wn3Yk9fr
 

There is going to be a 5 Day Bridge Course in our campus for the I Year Students, who have joined our college this year. The programme will commence on13th August 2010, after the inaugural function. It will go on for five days – from 13th, 16th, 17th, 18th , & 19th August 2010. The main aim of the programme is to give to the students some preliminary exposure to 1) the nature of the B.E./B.Tech. Degree Programme, 2) the syllabus, 3) the academic schedule, and 4) the need for devotion and commitment on the part of students to engineering education.

The students will be given orientation about the subjects they will be introduced into in the first year of their engineering education. Staff from English, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Training & Placements will handle their respective subjects each day. And the empahsis will be more on Mathematics, English & Communication Skills.

             A three day Workshop on 'Newspaper Reading' is going to be conducted for the students (Boys) of II, III and Final Year who are staying in the college hostel.This programme will  be held  from 2-8-10 to 4-8-10. The programme will commence at  the college conference hall at 4.15 P.M. The II year students will attend this programme on 2-8-10,III year on 3-8-10 and Final Year students at 4-8-10. Under the able guidance of the Joint Secretary Mr.M.S Vikram and the encouragement of the Dean.Principal and Administrative Officer the  programme will be handled by the Department of Training and Placement.

A workshop on 'How to get Recruited' was conducted by our Joint Secretary Mr.M.S Vikram for the students of the Department of CSE and IT in the conferecne halll,similar to the programme conducted for the students of the Department of ECE earlier.This programme was held  in the afternon session of July 28, 2010. The main aim of the programme was to create awareness among the students about the preparation for  Placements and company expectations.

Through the flurry of slides in his presentation, he discussed about the Recruitment process, Preparation of Resume, Importance of Communication, Interview techniques and so on. In his interaction with the students he stressed upon the importance of reading newspapers. The students found this workshop to be very useful and updated themselves with the present trend of the recruitment process.He concluded his presentation with the message that one must put full effort in the preparation for getting placed and the rewards,benefits and satisfaction will follow automatically.      

There was a Workshop on How to Get Recruited for Final Year Students of Civil Engg., Mechanical Engg., & EEE (who had no arrears & whose marks are above 70%). This workshop was conducted by our Joint Secretary Sri Vickram. He presented his points and observations in powerpoint slides, and had extensive interaction with students on various aspects of recruitment – such as, expectation from the companies, eligibility criteria they set up, the selection process, training for the new recruits, etc. The students who participated in the exchange of ideas on the subject were rewarded with small gifts.

Similar workshops are going to be conducted for Final Year Students of other disciplines.

The names of the participants: