Employment gateway poised to guide young job seekers

Source: Jordan Times, AmmanAug.迷你倉價錢 30--AMMAN -- Labour Minister Nidal Katamine on Thursday inaugurated the USAID-funded One-Stop-Shop -- Employment Opportunities Gateway.Young job seekers across the Kingdom will soon be able to access comprehensive employment services through the gateway, which will offer career guidance services, workshops, life-skills training, job fairs and entrepreneurship support in one location."This initiative is one of many the ministry has been embarking on to facilitate the recruitment process and offer employers and employees an opportunity to meet directly and match available skills with the requirements of job vacancies," Katamine said at the event, adding that the ministry will expand this new service to its labour directorates over the next four months.The minister explained that the gateway will offer training courses delivered by representatives of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation and the National Company for Employment and Training, in addition to funding for small projects through the Development and Employment Fund's (DEF) on-site lending office.The DEF will have a window for citizens seeking to start small- or medium-sized enterprises, and priority will be given to pioneering ideas that can generate jobs, according to Katamine.He said qualified International Youth Foundation (IYF) personnel will provide the life-skills training, adding that the gateway will also link job seekers with private sector representatives, noting that many unemployed youth are discouraged by the bureaucratic procedures that accompany the recruitment process and end up losing an opportunity to find work."Hopefully, the one-stop-shop will eliminate the long waiting hours at government windows for stamping or filling out documents needed to compl迷你倉te the recruitment process, thus cutting down the period between applying for a job and being appointed," he said.The gateway is expected to encourage more people to sign up on the ministry's job search website, and will work on matching the job seekers' skills with the jobs in demand, Katamine told The Jordan Times in a recent interview, adding that the ministry has allocated staff for this initiative to facilitate unemployed Jordanians' access to the jobs available in the local market.In addition, ministry teams will carry out field surveys to measure skills available among job seekers across the country to compile a detailed database that will be presented to employers in an effort to ensure that young people are employed based on their qualifications.Commending the ministry's efforts, USAID Mission Director Beth Paige said that it had "taken bold measures in tackling employability issues and strengthening and making more efficient the employment services that the ministry offers".IYF Jordan Country Director Rana Turk voiced hope "that the gateway will bring young men and women across the Kingdom one step closer to securing their dream jobs, while creating a sustainable support structure over the long term for unemployed youth."Youth for the Future is a five-year programme of the IYF carried out in partnership with USAID and the government.Working in collaboration with public, private and civil society organisations, it creates an enabling environment for vulnerable youth aged 15 to 24 by improving the quality of services offered to those who have dropped-out of school, are unemployed, or lack opportunity.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Jordan Times (Amman, Jordan) Visit the Jordan Times (Amman, Jordan) at .jordantimes.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存