Monday, March 5, 2001		Article

Vortal for IT-job aspirants
By Peeyush Agnihotri

IT is the latest buzzword. Companies are relying on it and placement agencies are thriving on it. There is a mad scramble for IT-related courses and immigration agencies and manpower bureaux are clamouring to send IT professionals abroad, making a fast buck themselves too.

Vivek, Gaurav and Kajal, all Chandigarh-based engineers, have created aceJobsite.com a vortal (vertical portal) that is acting as an interface for IT-employers and job seekers. The vortal is an attempt to bring IT employees and employers on a common platform for interaction to enhance mutual benefits.

But why IT? "We already are into the IT-placement agency business and what we found was that there was a huge gap between demand and supply," Vivek says.

No fee is charged from the job seekers. "However, we charge between 8 to 16 per cent of the annual gross salary offered from the recruiting firm," he adds. The site was created two months ago and is getting 450 to 500 hits per day.

Seven candidates have already found placement with firms like Quark, ICICI and Powersoft, through this site that has over 25,000 resumes posted online. Once the company shortlists the candidates, the candidates are contacted individually to fix their interviews with the client, in case they are interested.

More than 100 skill-sets have been displayed to choose from and a separate box listing experience up to 10 years is in the form of drop-down menu. The home page has a young look. This is to make "the site look livelier," according to Vivek.

Candidates are given codes and their identity is kept secret. "Actually we are attracting our clients through the Web site. We have "shifted" from offline to online that has indeed enlarged our focus area," Vivek claims.