For Lakshamini Paripuranam (20), life is about to take an exciting new turn, a turn she didn't think of three months ago. She completed her Advanced Level examination a year ago with high hopes of becoming a doctor, but unfortunately didn't qualify to go to Medical College. That's when an advertisement in a local newspaper in Jaffna caught her eye.
She responded to it with some doubts but today that decision has changed her future. The girl who wanted to be a doctor, is today talking about becoming a high ranking banker with sparkling eyes.
Soft spoken, with a ready smile, Lakshamini talks about how lucky she was to get a job in one of the leading commercial banks in the country. "Normally it is difficult for us to get a job like this without having any good 'connections'. In Jaffna many get into jobs through relatives and friends. But when we came here we were assessed separately and it was a novel experience," she says.
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Lahiru |
Pradeep |
Twenty-seven young men and women from Jaffna have been recruited by the Sampath Bank for their branch in Jaffna and were brought to Colombo for a one month training programme.
Coming to Colombo and going through the bank's orientation programme has been exciting, with all the activities planned for them.
In addition to Toastmaster programmes to boost their confidence, Superintendent of Police, Champika Siriwardane, briefed them on the security status in Colombo and Nayana Karunaratne of Salon Nayana took the candidates through a course on personal grooming. They were taken sightseeing as many of them had not travelled further than Colombo, and they also visited many of the bank's branches as well as high-end operations.
Interacting with the Sampath Bank staff, Pradeep Francis Xavier says that he found all of them very friendly. "I had visited Colombo once in 2002 after my A/L but I was not able to interact with anyone at a close level. When I came for the training programme I realised how friendly people were. It is a refreshing experience," he says.
Fascinated by the modern technology the bank uses, he is very excited about the idea of working in the bank and taking it to his home town.
The bank had assigned mentors referred to as 'buddies', to each one of them to advise and guide them when the need arose. It also gave room for new friendships to bloom. "I found all of them very easy to work with and it was a great experience to share each other's culture and experiences," said Lahiru Thanushka.
Speaking about the total 'home grown solution', Neil Bogahalande, Assistant General Manager- Human Resources of Sampath Bank, says that the bank wanted to have people from Jaffna to man the Jaffna branch to create opportunities for Jaffna youth.
"We could have easily assigned existing employees who are from Jaffna to handle the branch but for us this was beyond another business venture. We wanted to take a message to the Jaffna people as well. So we advertised only in the Jaffna papers for the vacancies and got 2000 responses out of whom we have selected the 27 candidates who are here," he said.
Bogahalande said that he hoped this would help take a goodwill message from south to the north and strengthen the bonds between them. |
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