Hundreds of youths attended a job fair organised by the Department of Youth at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall in Georgetown yesterday to tackle the high unemployment rate among young persons in Guyana.
Approximately 701 persons are said to have registered online during the three-hour period when the fair, dubbed ‘JOBS NOW!,’ was first advertised, with the expectation of catering for 200. Many who hadn’t been through the online registration process were waiting in a long line that stretched from inside of the Sports Hall to the gate.
As a result of the overwhelming response, the Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency was present to register persons for potential job opportunities in the public sector, in addition to assisting those interested in gaining interviews with companies in the private sector.
The fair saw the involvement of several companies, including Courts, Giftland Mall, Demerara Distillers Limited, Master Class Institute, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and Qualfon.
According to Adeti DeJesus, the Senior Research Planning and Development Officer at the Ministry of the Presidency in the Department of Youth, the job fair, which is the first of many to come, is an initiative which seeks to tackle the high rate of unemployment in the country. “The Department recognises the high unemployment of youth and being an entity that caters for youth in the country, we thought it is necessary to have the initiative such as this,” she commented.
DeJesus said that she was pleased with the presence of all the unregistered persons as they are showing an interest in the initiative even though the Department could not guarantee jobs for everyone. “The youths will have to play their part in performing well at the interview and providing the necessary documents required by the company,” she said.
She also mentioned that a number of companies in the private sector were contacted and asked to be involved in the initiative, but the only favourable responses received were from the companies in attendance.
Among those interviewed at the event, a hopeful 20-year-old, Andrew Robertson, applauded the initiative. “I’m thankful for the opportunity provided by the Department cause I been trying to get a job for three years now. Maybe I’ll get one today,” he said.
Another 20-year-old commended the efforts of the government but said the response from the private sector was somewhat of a disappointment. “Is like wah I like or wah I wan become, the companies aren’t here,” he said, shaking his head.
Tiffany Williams, 20, voiced similar thoughts, relating that although the initiative by the Department is “a good one,” there aren’t a lot of options in the private sector. “We only have one chance and I’m sure if more companies were involved, if we don’t get through with one job, we probably can go to another to see if we get through there,” she related.
Although most of the youths will not be successful, according to Subraj Narine, who works in the Youth Empowerment Division in the Department of Youth, the attendees of yesterday’s event will be given priority by the various agencies or companies, should an occasion arise where they would need more employees.
