Air Force staff can now look forward to a career after retirement

Indian Air Force (IAF) employees need no longer despair about life after retirement. When one career ends, another will take off.

The IAF’s placement cell is organising a career fair for its former employees as well as those on the verge of completing their period of service to help them beat the post-retirement blues.

The two-day fair, to be held at the IAF’s Barrackpore base from May 17, is the first one to be organised in Calcutta for retired and retiring employees of the force. “The IAF has opened a placement cell in Barrackpore and our officers are contacting private airlines and other companies to attend the fair and recruit our personnel,” the defence ministry’s Calcutta-based spokesman, Group Capt R.K. Das, said.

Stalls will be set up for the participating companies and separate enclosures provided for interviews and group discussions.

Every year, hundreds of multi-skilled personnel retire from the army, air force and navy at an age — 35 to 54 — when their counterparts in other fields are at the peak of their careers. Those who leave the IAF invariably have between 15 and 20 years of experience in air traffic controlling, aeronautical engineering, flying, navigation, finance and logistics management and security.

Sourav Biswas, a radio technician due to retire next year, is delighted that the IAF is helping retired personnel carve out other careers. “The private sector is becoming increasingly competitive and it is difficult for us to get jobs. Such job fairs for ex-servicemen will really help,” he said.

Sources said over 8,000 former IAF employees from Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, the northeastern states and the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh had already applied for registration.