How People Find Jobs

How People Find Jobs

Only a small fraction of people get jobs through formal channels like newspaper advertisements or government employment exchanges. The vast majority rely on personal contacts and networks.

Self-employed workers — from plumbers, electricians and carpenters at one end to private tutors, architects and freelance photographers at the other — depend almost entirely on word-of-mouth. Their work itself becomes their advertisement. Mobile phones have made this easier: a plumber can now serve a much wider circle of customers than before.

Factory workers follow a different pattern. In the past, most workers got jobs through contractors or jobbers. In the Kanpur textile mills, these jobbers were called mistris. They were themselves workers, and came from the same regions and communities as the men they recruited. But because they had the owner's backing, they could boss over the workers. At the same time, the mistri also faced community-related pressures from the workers he supervised.

Today, the importance of the jobber has declined. Both management and trade unions now play a role in recruiting their own people. Many workers also expect that they can pass on their jobs to their children.

A common practice in factories is the use of badli workers — substitutes who fill in for regular permanent workers on leave. Many badli workers have actually worked for the same company for years, yet they are not given the same status or security. This is what is called contract work in the organised sector.

Recently, the Government of India launched several schemes — MUDRA, Aatmanirbhar Bharat, and Make in India — to generate employment and self-employment. These aim to support all sections of society, including marginalised groups like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes. They are positive signs for creating economic potential among India's demographic dividend. …