When Mohd Firoz heard about Samsung DOST, it didn’t take him much time to decide and apply for the program. The 22-year-old from a village near Mughalsarai in Uttar Pradesh was in search for a job urgently after his father, who knit Banarasi sarees for a living, fell ill.
Samsung DOST (Digital & Offline Skills Training), with its online training and a promise of an on-the-job training (OJT) with stipend, is his ray of hope as he expects to get a full-time job after this in India’s fast growing retail sector.
Firoz is now doing 200 hours of online classroom sessions from his village but will soon move to Varanasi for his OJT.
“I have attended several courses but none led me to a job. With Samsung DOST, I can feel the online classes are already very relevant. The situation at home was talking me towards depression but this training has brought such a change in my life,” says Firoz.
He feels empowered with the new communication tools and sales techniques he’s being taught and is looking forward to his OJT to put it all into practice.
Samsung DOST is India’s biggest skills training program in the electronics sector, which aims to make 50,000 youth job-ready for the electronics retail sector over the next few years. For this Samsung has partnered with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to execute the program through its nationwide skills training centres.
Under the program, youth, who have completed minimum school education – 12th standard – will receive 200 hours of blended classroom and online training, followed by five months of on-the-job training (OJT) at Samsung retail stores, along with a monthly stipend at par with industry standards.
Gargi Das, 20, from Guwahati’s Jatiakahilipara says the B.A. degree she was pursuing in Assam wasn’t enough for her to land a good job in the retail sector as it does not provide any training. Samsung DOST became her gateway to electronics retail, where she will be surrounded by smartphones that she loves.
The online classes, she says, are very interactive and expand our knowledge.
“Samsung DOST is the friend I needed the most in this stage of life as I am beginning my career. I has helped me calm my career related anxieties,” she says.
In Kerala, Muhammad Basith has never felt so positive about anything as he is about Samsung DOST.
“I am a graduate but due to the pandemic there were no jobs around for freshers. Everyone was looking for experience. Samsung DOST came in as a blessing.”
Basith’s father, who is a mechanic, lost his job during the pandemic, and Basith is hopeful the paid Samsung DOST OJT will help him contribute to his family quickly.
The training under Samsung DOST will help youth acquire new competencies and skills needed for jobs in India’s fast growing electronics retail environment.
The participants are being trained at various training centres accredited and approved by NSDC.
The training is in accordance to the National Skill Qualification Framework, which is aligned to industry needs, and includes skill sets such as customer engagement, managing sales counter, handling customer queries, product demonstration & selling skills and several other soft skills, including post-Covid etiquettes, preparing them for a career in electronics retail.
