Kishore Pallapothu won the ASA Elevate Award in the year 2019 for his “Invest In Yourself” program.
The ASA or the American Staffing Association’s Elevate Awards are a professional recognition programme meant specifically for its members. It celebrates companies that come up with innovative learning programs to effectively train, reskill and upskill temporary as well as contract employees. By availing of these programs such employees, become eligible for better career prospects and higher pay thereby effectively addressing the problem of a shortage of skilled employees.
The ASA Elevate Awards are conferred upon different companies who qualify for 4 different award classes. Member staffing companies have to fill up online forms and apply for the same along with supporting digital or print materials as proof of their work. To be eligible for these awards the staffing company has to:
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Be a member of ASA
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Have developed and managed a skills development program
The career development program should have clearly defined initiatives and goals. The programs don't need to be launched in the current year. They can also be successful long-term programs.
Kishore Pallapothu was an apt candidate for the ASA Elevate Awards. This is because while most people live for themselves and their families, this person lives for other people. He uses his education, skills and business networks to enrich the lives of others so that they can taste success in their careers. Today Kishore is known as much for his technical skills as he is for his philanthropy and his kindness towards humanity.
Kishore is a believer, a positive and progressive person who believes that every person has inherent talent. People with money exploit this talent while for those with financial constraints this talent remains unexploited forever. Kishore, with the help of his career development program, “Invest In Yourself’, helps people of the low-income group to enhance their IT skills making them eligible for high-paying jobs. By giving them the opportunity that they lacked due to the unavailability of financial resources, Kishore Pallapothu helps them improve their standard of living and makes them look forward to a better tomorrow.
This resulted in the formation of a non-profit organisation SkillWiki. Being a tech-guru made him understand that people working in the low-income group for IT companies are the ones who have real talent and the hunger to succeed in life. By providing the necessary skills to these people, he addressed both issues of:
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The prevalent talent shortage in the IT sector
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Empowering low-income IT workers with the required skills to climb up the ladder and achieve career prospects that they dared not dream about till now.
Some of the outstanding projects that Kishore Pallapothu has facilitated under the aegis of SkillWiki are:
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Talent identification of IT workers and training them in advanced IT technologies
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Connecting these low-income IT workers with top-tiered IT companies to get gainful employment
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Encouraging the children of West valley families to enter the IT field and sponsoring their education
Kishore’s need to give back to society and the zeal with which he carries out this mission is commendable. He is truly a trailblazer who deserves to be recognised.
