Hundreds of persons turned out yesterday for Giftland OfficeMax’s first day of recruitment to garner staff for its soon-to-be opened mall.
The recruitment drive was held at the mall’s Turkeyen location and began at 9 am, though applicants began turning up well before the exercise began. The applicants were mostly young persons who had the opportunity to be interviewed and hired on the spot for a number of available positions from clerical to managerial.
Surrounded by ongoing construction noise, Giftland’s President Roy Beepat told media operatives that the mall will provide employment for thousands of persons.
“The mall, in total, will generate employment directly for about 1,500 people and indirectly for many thousands,” Beepat said.
Beepat further said that employees will be afforded flexible working hours.
“Because of the hours… the opportunity opens for people to not only shop at their leisure but also for people who, let’s say, have one job and need another job, or for students [who] would like to work half day at university and have a job to supplement their income. A lot of opportunities will be created in terms of flexible hours,” he said.
Indeed, some of the applicants who spoke with this newspaper shared that they were already employed.
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A good initiative in terms of giving young people a chance to get a good job,” one young woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said. She went on, “I do think it’s a good effort on Giftland’s part. The process is a little long but if you want something you got to wait on it.” She stated that she made an open application. Hence, wherever her qualifications fit in, she will be placed.
“I think it’ll help a lot of young folks because as we can see, a lot of the applicants are young,” another woman said. She applied for a clerical position and said that she was a trained customer service representative.
Meanwhile, freshly-hired staff will have two months to prepare for their new jobs with the mall’s impending opening in November.
According to Beepat, the mall is a 10-acre development that will change the way Guyanese shop. The establishment will be opened everyday with some areas such as the cinemas and video arcades remaining open until 1 am.
Electricity, he went on, will not be an issue because of the installment of a 5.75 megawatts power plant. “When Giftland plans, we plan well,” Beepat said. He continued, “Our power plant can run the whole East Coast; over 6,000 houses can be fed from the power plant we’re putting here… and if something happens to one engine, another one pops up.”
Beepat also promised that the establishment will be fully-equipped to satisfy the needs of all its patrons and will also be wheelchair accessible. Businesses, he added, will include Western Union, Fedex and Bill Express. Visitors to the mall will also be privy to pubs, sports bars and beauty salons with a planned supermarket for next year. These businesses, Beepat said, will be available in phases.
Due to the mall’s location, taxi stands and a bus terminal will be available. Beepat believes that these will provide further employment in the thousands.
“As you can imagine, the bus terminal – which will have washroom facilities, locker facilities and everything – will create its own employment,” he said.
For those interesting in filling one of the 1,500 available positions, the recruitment drive will continue today from 9 am to 3 pm and tomorrow from 10 am to 3 pm.
