Kochi: MBA grads, Techies queue up for onion farming job

• Image Credit: Internet

• Nov 1, 2021 | moderator

Kochi: With a dream to begin a decent life in the foreign shores, many youngsters have thronged the Ernakulam Town Hall in Kochi to attend a recruitment seminar for an onion farming job at South Korea organized by Overseas Development and Employment Promotion Consultant (ODEPC) – a state agency.

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Desperate for a job, many MBA grads, Techies have lined up for the job seminar. “I have no prior experience in agriculture. But I am desperate for a job with a decent salary. I am ready to toil abroad for that. I could not apply online for the job as the ODEPC website crashed after many people submitted applications through the site,” said Kiran. The seminar organised to explain the work atmosphere, climate, living conditions and food style in South Korea was held in two sessions — 300 people in the first batch and 500 in the second batch. 

A similar orientation was held in Thiruvananthapuram too, attended by around 600 persons on Wednesday. “This recruitment is for a South Korea government-aided onion farming project. A South Korean agency entrusted ODEPC to conduct recruitment for 100 vacancies. The agency said that they may recruit 1,000 more people in future. We received over 4,000 applications and our website crashed because of the traffic. Though the required qualification was Class 10 pass, we received applications even from youngsters who have completed MTech and MBA,” said Anoop K, managing director of ODEPC. 

The onion farms are located in the Sinan and Muan islands in the southern part of South Korea. The salary promised is $1,500 monthly (around Rs 1,12,500 going by today’s exchange rate). Those selected will work for 28 days a month from 8am to 5pm — 9 hours daily.