Agricola residents complain of employment stigma

At a job fair hosted at St Anne’s Primary School, Agricola, Greater Georgetown, on Saturday, a number of residents during the formal opening ceremony complained of being discriminated against during job interviews because of the alleged reputation of their village.
A senior representative of businesses in the community, Christopher Rockcliffe, noted that via conversations with youths whom helped with their applications, he learnt the harsh truth.
While admitting that there are rogue citizens living in Agricola, Rockcliffe said, “Agricola has been stigmatised, in some cases I know for a fact that a number of youths have come to me for assistance in helping them to write their applications. A number of them can’t indicate for example that they are from Agricola and a number of them have been unsuccessful on the occasions when they indicated that they are from Agricola”.
The frustrating behaviours being meted out by employers have to be moved passed, he added, suggesting a follow-up check be done by the business owners to verify the person’s background in the community.
He charged that institutions who attended the job fair to give youths in the community who met the requirements a fair chance to be employed.
Organiser of the job fair, Christine Profitt, shared her take on youths of Agricola being turned down because of their address.
She pointed out, “Definitely being a part of Agricola you find that two-headed coin because an Agricola youth was chosen to go and be one of the ambassadors to recommend change for the community and that’s one side of the coin but other youths receive a lot of stigma when trying to find a job. They receive a lot of negativity and they say they do not want a lot of problems in the organisation”.
Meanwhile, a business owner at the job fair related her experience and how she managed to spring out of the negativity.
“I am just a perfect example of (how) in life it doesn’t matter where you come from but look at your circumstances. You have to make a decision to be better and you take that position to reach out,” she explained.
The job fair was hosted by a new organisation dubbed ‘I Can’ on Saturday.
I Can Founder, Christine Profitt explained at the formal opening ceremony, that the ‘I Can’ project was specifically designed to combat negative thoughts that might play in the minds of Agricola youths.
According to her, “The I Can project for Agricola’s youths is to combat a lot of the negative thoughts we tell ourselves and the negativity that we project in to the community… the project is centred around two main goals and that is to provide mentorship, networking opportunities, like this job fair and lastly provide opportunities for those of you that are looking for employment or connectivity within organisations that provide employment”.
Several booths including the Strategic Recruitment Solutions Incorporated, Action Coach and Live Proactive among others were present to provide job solutions for persons in the area.
Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan who attended the event made a donation of a number of books to the community, while encouraging youths to read.
He said he was more than delighted when he heard about the I Can project and expressed that more such projects should be replicated across the country.