PROVE (Professional Registry Of Verified Employees) is a new online, labor oriented service promoted by National Organization for Software and Technology Professionals (NOSTOPS). Launched with an aim to help fill in the gap in information that the Indian Knowledge worker heading abroad faces when it comes to knowing their Rights, PROVE will help them make an informed decision without the intervention of a broker agent in the rapidly changing knowledge economy.
Rajiv Dabhadkar, a veteran of 25+ years in education & technology sectors, of which 12 have been in the United States, has been a proponent of migration for over a decade. He has actively moved forward the debate on Indo-American work-visa related migration policies by advocating workers’ rights & championing Indian guest worker issues via many media initiatives since 2004.
“We have started PROVE to position ourselves as a disruptive accelerator in the space by giving direct opportunities to Indian Knowledge workers from Companies/Employers round the globe. Our stated aim is to facilitate the issues of the Indian knowledge workers, to communicate issues that hurt & to drive legislative reforms around the issue most common. In the process, we will bridge the information gap and enhance cooperation between India and the respective country of employment,” says Rajiv passionately.
As a part of the public outreach function of his organization, "The National Organization for Software and Technology Professionals" (NOSTOPS), Rajiv’s research work has been cited by the UK Border Agency as well as the US Homeland Security. He has been interviewed in over 300 articles in the American, German, Australian as well as the Indian media & is the author of "American Work Permit - Official Rules & Regulations of American Work Visa" and “Green Carrot - America’s Work Visa Crisis”. A UN Karam Veer Chakra awardee for Social Justice in 2014, he has testified against the work visa program abuse leading to the drafting of the 'Visa Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007' aimed to prevent visa misuse and document fraud in the immigration process.
Setting up of PROVE comes as a logical next step for Rajiv & NOSTOPS. Speaking of the need & positioning, Rajiv cites, “whether it is a job seeker that needs to verify an employment offer made by a foreign employer or the recruiter overseas that questions job seekers professional experience in India, the continued challenge lies in allowing the best match to happen between two sides that are saturated with fraud. How best can Equal Employment Opportunity be restored while keeping open the doors to immigration? Keeping stride with the economic benefits caused by labor displacement in a fast paced global economy and minimizing exposure to fraud lies at the root of the debate on labor mobility. The answer therefore lies in creating an open transparent system where workers are sought by employers globally, against them being pushed by greedy corporates from India.”
The original intent of the Open Registry was to simply vet the work history and provide psychometric assessment reports available on the platform. However, the response from the knowledge worker community has been overwhelming, generating large signups.
As a result, there is an ongoing effort to make new features and employer databases available for the premium members to self-promote their candidature. Building new features, optimizing member as well as employer/ recruiter databases, and upgrading services / web server infrastructure are an ongoing process.
PROVE also offers a decentralized database of country specific foreign employers/recruiters, being curated and put up online as part of the user engagement efforts. The Primary focus of PROVE is to position itself as an accelerator, which eventually evolves into an ecosystem where International employers directly handshake with Indian Talent!
With 50% of the population below 25 years of age & 65% below 35, India’s demographic dividend in unquestionable. The key to effective utilization of this dividend globally lies in organizing this unorganized sector, and PROVE aims to do exactly this! While this disruptive initiative is a surefire win-win for all the stakeholders - the prospective employee, the foreign employer, and the governments - it is the portal’s ability & speed to upscale at a national & global level that will make it an effective game-changer in the space!