Pakistan gets it first campus career portal

Pakistan has developed an indigenous version of monster.Com the world's leading career network to help students find placements in the country.

The country's industry, academia and government teamed up to work on the first-of-its-kind job portal, now available to qualifying universities free of cost.

The project, funded by the Information and Technology Ministry, will directly link academia to industry and integrate graduating students, faculty and alumni of 85 Pakistani universities on 'Rozee.Pk'.

"Under this project, the students will be able to build their resumes online, view job postings by over 1,5000 employers, apply and network with peers," Rozee.Pk said in a statement posted on its website.

The mother portal, launched this week, will cater to students of all leading universities (each university will have its own address), including the elite Lahore School of Business Management. Pakistan churns out around 120,000 graduates a year from its 80 educational institutions.

"The portals will be used by university placement offices to connect students with industry professionals who wish to recruit from the university. It will also allow industry professionals to connect with professors engaging in relevant research through auto-matching algorithms. It will host the software and data on its own servers," the statement said.

In the absence of a career portal, Pakistani students have had to use use Monster.Com's international database. But now they can create a resume, search for jobs, prepare for interviews, and launch their careers at their university job portals.

While most students have welcomed the launch of the portal, some are not upbeat. "I think the ones who really need jobs don't have internet access and those who have Internet access, already have jobs. Online job search is not for Pakistan yet," wrote a blogger on the launch of the career portal.

The portal, developed by local software architects, aims to put the university placement offices at the centre of all activities. The offices will approve student CVs, liaise with hiring managers, allow job postings for students and alumni and facilitate communication between different parties.

What some students are excited about are interesting tools such as "Resume Wizard", which will help create "killer CVs".

"The portal's search facility allows employers to surgically find candidates who have right qualifications while simultaneously maximising career options for students," said Aisha Sarwari, a TV and radio film graduate who is all praise for the portal.

"Efficient matching is made possible by enabling employers to quickly view key candidate information in the form of a graduate synopsis, without having to go through the entire CV," she added.

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