Safejob’s virtual group discussion competition ‘The GRID’ emphasizes up-skilling in current times

With registration of over 3,000 students from colleges across the country, this first of a kind virtual competition focused on up-skilling young grads for professional life.

Mumbai, July 29, 2020: One of India’s premier online job readiness and placement platform Safejob organized India’s first virtual group discussion championship – The Great Indian Discussion or The GRID. The competition witnessed the registration of 3,500 students from more then 70 cities in the country, covering 500 colleges including top-notch institutions such as Delhi University, Galgotias University, Lovely Professional University, ITM University, etc. In a battle of wits, to decide who gets to be the finest communicator and problem solver, Safejob has tied up with well renowned corporate firms and leading industry giants such as Safexpress, Delhivery, British Telecom, Cremica, Muthoot Finance, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, TVS Supply Chain Ltd. India among several others, to organize a virtual competition unlike any other.

Discussions and debates have been a longstanding tradition in India and the group discussion format fits right into the role of shaping individuals and preparing them for life. Employers often seek critical thinking and analytical abilities in an individual when providing jobs, and getting better at group discussions allows ambitious students to hone the necessary skills. Through such championships, Safejob aspires to provide young Indians from every nook and corner of the country a platform to develop skillsets, prepare them for professional careers and corporate jobs, especially in crisis times such as now. Online learning is transforming lives and providing accessibility to the next billion and Safejob wishes to play an important role in facilitating this change in rural India as well.

Speaking of his experience participating in the GRID, a young and passionate Dileep Reddy who hails from rural Andhra Pradesh said “The lockdown has affected my life deeply and participating in The GRID got me excited about the learning opportunities during this time. It has been very useful and knowledgeable, giving me a perspective on how to improve my communication skills, which could help me with my ambition of becoming an entrepreneur”.

Through the GRID, college students such as Dileep got the opportunity to engage in group discussions, making up for the lost time owing to the lockdown, while appreciating its nuances and importance of their careers. Malathi Ganesan who hails from a rural area near Trichy, Tamil Nadu said “I participated in The GRID with the intention of learning new things from people across the country. The internet is giving new opportunities such as The GRID to students like me, to learn even amidst limited resources and failures, allowing us to work towards our careers with confidence”.

The 4-stage competition saw intense discussions on a plethora of issues, with participants scrambling together all the energy they could muster to get through the preliminary round, zonal round, the semi-final and the final. A conscious attempt was made to hold a group discussions on topics relevant to everyday developments, in a bid to extract fresh ideas from the participants to assess their abilities. Some of discussions included topics like Aatmanirbhar Bharat Scheme, Causes of depression and how one can avoid it?, Facebook & Jio Deal- Good or Bad?, Surviving to Thriving- Post-COVID-19 India,  Role of Social Media in Indian Politics, Higher Education or Skill Acquisition- Which is a better driver in India’s growth? Etc. From the 177 competitors in the first round until the final 4, 65 group discussions were conducted, with all those who made it to the prelims being rewarded for their efforts, as an appreciation of their achievement during the current health crisis. These include a Live Masterclass on job preparedness with a focus on interview preparation, mentorship on building resumes and presentation of one’s profile, interviews scheduled through the Safejob network, internships for industry experience and lastly, prize money for the winners and the runners up of the final.

This pan-India intellectual extravaganza’s grand finale was organized on the 4^th of July with an impressive and direct online engagement of more than 170,000 users in total for its videos. The topic set for the final discussion was ‘Disability & Inclusions’ and it was moderated by eminent disability rights activist and motivational speaker, Virali Modi who was instrumental in planting the seeds of change in the Indian Railways vis-à-vis advocating for better accessibility for physically disabled people at our railway stations. The lively discussion’s winner was DAV College’s Priyanka Pathak, while the 1^st and 2^nd runners up were Lovely Professional University’s Urvi Kathuria and IAMR College’s Shivam Goyal respectively. On the 9^th of July, the three finalists were felicitated through cash prizes of INR 30,000, INR 20,000, and INR 10,000 in the order of their performance. However, the biggest takeaway will be the glory of their achievement, their learning experiences throughout the competition and the chance to land interviews and internships through the Safejob team’s mentorship and assistance.