Social Protection Ministry, SOCDA host employment guidance workshop
The Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency of the Social Protection Ministry in collaboration with Sophia Community Development Association (SOCDA) Sophia Night School on Saturday hosted a one-day training entitled “Preparedness for the World of Work” which is geared at enhancing the participants’ qualifications for employment.
The programme, which was held at the Sophia Training Centre, saw an acceptable number of participants, both young and old, who are employed as well as unemployed. The programme specifically targeted those students who are about to sit the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations in June together with those persons who are seeking employment.
Some of the participants and trainers at the employment guidance workshop
Assistant Chief Recruitment and Manpower Officer, Yolanda Grant in brief remarks stated that her agency’s task is to assist persons in being employed but this is often challenged by the majority of job-seekers not being academically and professionally qualified.
“Our task at the recruitment agency is to assist persons seeking jobs that they are fully employed but one of the challenges faced is that you find persons who do not have the required skills and academic qualifications that is required for the job,” she stated.
Grant noted that in order to remove this barrier, the Manpower Agency has undertaken the initiative to have trained facilitators teach persons various work-related topics and techniques such as labour laws, occupational safety and health laws, interview techniques and workplace ethics.
“We sought avenues to assist these persons and we were able to engage SOCDA, partnering with us so we can refer persons to enhance on their qualifications so they can be employed, another thing that we’re seeing every day is that persons have a good resume but when they get to that interview that’s where they fail, they’re not able to sell themselves, they are not able to conduct themselves…our mandate is to ensure that persons seeking employment are suitably employed and so far we have been doing a great job”, she underscored.
Participants were engaged in a number of practical activities as well as being educated on the awareness of human trafficking, a prevalent issue which is negatively impacting Guyana’s population after many cases have been recorded in 2018.
