GIK Institute hosts Career Fair: 80 companies interview students for jobs

SWABI: As many as 80 multinational and national companies from across the country participated on Thursday in the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology Career Fair.

Eric Zong, director of Pakistan for the partner development department, Huawei, inaugurated the event.

Officials of the companies, pro-rectors, deans and heads of the departments, faculty members, research associates, engineers, directors, members of the Career Fair Committee and students attended the ceremony.

The representatives of the companies interacted with academia and interviewed the final-year students’ for jobs in their respective organisations.

The final-year students are expected to complete their BS study in different disciplines of engineering and management sciences in June this year.

Officials of the companies said that it was an extraordinary day in the institute’s academic calendar because, on the one hand, the unemployment in the country had reached an alarming proportion while representatives of the companies were conducting interviews of the students for giving them jobs in their companies before completion of their BS engineering, on the other.

Eric Zong and Prof Dr Fazal Ahmed Khalid inquired about the hiring process of the companies and their culture, and how they are incorporating the new emerging technologies in their organizations while meeting numerous challenges.

Eric Zong lauded the gathering of academia and industry on one platform during the Career Fair.

Shakil Durrani, Executive Director of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Sciences and Technology in Pakistan, said they would like to get feedback from the GIK Institute alumni and were looking forward to younger GIKians that how they could improve further.

Abbottabad University of Science and Technology Vice-Chancellor Tahir Irfan Khan said that there was no dearth of talent in the country.

“Pakistanis are incredible and we have to work according to the requirements of the country which is rich in natural resources.

A strong industry could help us in improving the country’s economy,” he said.

Prof Khalid spoke about artificial intelligence, continued innovation trends in GIK Institute and emerging technologies, adding there was an urgent need to strengthen academia-industry linkages.

“The Career Fair has provided a golden chance for the companies to interact with the students and hire them while keeping their requirements in mind. At the same time, they also interacted with academia,” he said.

Barrister Habil Ahmad Khan, President of the GIK Institute Alumni Association, said the world was fast changing and we have to catch it to improve our feeble economy while stressing taxing the elite to end their monopoly, hoping opportunities for the young educated people would be created soon.