COIMBATORE: Graduates from different streams including BSc, MSc, BE and MCom were among several hundred candidates at a job interview for the post of sanitary workers organised by the city corporation on Wednesday.
While some candidates are already working in private firms, they said they wanted to try their hand at the corporation's job interview to get placed in a permanent job.
Though many are unaware of the basic pay provided for sanitary workers, a few said they were ready to take up the role of sanitary workers if they were selected.
Apart from the graduates, there were homemakers, construction workers, and even contract workers of the city corporation.
"There is little shame in working as a sanitary worker as everything is a profession," said S Vignesh, a BE Mechanical graduate from Variety Hall Road.
He said he attended the job interview as he wanted to support his family comprising his mother and younger brother.
A Poovizhi Meena, a BCom graduate, was accompanied by her husband S Rahul, who is an MCom graduate. The couple said they could work as sanitary workers if they were selected in the interview.
A number of job applicants were contract sanitary workers with an overall work experience of nine to 15 years. P Eswari, working as a contract sanitary worker for over 15 years, said she wanted to apply for the permanent post since the corporation is organising a job interview after several years.
According to corporation sources, nearly 7,000 candidates have applied for 549 grade-I sanitary worker posts. The candidates must know to read and write Tamil and must have completed at least class X. The monthly pay for the sanitary workers ranges from Rs 15,700 to Rs 50,000.
The interview process that commenced on Wednesday will continue till Friday when officials will verify the certificates of the candidates. The shortlisted applicants will be notified by the corporation.