COGNISANT of the importance of experience in securing a job, the Ministry of Labour (MoL) has reached out to the University of Guyana (UG) to discuss the setting up of an internship programme that will cater to all of the university students in the final year of their studies.

This was announced, on Monday, by Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, as he spoke with reporters on the sideline of an event at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).

“The problem you have for many people who have graduated with distinction and all the other things is that they cannot get a job. Employers continue to make this point, while you have the qualification you don’t have the experience. The best way to ensure this is that in their final year they are engaged, utilising their skills for the job that they will seek futuristically,” the minister said.

Hamilton related that the government is not unaware of the many young Guyanese who often speak about being well qualified but still find it difficult to secure a job.

He believes that an initiative that ensures that students are able to acquire experience while attaining their qualifications could remedy the situation.

“What I did is put before the university a thought that I think can be very useful. I hope that they can understand how useful the thought is so that we don’t have all this despondency that I see on social media, where young people saying that they have double degrees and double diplomas and they can’t get a job. The reason why in most instances they are unable to get the job is because of the lack of experience,” Hamilton posited.

According to minister, his ministry has already begun preliminary conversations with the leadership of the University, and the two sides will work towards establishing a joint committee to pay attention to the issue of apprenticeship or internship for UG students.

“I believe that all students regardless of what discipline they’re studying or graduating in should be exposed in their final year through apprenticeship or internship,” Hamilton said.

The negotiations for the initiative will be handled by the ministry’s Board of Industrial Training (BIT) and the Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency (CRMA).

“Ms. Grant, the Head of CRMA and Mr. Richard Maughn, Head of BIT, they were tasked with talking with the university to see how we can develop the programmes to ensure that this happens. Importantly what must be noted is that the authority to engage and for companies to do apprenticeship programmes is with the Board of Industrial Training,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton also voiced his hopes that private sector businesses will also consider, in some instances, lowering the number of years of experience that they call for, for some positions.