Karnataka Government designs new AI-based skills portal for jobs

Karnataka has rolled out an AI-powered portal that promises to provide end-to-end services to help aspirants find jobs, a key area ahead of the Assembly polls for the Bommai administration that has also introduced a dedicated employment policy.

The revamped Karnataka Skill Connect Portal, which currently has 7,500 jobs, allows aspirants to undergo a psychometric assessment to help them land better jobs.

Employment has been Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s focus even as Congress is hammering the ruling BJP over the joblessness scenario.

“The previous version of the Skill Connect portal was more like a job portal connecting employers with aspirants. Now, it is a comprehensive platform and first-of-its-kind,” Karnataka Skill Development Corporation managing director Ashwin Gowda told DH.

The revamped portal, which Skill Development Minister C N Ashwath Narayan launched on December 1, has additional features such as mentoring and earn-while-you-learn.

“What we found was that there’s no dearth of jobs. There are plenty of jobs available. But sometimes, candidates reject the offers due to salary issues or employers reject them for being low on communication skills or attitude. Our portal has a psychometric assessment tool that will help candidates identify traits that employers look for. A candidate will get a 7-page comprehensive report,” Gowda explained.

“The AI-powered engine that runs the Skill Connect portal will provide employers with a percentage-based match score for candidates that they can hire,” Gowda said.

Through the portal, the government will offer earn-while-you-learn opportunities in the form of companies looking to hire talent for specific projects. “We are also providing mentorship. We have industry experts available for one-on-one coaching,” Gowda said.

According to the Karnataka Employment Policy, notified in July this year, the state has 2.44 crore registered workers. Three-fourths of them are estimated to be in the unorganised sector.

The government also faces a huge skilling challenge. It is estimated that 2.12 crore persons are in the 16-35 age group and 45% of 2.12 crores youth population is not in the labour force, the policy points out.

“Skilling is a challenge,” Gowda admitted. “What we’re doing is we’re going directly to employers. For example, we’ve held talks with the Peenya Industries Association, which covers 16,000 MSMEs. Such associations will act as aggregators. They will give us their requirement and we will provide candidates,” he said.