1,500 get jobs at Air Force fair

New Delhi: About 1,500 appointment letters are expected to be issued by various corporate organisations to ex-IAF personnel within the next one month after the “placement fair” held in the capital over the weekend, the IAF announced on Monday.
In fact, such was the extent of interaction that the schedule of interviews conducted by corporate bodies would extend till Tuesday despite the fact that the fair was meant to be just a two-day event on Saturday and Sunday, IAF officials said.
A large number of ex-IAF personnel expected to be offered appointment letters were those who had served in the IAF’s technical branches, IAF officials said.
An estimated 3,000 ex-IAF personnel participated in the placement fair, hoping to be recruited in the corporate sector. “There were more than 20,000 CVs circulated to corporate organisations during the fair,” an IAF official said. An estimated 48 corporate organisations were associated with the fair. ‘According to the IAF, these included ICICI, Kalinga Commercial, Ahmedabad Aviation and Aeronautics Ltd., Godrej and Boyce, Tata Steel, Wipro, Bajaj Capital, Vishal Retail, Bhaskar Power Project, Relcom Group, HCL Infinet and the state-owned Pawan Hans Helicopters.
The ex-IAF personnel participating in the fair included those who had 15 to 20 years experience in Flying, Navigation, Air Traffic Control (ATC), aeronautical engineering, technology management and engineering work experience, education management, finance and logistics management and security. Civil aviation organisations like the state-owned Pawan Hans helicopters are among those who participated in the fair. Pawan Hans is looking to recruit ex-IAF helicopter pilots for its expanding helicopter operations.
The rapidly-growing civil aviation sector is ever on the lookout to recruit pilots and technicians. State-owned carrier Air India had earlier entered into an agreement with the IAF for absorption of pilots.
24/09/07 The Asian Age