Preparing for the PASHA Career Expo 2007 – 1
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So P@SHA has decided to finally catch on the rising popularity of Career Expos. I must say that they have taken the right decision at the right time. Of late, we’ve seen the massive popularity of career fairs in Pakistan. The Rozee Job Fair is being one of the most popular ones (P@SHA seems to cornering everyone in this field). There is a lot of debate about the pros and cons of such fairs which requires a lengthy debate. Here I am more interested to guide my fellow students on how to prepare and participate in such exhibitions. Remember the following lines are a narrative of my own personal experiences and the conclusions I’ve reached.
The most important step that I must mention is to register as soon as possible at the P@SHA job fair. By the way how can you attend the expo if you’ve not registered (So do it now!). I’ll not repeat the same basic instructions that are available on every career counseling websites. The students of this cyber age know the basic pre-requisites of participating in a job fair. The CV writing tips, the dress code and similar info is readily available from P@SHA website if you have any confusion. You can also visit the Rozee website for additional information.
Similarly you can take the assistance of CV writing from the Internet. I know most of the students are critical of their Resumes. The students who are first time attendees are generally more concerned in this regard. Here I would say that if you have closely followed the instructions and tips while writing your CV, then you need not worry. Let a senior evaluate your CV, if you are still not satisfied. Remember, a perfectly written CV and Job Opportunities are directly proportional to each other. You can read the series of articles related to writing a Super CV on G & W, here, here and here.
The next step is of visiting the websites of your potential employers. Don’t forget to visit the blogs of employees already working in these organizations as well. They will give you an insight into the working environment of the company. Prepare a Checklist on all the pros and cons before visiting their booths in the expo. The key to a healthy conversation with employers is planning, planning, planning.
How do you plan to meet employers, and why? That will be the topic of my next post on this, so stay tuned!
12:27 am
Correction – P@SHA is not catching up. We had the first P@SHA Job Fair in Karachi 3 years ago and have been holding them every year – two years running in collaboration with Workjunction.com and following on the success of the Karachi one, the very first P@SHA Job Fair was held in Lahore in partnership with Rozee. Rozee then branched out and started their own which is great. Theirs is a broadbased event. Ours is an ICT Career Expo. I think personally that the more of these there are the better it is for capacity building and job matchmaking purposes.
8:09 pm
Thanks for correction Jehan Ara. It’s really good to know P@SHA’s contributions in the career fairs especially as you mentioned in the ICT field.
8:16 pm
It is necessary to registered via web to get in at the Career Expo. Or, we can just ‘walk in’ to attend it?
8:37 pm
I think you’ve to register on the website. Visit P@SHA website for more details.
http://www.pasha.org.pk/careerexpo2007/index.aspx
9:09 pm
Thanks
)
11:25 pm
We would prefer for you to register especially if you want to attend the workshops because there is limited seating for those but we won’t turn away those who just walk in
9:53 am
Yaar Pasha Karachi job fair was flop and waste of time. Islamabad one is cancelled. Very few people and companies came. Big disappointment they need better organization like rozee did.
11:20 am
Actually I thought it was very good. Quite true that it didn’t have the crowds that Rozee pulled in but these were serious job seekers who were interested in working in the ICT sector. The focus was on quality as opposed to quantity. Many of the visitors to the Rozee event converged around the HBL, UBL and Mobilink booths collecting freebies etc. The IT companies were not the focus.
At the P@SHA Career Expo there were 30 booths – all from the ICT sector. There were no massage chairs being sold, no courier companies,etc – it wasn’t a general purpose mela-type event. There was no singing and dancing with kids standing on chairs and screaming for more. It was a professional career event with the focus on jobs, interviews and counselling. The turnout must have been around 2,000+. Because of the venue there was a lot of breathing space and a lot of detailed discussions regarding the kind of companies and their growth and the kind of job opportunities available.
It was well organized and the P@SHA team as well as the Ambassadors were very pro-active in attending to the needs of exhibitors. I didn’t consider it a failure at all and will certainly participate in the next one.
The Islamabad event was postponed due to security issues expressed by the Jinnah Convention Centre and according to the organizers, all exhibitors and registered attendees were informed. A new date will be announced soon.
12:16 pm
Merjan, Seems like you are part of the organization committee for the event, or someone on the inside given that you know about the Islamabad event.
