JKCS sets benchmark in value addition to future IT grads

The JKCS Internship program designed to groom and mould the best IT talent in the island to suit the corporate sector has been a well acclaimed value creator for IT graduates since its inception.

The program which spans for a period of 12 months is focused on giving solid industry level experience to selected candidates from various universities in the island.

The selection process is primarily based on attitude of the students and their academic results and is ascertained at interviews held at JKCS. The program invariably builds capacity within the local IT industry supporting its progress with a well groomed and skilled workforce to meet the ever increasing demands of the field.

The training mainly focuses on three areas; firstly on technical skills which are targeted to build the students’ self-study capability as well as to be self motivated to complete the training without the traditional classroom approach. Secondly, on soft skills which focus on development of creating a self-sufficient set of individuals who are able to take control of their career and their life from an early stage.

This is geared at developing a set of behaviours that enable a transition from the mindset of a student to a professional, covering areas such as personal effectiveness, goal setting, time management skills, leadership skills and managing life. The third aim of the program, which also is the key focal point, is to give the students a real life experience of working in a software project. This also involves working under extreme pressure which is a key attribute of the industry in general and burn-out which is a common challenge experienced by young professionals. This enables the students to experience this pressure first hand long before the start of their career which is also padded with another year of study.

The program is structured in such a way that the candidates are selected to projects based on how soon they finish their technical assignments, their interests and verticals they like to be employed.  JKCS is creating a competitive environment with constant focus on accumulating knowledge while meeting deadlines which have been set for the time period and the performance is measured against these objectives at regular intervals

Heshan Cooray a student of a leading institute in Colombo, who joined JKCS as an intern in June 2010, expressed his views on the experience gained at JKCS. He stated that “My job role was mainly in the area of Software development and it has to be said that I was able to gain much more than what I normally would through an internship, It was actually delivering a product to a client. The welcoming culture of the company helped me to not only gain first hand professional experience but also helped me network and build many relationships during my term there. It was one splendid unforgettable experience I had in both my career and personal life.”

A key feature adopted by JKCS to minimise the on the job learning time is to provide the material well before the start of the internship, thereby, giving the student more time on actual work, rather than study. This improves the effectiveness of the overall internship program as well as giving the organisation a faster time to productivity. To ensure the level of quality that is required by the project managers, the students are first monitored in a test environment on a stringent basis before the green light is given for absorption to a project.

“The key asset for the industry is Human Capital. Companies need to invest their time and resources to make sure that an adequate number of skilled professionals enter the industry. The internship creates a win-win solution for both the industry and the aspiring professional,” said John Keells Head of HR – IT Sector Niresh Samaranayake.

JKCS’ internship programs not only covers the development of software related talent but is also geared to develop talent in quality assurance, sales and marketing, human resources and finance for the corporate sector. JKCS is proud to have produced top quality talent for the industry for many years thereby living the philosophy upon which the John Keells Group is built on; people.