The SLASSCOM HR Forum, comprising of leading HR professionals of the IT/BPM industry, who is passionate about building a progressive national workforce that is armed with the requisite skills to meet the future needs of the industry, recently signed an MOU with the STEMUP Educational Foundation, to collaborate with it’s Internship Portal, “CareerLink”, that is currently one of the largest of it’s kind, connecting students with employers both locally and globally.
The MOU was officially signed by Sandra De Zoysa, Chairperson-SLASSCOM and Shameera Prajapriya, Director-STEMUP. Shehani Seneviratne, Director–SLASSCOM , Sampath Jayasundara, Director – SLASSCOM, Prabhath Mannapperuma, Director – STEMUP, Chaminda de Silva, Executive Director – SLASSCOM, Sharon Kern, Co-Head – HR Forum, SLASSCOM and Dilini Peiris, HR Forum Manager – SLASSCOM also attended this virtual event.
The key intention of this partnership was to create a space for freshers and skilled professionals in the IT / BPM sector to connect and gain knowledge via mentorships, while also allowing the freshers to easily locate and apply for internship opportunities within organizations in the sector.
“Participating in internships can be a great way to get a taste of the actual professional experience in a particular field. Besides creating a relationship with a potential employer and enhancing a resume, internships have other advantages, such as the opportunity to learn important soft skills that are essential for success in the workplace,” explained Shehani Seneviratne Director SLASSCOM, adding that with physical internships having become a challenge during the pandemic, both SLASSCOM and STEMUP were keen to work together to help increase the number of online internship opportunities through the platform.
Endorsing these views, Chairperson of SLASSCOM Sandra De Zoysa, said “we are happy to formalize this relationship and build stronger collaborations to help produce the requisite talent that will benefit the industry. Having a sustainable IT/BPM industry that facilitates the export revenue much needed by the country at present is an important factor today, along with putting a stop to the brain drain that is happening at present. This can be achieved by providing lucrative employment opportunities to the youth in their own country. I am confident that through our collaboration we can help make this win happen and produce a prosperous IT/ BPM industry for our country.”
Thanking SLASSCOM for initiating the partnership, Shameera Prajapriya, Director-STEMUP stated “we want to support our next generation to step successfully into the IT/BPM industry, that is an industry of the future. We intend to offer the maximum benefits to graduates and students through this portal, so that they will gain the entire spectrum of soft skills and hands-on experience that will make them valuable assets to any employer”.
With intense competition and an increased emphasis on innovation as the key to economic and technological leadership, has made talent and its availability, quality and use, a primary differentiator for the success of companies in Sri Lanka. This means that internships of this nature can help feed the talent pipeline for many businesses who are in need of quality recruits at this time.
As such, both SLASSCOM and STEMUP intend to deliver value to both students and employers, by collaborating their collective expertise to direct this platform towards building a highly competent talent pool of young individuals to support the country’s businesses, which in turn will have a positive impact on the country’s economy