In this case, I would just say that it is better to listen to the feedback from your customers (like Ahmed) to improve the other events.
Ahmed: How would you define better organization? What specifically should PASHA do more in the other events?
Thanks,
12:21 pm
I know about it because i asked.
9:16 pm
The P@SHA Career Expo is the industry’s attempt to educate, offer counselling and create awareness about the IT and ITES sector. We are not in the business of Job Fairs, nor do we have a commercial motive in mind. We have never tried to attract large numbers of people nor to turn this event into a general purpose event. Nor do we wish to compete with others in this space. As an industry association, P@SHA has only one purpose – to connect the right people with the right jobs and to create an awareness of the growth in the IT sector.
The strongest part of our Expo has been the counselling where dozens of CEOs have given up their precious time to offer kids advice on careers. Our Communication Skills and Interview Technique Workshops are also helpful to young people.
There are naturally weaknesses to what we do and each year we learn something new. But one thing we are not – and that is we are not unprofessional, we are not disorganized and we are not unethical. These are values we want to teach young people. Lots of people put in valuable voluntary time in an effort to make this event successful each year. We are grateful to them. This year we have experimented by trying to use different jobsites in different cities. The idea is to reach a broader base of young people and also to create an awareness of the number of jobsites that exist.
We had 2,000 people at the P@SHA Career Expo in Karachi and we had 26 company booths plus sponsor booths. Perhaps we could have done better in the number of attendees but where we lacked in quantity, we provided quality. That is why some companies were able to hire on the spot.
The Lahore event will be better attended because we have used Green&White, Zaeem Yaqoob Khan and various others to spreak the word. The banner on the Rozee website is also expected to get the word out.
The Pole banners we are putting up in Lahore are almost twice the size of the ones we put up in Karachi. That will certainly help too.
The Islamabad event was postponed due to problems with the venue (security issues identified by the Centre itself). I announced it myself on Green&White on 18th of June and the banners on G&W, Brightspyre, the P@SHA website and the Rozee website were all changed to indicate that the event was being rescheduled.
The new date is set for July 8. We have sent an advance to the PC in Pindi. As soon as the confirmation is received tomorrow, we will announce it officially.
Give us a break, will you? We are not perfect but we do a great job with our event. Each year it gets better. The P@SHA CEC is a bunch of volunteers who undertake these things for the industry. Our sponsors are terrific to continue to support this much-needed vertical event year after year. We don’t want this to heavy just in attendance. We want the companies and the kids to benefit. I have explained this in great detail because I want everyone to understand that there is a difference between a commercial activity and a capacity building activity. There are meant to be different and there is a place for both kinds.
9:17 pm
Having said all this, any advice or assistance provided by any of you is always welcome. Let us not waste energies being negative. Let us be positive instead. We all need to work together to build the human resource capability in this country. After all, we are all on the same side.
10:35 pm
Jehan,
This was the equivalent of going duck hunting with ballistic missles and then, in the aftermath, saying “oh, well, lets try bird calls this time”
Maybe its all the electricity issues in KHI and impending cyclones (the city really hasn’t had a break in a while).
Anyway, dont fear Ahmed — Green & White should be able to uncover the truth in these events, their organization etc soon.
Capacity building as a vision is one thing but the fair itself is still a product as far as the stakeholders perceive it – capacity building is the value-add.
I agree that the value-add, which is being provided free, should be recognized and appreciated. However, this is independent of the product meeting the basic expectations of the attendees.
We would agree that no one will remember noble intentions a year from now if the event earns a damaging perception and no one shows up next year.
10:47 pm
Just two clarifications:
1. My comment was meant to explain what the P@SHA Career Expo is all about – not to attack anyone. I don’t believe in non-constructive activity.
2. Of course the basic intent is to matchmake companies with the right resources and we have been successful in doing that the past 3 years. We don’t attract large numbers because large numbers have yet to understand that there is a life beyond multinationals, banks and telcos but we do attract the resources who are serious about being a part of the IT sector. The results of these events have always been good otherwise we wouldn’t be carrying in on for the 4th year – noble cause notwithstanding. Nor would be attracting the sponsors that we do from the tech sector. However, P@SHA is an Association and it has to go beyond just the basics and add value which is what we try and do. You guys worry too much