Common Job Test: An Entrance Exam to Premier Entry Level Jobs
It’s no secret that unemployment rates both in India and across the world are booming and are showing no signs of backing down. Buoyed by a steady population growth, unemployment looks like it will become a major problem for India to counter in the not so distant future.Prashant Pitti, the co-founder of Common Job Test (CJT), looks to tackle the problem. Because 50 lakh Indian students graduate every year, not all of them would make the cut and find jobs. Purely talking numbers, he says, “In India, every year 4-6 Lakh people pursue MBA. Upon graduation, MBA students would look at a minimum salary of 3-5 Lakhs per annum, as they would have taken loans of 5-10 Lakhs to enroll themselves for the degree. But in terms of statistics and realities, a recent survey concerning 5565 MBAs shows an avg. earning of 1.9 Lakhs yearly.”
Funded by the Spice Group, this was precisely the reason behind the inception of CJT a year and a half ago. Plainly speaking, CJT is nothing but a competitive exam. It comprises of a written-test and a personal-interview (which is also recorded) to rate candidates on communication, problem-solving, personality and presentability. “CJT is a premium gateway to gain access to 3-5 Lakhs per annum jobs,” adds Prashant.
The exam is conducted every month in which no less than 3000 students take part, of which less than 100 qualify & become CJTians. The candidates can either have a graduate degree in B.Com, BBA, B.Sc, B.Tech or MBA. The candidates who make the cut are then inducted into jobs which mainly concern the sectors of finance, marketing, H.R or Information Technology. “The March'12 batch of CJTians landed premier jobs with Godrej, Yes Bank, Idea Cellular & others companies offering good remuneration,” says Prashant.
The one’s who do not qualify are given good feedback and also a video to see how they fared in the interview along with the reasons for failure. These candidates are allowed to apply again after 2 months. Also, the advantage for companies is that they get to interview candidates who already have gone through a strict filtering process.
Currently, the 15 member strong team is led by Prashant and co-founder Govind Wakhlu, who have both worked abroad at HSBC and AT&T respectively. They made the switch looking at education and employment in India as a potential sector and the rest, as they say, is history.
CJT has tie-ups with more than 250 companies and Prashant also adds that there are no tie-ups with colleges. Also, their revenue model is a really straight forward one. The income is from candidates who pay Rs.999 to register for the test. The marketing model is helped by social media and with nearly 100 candidates registering every day, the demand for CJT seems to be ever increasing.
The vision for the future seems well laid out. By the end of the year, the plan is to have the exam across ten Indian cities. “In five years, we plan to venture into 100 cities all over India. We want every candidate who graduates to give the CJT,” says Prashant, signing off.
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