Looking for a job? ‘Vayo’ to Kadavanthra

KOCHI: Getting information about employment opportunities is one of the major hurdles job-seekers face. They have to scan the newspapers or browse employment websites or both. Then they have to pay the registration fee, submit their resumes, wait for the prospective employer to call, attend the interview and wait some more for a confirmation.

“It is a very tedious process,” said Joly Joseph, owner of Tri-star Group. “It prompted me to think of a way to connect candidates with the right employers at zero cost,” he said. Joly said he wanted job-seekers to feel welcome. “I wanted to say ‘Vayo (welcome). We have some jobs and information about prospective employers which we will give you for free’,” said Joly.

This idea led to the launch of ‘Vayo’, a non-profit venture, a few weeks ago.“Since its launch, ‘Vayo’ has successfully helped several job-seekers get jobs without having to pay even a single rupee as registration fee or a percentage of the salary as processing fee,” said Joly.

The set-up is simple. In a building Joly owns adjacent to the Kadavanthra metro station, there is a room where job notices are pinned to the wall. All a person has to do is walk in, scan the notices, find the suitable job listing, jot down the number provided and call the employer, said Joly.“Vayo is like a job exhibition centre, a concept which I think has not been implemented anywhere in the country,” he said.

Don’t lose heart, drop your CV
Joly said in case visiting candidates do not find a suitable job listing, they can drop their CV in the box kept in the room.“Every Tuesday, employers come and scan through the CVs, select the ones they want and get in touch with the candidate directly. There are no middlemen and it is all free,” said Joly. He said he receives information about jobs from his vast friend circle. “Earlier, we used to send queries in a WhatsApp group, seeking candidates for various vacancies in our establishments. However, the information would never leave the group. All these led to the birth of ‘Vayo’,” Joly said.

Just a matter of days
Joly said the situation now is such that employers advertising with ‘Vayo’ call him up within days asking him to take down the notice as they have received a lot of applications. “Everyone is happy,” said Joly. He said over 100 people visit ‘Vayo’ every day. “I don’t earn anything. People may call me mad for using a prime piece of property for a non-profit project,” he said.From the looks of it, he doesn’t mind.