Technical training in SP means guaranteed job
Valor Econômico
The demand of the companies for qualified professionals has guaranteed more jobs and better salaries to those who graduate from the technical and technological courses of the Paula Souza Center, State institution that manages the Technology Colleges (Fatecs) and Technical Schools (Etec) in São Paulo. A follow-up of the Center shows the employability of the courses is increasingly higher. In some, such as Information Technology and Welding, the hires get to 100% of the graduates. As a result of such movement, the salaries rise. The Welding course presents an average remuneration of ten minimum wages, which shows that, in order to get the professionals the companies are offering more. "We have contact with companies and they are desperate for qualified professionals. They seek everyone who graduates here", says Laura Laganá, Managing Director of the Paula Souza Center. She says that, in order to support the courses, the companies have supplied materials and even their labs to the students of the Fatecs and Etecs.
In the series that indicates the ten courses that employ the most are trainings in the area of mechanics, such as Production Processes (97.3%) and Projects (93.0%), of civil engineering, such as Buildings (97.1%), of Information Systems, such as Analysis and Development of Systems (96.8%), Systems Analysis and Information Technologies (95.2%), besides Projects and Maintenance of Hospital Equipment (95.5%), Office Automation and Secretariat (93.8%) and Logistics aimed at transport (91.7%). "Several sectors have been getting modernized so as to become more competitive, and we seek to follow up such changes reformulating the grade sheets and creating new courses, always in partnership with the productive sector", says the Director. She explains that, historically, people graduated from the Fatecs and Etecs get a good position in the work market, but the Center has noticed a growth in the employability in recent years.
The Buildings' course, in civil engineering, taught in the Fatec of the city of São Paulo, is an example of that. In 2002, the first year of the survey of the data, 66.7% of the people who graduated a year from then were hired. In 2006, that percentage rose to 82.4%, and in 2009, it got to 97.1%. Because of that growth, the Center plans on opening the course in other units. "We are glad with such evolution, and, at the same time, concerned, because we have to move every time faster to meet such demand for professionals. The workforce blackout affects many companies", says Laura. To allow its expansion, the Paula Souza Center currently has a R$ 1 billion (US$ 556 million) budget for 2010 compared to R$ 363 million (US$ 166.7 million) in 2006.
The increase in the demand for future graduates also reflects in the salaries. The average salary of those who graduate in this same course civil engineering went from 4.5 minimum wages in 2006 to 6, 2009. "There are two aspects that drive the improvement of the remuneration of those who graduate from our courses. One is that they are rare professionals in the market, and the other is that they are sectors that often pay well", says the director.