Scores of recruiters, job seekers applaud first National Job Fair

The Labour Ministry through the Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency (CRMA), on Monday, launched its inaugural National Job Fair at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, under the theme “Improving lives through Employment.”

Speaking at the event, Anita Rampersaud representing the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, commended the ministry’s ingenuity and told the audience that the job fair provides opportunities for job seekers to experience careers in fields that they have never once thought possible.

“I want to commend the ministry for such an initiative because never in our history have there been such a push to bring together opportunities for employment in the private sector… [matching them with] job seekers out there,” she said.

Human Resource Manager, Guyana Shore Base Inc. (GYSBI), Liloutie Cintamani, spoke candidly about why her organisation should be a preferred place of employment for young Guyanese job seekers.

“I would like to say that you have upward mobility within our organisation. Currently we have 645 staff members on board of which 603 are locals… that speaks for itself for jobseekers to come onboard” she expressed.

One of the young job seekers, Kirk Ruther from Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara applauded the effort, noting that he follows the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) on social media.

“What caught my attention was the ad I saw on Facebook, through the BIT page, Guyana will need a strong workforce and I believe that empowering the workforce and getting the message out there could encourage a lot of youths, who may not even know about the opportunities available, to come out…” he said.

Another job seeker, Sonia Clarke shared her positive experience at the inaugural job fair.

“The process was a very easy process, you come in, you do your registration and you have a chance to visit various booths to look for a job that interest you… everybody had important information of what they had to offer, so I was able to seek which job suits my qualifications” she related to DPI.

Meanwhile, Labour Minister, Joseph Hamilton stated that the launching was another manifesto promised being fulfilled that will improve the lives of young Guyanese.

“The launching today speaks of our government commitment to action promised in the PPP/C manifesto 2020 … we committed to establishing a national job bank and labour exchange. We promised to work towards the development of a Guyanese society, which is free, prosperous, socially just, globally competitive, and which serves every Guyanese equitably.”

The labour minister further stressed that the government remains committed to making sure that every citizen is given a chance to a good education so that they can have access to good-paying jobs.

“We promised to deliver equitably education to all to improve access to education at every level. To enhance opportunities in technical and vocational education” the minister said.

The job fair was held from 10:00 hours to 18:00 hours and saw over 290 job seekers registered with CRMA halfway through the day’s event, this is according to the Chief Recruitment and Manpower Officer, Yolanda Grant.

She said the process will capture the data of all the job seekers who registered at Monday’s event and this will be stored in the national job bank and labour exchange for better employment placement, which matches employers with the employees.

The event is augmented by partnerships between the government and employers both in the traditional and non-traditional sectors. 

It is also driven by government policies that envisage a platform that provides opportunities for adequate employment across the country in all sectors of the economy.

The Labour Ministry since 2020 has established sub- offices in every administrative region to better provide service through the Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency and the Board of Industrial Training.