Lakhs of aspiring job seekers in Tamil Nadu may soon be spared the tedium of spending long hours at employment exchange queues with implementation of a 'virtual employment exchange', where they just fill in an application form, upload scanned copies of certificates and wait for employers to contact them.

"Once the portal is launched, no one need visit district employment exchange offices for registration.They can fill the application form which will be hosted on the site and upload scanned copies of their qualification certificates," ELCOT Managing Director Santhosh Babu told PTI.

The portal is expected to be launched in a month.

Candidates who have completed 12th standard exams and those awaiting degree results can register anywhere at any time, he said. .

ELCOT is developing the software and designing the site, which will capture all data, including profiles, scanned copies of certificates and facilitate end users.

Officials said various reports can be generated based on particulars of those registered. Statistics thus collected can be used by the Labour and Employment Department to formulate new policies and strategies in providing employment.

More than 60 lakh profiles of those already registered will be digitised to create a state-wide repository of job seekers.

Of the two application softwares that will be hosted on the site, one will provide registered private sector companies access to this repository.

Since a qualified electrician or carpenter can also register on the site and all data will be organised based on pincodes, the private sector can also use the information to hire people for particular projects, officials said.

They said there would be a sea change in the profile of exchanges themselves, which till now accepted applications only for government and public sector undertakings.

At present,job seekers have to personally visit employment exchanges for registration with relevant records, a tedious exercise as they have to wait for long hours to get it done after commuting from their residences.

Due to huge influx of jobseekers, employment exchanges too have to bear a tremendous burden in discharging their duties.