THE Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency (CRMA) has embarked on a project that aims to provide information upgrades software development, and technical support services to enhance responsiveness and productivity.

The CRMA is a division of the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security. This agency, formerly known as the Employment Exchange, was established by the Government of Guyana in October 1944 for the purpose of collecting and furnishing information to employers who wish to recruit workers and to persons who are seeking employment. Since that time, the Recruitment and Manpower Division has had its offices strategically located throughout the country.
The service offered by this division caters for both juveniles and adults, and its purpose is to ensure the effective recruitment and placement of unemployed persons by assisting them with suitable employment, and to assist employers in obtaining suitable workers.The agency registers applicants for employment, taking specific note of their occupational qualifications, experiences and desires, interviews them for employment and evaluates, if necessary, their physical and vocational abilities.
Minister of Labour, Dr Nanda Gopaul, during his remarks at his year-end review held at Park Vue Hotel, explained that the CRMA has started on a series of workshops in order to meet the knowledge and information needs and demands to serve potential employers and prospective employees.
He explained that this situation derives from a daily manual operation of its services and the CRMA has sub-units in Regions 2 and 6. The sharing of information was,however, difficult, as persons in the other regions had to visit the main office in Georgetown to have access to the service. So to be able to alleviate any issues that might have stemmed from this current situation, “we at the ministry sat and came up with new ways to make the process effective,” he noted.
Dr Gopaul asserted that the CRMA has had many accomplishments for 2014, with 2,385 persons successfully filling vacancies through the programme. He noted too the development of a software which is currently operational, and is now accessible to persons in all regions that have internet access.
For the better functioning of the CRMA project, the Labour Minister explained, some additional equipment was needed such as computers and accessories to execute the functions of the agency, purchasing of office equipment and networking connectivity devices. One of the most important aspects of the project was the training of staff to use the new software effectively.
The labour ministry, the minister noted, visited the different regions such as Regions 3, 5, 8,9 and 10 to put mechanisms in place to extend the services offered by the CRMA in those administrative regions. With the training of staff to use the new software and the visits to the regions, the team was able to collect and store relevant data, inclusive of job descriptions, positions and specific requirements for available positions to be filled within organisations.
Minister Gopaul noted that the agency has done well even with the challenges that have arisen, but with this said, he noted that in 2015, it is expected that the CRMA would be fully staffed and the division would be able to deliver its services in all the regions.

(By Rebecca Ganesh-Ally)