The University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore, organized a Job Festival on November 27, 2014 at its main campus in Johar Town, Lahore, under the theme “Igniting Passion”. The Job Festival brought 80 desired recruiters under one roof and witnessed over 6,500 plus job seekers from UMT and other universities exploring job opportunities in their areas of interest.

UMT is educating business leaders of tomorrow whilst creating knowledge that has critical significance for both industry and society. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan recognizes all degree programs offered by UMT, which distinguishes itself with 360 full-time faculty members including 85 PhDs, 14,000 plus alumni and 9000 plus students currently enrolled from 100 districts of Pakistan and 17 countries across the globe. We are very proud of our graduates!

The Office of Career Services (OCS) at UMT was responsible for holding this mega event. OCS is working very hard towards bridging the gap between the educational and corporate sectors.It has already helped hundreds of talented UMT graduates to find the right career path. Already, many companies and employers have been able to hire talented candidates through the efforts of OCS.

The Job Festival was organized in collaboration with Jang Group as a media partner with a vision to empower youth while HBL was the chief sponsor. It has gained remarkable popularity among students, professionals and corporate community in a very short span of time. It also received positive response from the university graduates and alumni who turned up in large numbers.The objective of the Job Festival was to provide an opportunity to job seekers for personal and professional growth through interaction with top corporate organizations while presenting themselves as the best candidates for available vacancies.

It provided students an excellent opportunity to meet top employers of the country with hundreds of jobs opening. On the other hand, it also provided organizations an opportunity to showcase their human resource function, helping them to attract talented, qualified and motivated human resources. This year, in order to provide entrepreneurial orientation to the students and visitors from all over Pakistan, 31 entrepreneurial stalls of different products were also exhibited which attracted large audience. These stalls not only entertained the visitors with delicious food but also inspired students to come up with creative ideas in order to become successful entrepreneurs or join their family businesses.

The Job Festival was inaugurated by Engr. Jawad Saleem Qureshi, Chairman 4B Group, Pakistan, Mr Rehmat Ullah Javed, Chairman SME, LCCI, Mr Imtiaz Ahmad Khan, Credit Head, HBL Lahore, along with Mr Abid H K Shirwani, DG UMT, and Mr Ibrahim Hasan Murad, Director, UMT. They congratulated UMT and OCS for organizing such a mega event that brought various organizations under one roof. They also said, “Such events can be very fruitful for job seekers and result in motivating the youth”. They further added, “This is also an opportunity to create good and effective networking along with a fair chance for organizations to explore right talent and recruit the best”.

Mr Abid H K Shirwani, DG UMT, said, “At UMT we are focused to place our graduates right after their graduation”. He further added, “It's one of the major responsibilities of any prestigious institute to organize such events, where graduates can interact with their desired employers for jobs, internships and volunteer work. Job festivals can put participants on the fast-track to gaining a job, help companies fill vacancies and solve workforce issues in the community”. He added, “Our goal has always been to help graduates in every way we can to achieve their objectives and get them their dream jobs as one of the evidence is this mega Job Festival with the maximum number of vacancies under one roof”.

Mr Farzoq Ahmad Chaudhry, Director OCS, stated that universities in Pakistan are still not working closely with the corporate sector. He also said that bridging this gap is really important not just for placements of students but also to help the corporate sector in many other ways. He added that working closely with the corporate sector will help universities in making their course outline according to the current working practices which will save time and cost of the organizations to train fresh graduates. The trained graduates with better understanding of corporate sector will be enabled to easily adjust in any organization.

Mr Farzoq concluded by saying that we at UMT believe in working very closely with the corporate sector as we believe that if universities only depend on books for learning than they can't prepare students to take their first steps in practical life.

This mega event brought more than 600 jobs to a single platform. This figure and number of opportunities makes this event spectacular and unique one. The Job Festival saved many job seekers from the hassle of going out for interviews and dropping CV’S to different organizations.

