foundit (formerly Monster APAC & ME), a leading talent platform offering comprehensive employment solutions to recruiters and job seekers across APAC & ME, has joined hands with Microsoft to bring back the second edition of Aspire, a virtual career fair for freshers and young professionals with 0 to 2 years of work experience. The online fair will be held from May 31st to June 2nd, 2023, with participation from over 30 hiring organisations. With over 70 million candidate profiles available, this exclusive event gives recruiters from several industries access to a sizable talent pool while offering job seekers the opportunity to interact with industry experts and connect with potential employers, according to an official statement.
With the aim to create a collective of Microsoft-certified and skilled talent in India, foundit and Microsoft continue their collaboration to bridge the gap between qualified candidates and the most sought-after recruiters in the country. The partnership alliance is a testament to the success of the first edition of Aspire, launched by foundit in 2021. Over 140,000 people attended the first edition of the fair. It featured active participation from more than 18 prominent hiring companies, mainly IT, BFSI, Ed-Tech, Consulting, Advertising & Market Research, and Healthcare sectors.
Speaking on the partnership, the Chief Executive Officer of foundit, Sekhar Garisa said:
We are delighted to announce our collaboration with Microsoft to launch Aspire. The Indian job market is expanding rapidly, with a projected need for 100 million new jobs by 2025, as per industry reports. However, the limited supply of skilled talent has led to a demand-supply mismatch, posing a significant challenge for the industry. Our joint endeavour with Microsoft is designed to help address this talent gap by creating a pool of Microsoft Cloud-skilled and certified professionals and bridging the recruiter-employer connection. Our dynamic platform, Aspire, is an ideal conduit for meaningful interactions between job seekers and recruiters. It keeps job seekers updated on the latest job openings and skill requirements and facilitates valuable connections with potential employers across industries.
Jean-Philippe Courtois, Executive Vice President and President, National Transformation Partnerships, Microsoft, on May 31st, 2023, would launch the career fair. A panel discussion on ‘Connecting Skills to Employability’, discussing the importance of skilling for employability, will feature leaders from foundit, Microsoft, NASSCOM, and TCS. The second edition of Aspire will cater to recruiters who want to hire freshers and young professionals at the initial stage of their careers, offering them access to potential tech and non-tech candidates. They can quickly identify and select Microsoft-certified candidates through quick screening and shortlisting criteria. The fair also provides significant opportunities for job seekers.
Indrani Choudhury, Chief Learning Officer, Microsoft India, commented:
Microsoft certifications set candidates apart, showcasing their validated skills, ability, and commitment to embracing new technologies. Studies have shown 91% of hiring managers use certifications as a criterion when evaluating candidates. Our continued collaboration with foundit builds on these opportunities by providing a comprehensive talent discovery platform and career advancement platform.
foundit has also collaborated with Microsoft for the Future Ready Talent (FRT), a virtual internship program where college students across diverse backgrounds can upskill themselves on Microsoft Cloud, create projects, and get them validated. This program is also affiliated with organisations such as All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), FutureSkills Prime-a NASSCOM and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) digital skilling initiative, Ernst & Young (EY), and GitHub.
Through Future Reade Talent, recruiters can access rich information about each candidate, such as Project details, Project links, demos, GitHub profiles, LinkedIn profiles, and much more, making for a seamless recruitment process. Recruiters at Aspire 2023 would be exposed to the candidate pool of Future Ready Talent interns and Microsoft-certified learners for Azure, Microsoft Dynamics, and Power platform job openings.
foundit is committed to enabling and connecting the right talent with the right opportunities by harnessing the power of deep tech to sharpen hyper-personalised job searches and precision hiring. The startup strongly believes that a job title does not define one’s potential and leverages technology to dig deeper to curate opportunities central to the needs and aspirations of each user. Since its inception, foundit has been assisting over 70 million registered users to find jobs, upskill, and connect with the right opportunities across 18 countries. Over the last two decades, the company has been a catalyst in recruitment solutions with advanced technology, seeking to efficiently bridge the talent gap across industry verticals, experience levels, and geographies.
