Hundreds of jobs for young people at CRMA job fair
Assistant Chief Recruitment and Manpower Officer at the CRMA, Yolanda Grant
Assistant Chief Recruitment and Manpower Officer at the CRMA, Yolanda Grant

….Youths matched with employers, praise event

HUNDREDS of youths on Friday interacted with representatives of companies and agencies here during the Department of Youth, Job Fair, held at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH).

Vincent Cheong

At the Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency (CRMA), scores of young people flocked the unit’s booth to see if they could find a job that best suit their qualifications. “When they (the young people) come here, they provide us with their academic qualifications and we look at the vacancies that we have presently and then we look for persons that match those requirements and refer them to the employers,” Assistant Chief Recruitment and Manpower Officer at the CRMA, Yolanda Grant, explained.

These services offered at the job fair were not much different from those offered generally by the CRMA, which falls under the auspices of the Ministry of Social Protection and has offices in Regions Two, Three, Five, Six and in Georgetown. In fact, according to Grant, the mandate of the agency is to assist persons who are seeking employment by having them register with the agency and then connect them with employers once jobs become available.

When the Guyana Chronicle spoke to Grant at the job fair, she indicated that the body currently had about 420 available job vacancies across governmental and private sector agencies. “We’re looking for positive responses as persons come because all these vacancies have requirements. If persons do not satisfy these requirements, we cannot do anything and we’re hoping that with this turnout we have those persons to fill those vacancies,” she explained.

Vince Cheong was one young man who visited the CRMA and was able to initiate the process of getting a job because his skills matched the requirements of a company listed with the agency. “I got the opportunity to go and get a job now, so I shall be going to do that,” he said. “I will be going to Yokohama to see if they will be able to give me a job to sell motor vehicles.”

Delisa Sagon

Cheong explained that for some time, he had been having difficulties securing a job either because the places he had applied to did not accept his job application or because he didn’t have the requisite qualifications. He, however, explained that the job fair proved to be one that was beneficial to him.

Alongside the CRMA was the Board of Industrial Training, which was not offering jobs, but offered young people the opportunity to receive training so that they could be better qualified to apply for jobs in the future. Monifa (only name given), who is currently a volunteer at the Civil Defense Commission (CDC), shared that she was able to sign up to write English Language and Mathematics at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination, following free classes at the Sophia Training Centre.

“I didn’t expect this turn out [of young people] but this is a great thing in helping people getting jobs and in helping people go back to classes so that they can improve on themselves,” she said. Kimberly Manbodh had registered for the event days ago when she first saw it, as she was eager to get a job. When she turned up for registration at the CASH early Friday morning, she decided to speak with representatives at the Giftland Mall booth.

“I selected Giftland because they offer many part time jobs and I need that because I am a student as well,” she explained.

The representatives there took note of her personal information after interviewing her and indicated that they would contact her for another interview. “I think it was a great initiative organised by the Department of Youth. However, I think that there should have been more entities involved,” Manbodh said. 20-year-old Delisa Sagon was a bit nervous when she first came to the job fair, but left pleased after she too visited the Giftland booth.
Sagon shared that she was told when she spoke to the representatives, that she should apply online for the position of a paralegal assistant. “And I’m one step closer to being successful in getting a job,” she affirmed.

She also opined that the job fair was a good idea since there are a lot of unemployed young people who would be eager to meet employers in this manner. “Next time, I guess, it should be bigger and have more companies on board,” Sagon said. Eighteen-year-old, Malcolm Miggins, also visited Giftland and said: “I came here for a job and I got through at the Giftland booth. I gave them all my information and now I just have to wait for them to give me a call and tell me when I have to come in.” For him, he was happy that the Department of Youth fostered such an event since it gave young people, like himself, the opportunity to seek out jobs instead of “being home idle”.

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