The event was sponsored by HBL, Hardees, Hush Puppies, 925 Recruitment, Knorr, Nescafe and Ilm ki Duniya, NorthBay Solutions, MIA Corporation (Pvt.) Ltd., Kohinoor Mills Limited, Bulleh Shah Packaging (Pvt.) Ltd., Brain Telecommunications Limited, PCS Group of Companies, Darussalam Publishers & Distributors, Warid Telecom (Pvt.) Ltd., Together Strategic & Development Consultants, Careaxiom, Allianz EFU Health Insurance Limited, IBEX Global, Access Engineering, Haleeb Foods Limited, Hotel One, NetSol Technologies, Association for Academic Quality (AFAQ), Asian Food Industries (May Fair), Harvest Topworth International, Crescent Bahuman Ltd./Crescent Brands, Confiz Limited, MDS Foods (Hardee's),Cotton Web (Pvt.) Ltd., Ilm ki Dunya, ALM Group of

Participated companies included Avari Hotel International, Ilead Integrated Solutions, Pak-Qatar Family Takaful Ltd., The University of Warwick, Oranet Trainings and Solutions, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, Chughtais Lahore Lab, 925 HR Solutions (Pvt.) Ltd., East West Consultants, AutoSoft Dynamics, Ali Akbar Group, Samsons Group of Companies, Sheffield Hallam University, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Qarshi Industries (Pvt.) Ltd., Workman, Raaziq International (Pvt.) Ltd., British Canadian International Education (BCIE), Mobilink, eWorx/AAJ Technologies, Systems Limited, Etechage, Habib Bank Limited, PEL, TCS (Pvt.) Ltd., US Denim Mills (Pvt.) Ltd., Retail Academy Pakistan, Bayt.com, CognitiveSol, Din Media Group, Azqard9, Servis Sales Corporation, Falcon Education & Consultancy Services (Pvt.) Ltd., Cross Boarders Learning Alliance (Pvt.) Ltd., Master Group of Industries (Pvt.) Ltd., Tameer Microfinance Bank, Burraq Student Consultancy & Immigration Service, Millat Tractors Limited, CCL Pharmaceuticals, PHCF, Institute of Career Development, Alhuda Centre of Islamic Bank, FINCA Microfinance Bank Limited, Queen Mary University of London, Coventry University UK, University of Hartfordshire (UK), Florida Atlantic (USA), Umass Darmouth (USA), Curtin University (Australia), Next Bridge (Pvt.) Ltd. and Sapphire Textile Mills Limited. These companies offered around 600 vacancies to the students. Many candidates were facilitated and interviewed on spot for vacancies in different organizations. After an outstanding success, we believe that this Job Festival brought talented job seekers and employers at a single platform and shared common interest to excel. This indeed, was heartening and also enabled us to achieve our goal of empowering youth. No matter what area of interest you have or what you have specialized in, all type of jobs were offered in Job Fair.

Mr M. Khurram Khan, Head of HE & CSR, Firhaj Footwear (Pvt.) Ltd., Hush Puppies, was the Chief Guest at the closing ceremony. He distributed the shields among the participating organizations and ushers. He also congratulated OCS and UMT for arranging a successful event.

At the end, Mr Aqeel Baloch, Manager Career Services and Industrial Linkages, congratulated and thanked all the sponsors, organizations, UMT faculty, staff members and ushers for making the event successful.

On an important note, it is worth noting that the students commended the services of the University of Management and Technology and OCS. They were of the view that UMT has provided quality education, healthy academic environment and because of this initiative, they have also received career guidance and growth opportunities. The students added that this Job Festival has resulted in quick recruitment process in various organizations. Majority of employers said that HR branding, strong trust and familiarity with Office of Career Services were the major reasons that led them to participate in this Job Festival. Few employers considered it because of the high volume of hires and the huge benefit of networking.

The Job Festival 2014 helped hundreds of job seekers from various universities of Lahore. It proved beneficial for many corporate organizations. We hope that the future gives us the chance to witness more of such amazing and successful events!