Improving Job Search Efficiency

India is in the paradoxical situation of both (1) identifying unemployment among the approximately 1 million yearly graduates from technical and vocational colleges as a major problem (National Knowledge Commission, 2009) and (2) employers complaining that they cannot fill positions requiring these same skills (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry FICCI, 2011). A crucial reason for this seems to lie in inefficient labor matching between employers and potential employees, as graduates have poor information about job opportunities, and organized systems for recruiting low and midlevel skilled talent are absent, particularly in emerging industrial clusters (National Skills Development Corporation, 2011). Job Shikari is a new job information platform that aims to fill this void, by matching recent graduates from vocational training institutes (and other skilled and semi-skilled workers) with employers in emerging industrial clusters. Having already aquired a data-base of about 1 million job seekers through institutional arrangements, it is currently in the process of starting its operations. The research team has supported more rapid deployment of the platform; developed of monitoring processes; and performed a rigorous impact assessment study and an in-depth investigation into inefficiencies in the Indian labor market.