THE Ministry of Social Protection’s Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency (CRMA) is working to secure finances to help students at the Sophia Night School pay for some of their subjects.

During the first quarter of this year CRMA has collaborated with the Sophia Night School to assist persons in rewriting or writing Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination. Chief Recruitment and Manpower Officer, CRMA, Valerie Moore, explained that this move came along since most workplaces, including government agencies, require CSEC for employment. She noted that the tutoring at the school is free but persons would have to pay for the subjects.

“We are trying to see if we can ask the ministry to help those who are doing well at the school but really can’t afford to pay for their subjects. So the plan is at least try to pay for two or three of their subjects to ease their burden. That is going to be our next move, once we have evaluated the situation and once that is needed we will approach the ministry in that regard,” Moore explained.

Meanwhile, CRMA has successfully trained and prepared 66 persons for job interviews through its World of Work programme, during the first quarter. The World of Work programme was initiated to prepare persons for the world of work, following feedback from employers.

Moore related that very often some employers would indicate that many of the persons who were referred, lacked the basic interviewing skills which make them unsuccessful during the interviews.

“We send them [employers] referral slips for them to let us know who are unsuccessful and why. The feedback we get is that their attitudes towards the interview is off, their punctuality is poor etc. So we took the initiative to get all the registrants from each region, bring them here and carry out a work-readiness programme where they learn about work ethics, resumé writing, format of some interview questions and how to respond to those questions,” Moore explained.

During the first quarter, the programme was executed in Regions Three, Four and Five and will soon be rolled out in Regions Two, Ten and Six. Moore said persons who have participated in the programme are usually successful in their interviews.

The CRMA continues to battle with securing vacancies from the Public Service Commission (PSC). The Chief Recruitment and Manpower Officer highlighted that for the past couple of years, employment was shifted from the Ministry’s human resources department to contracts, then to the PSC.

This, Moore says, slows down employment status as well as impacts the department’s performance since the department will not always know if all the referred persons successfully gained employment.

Despite this setback the department will continue its work programme and strive to employ as many persons as possible, Moore affirmed.

CRMA collects and furnishes information to employers who wish to recruit workers and persons who are seeking employment.