The Ministry of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status organised its fifth ‘My First Job Fair’ yesterday at ICCS in Victoria.

The ‘My First Job’ programme was launched in 2016 with the aim of helping young graduates from the professional centres to secure employment, as soon as they exit their respective schools, as well as to assist those who wish to venture into entrepreneurship.

To date over 2084 graduates have secured employment, of whom 39 have made remarkable progress in their career paths and have been promoted to occupy higher positions in their respective organisations.

As is usually the case, over 44 organisations needing manpower had submitted their lists of jobs so that the freshly graduated from post-secondary schools could have a look at the options available to them.

The fair had the participation of companies such as the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority, Kempinski Hotel, Le Relax Hotel Ascent projects, Absa limited, the judiciary and many more.

“This fair is mainly for students who have completed their studies at post-secondary level, it serves as an opportunity for them to browse different organisations that are looking for young employees,” said Letimie Dookley, director general of employment and promotion at the Ministry of Employment.

Ms Dookley added that once these graduates are employed, the ministry does a follow up for one year to monitor their progress in the work place.

“The government has provided a 40% incentive on each student’s salary for the one year under the scheme,” said Ms Dookley.

In 2019 alone, the ministry registered six hundred and sixty-five students under the employment scheme.

Stephanie Rigodon, the human resource officer for Allied Builders and Le Relax hotels, noted that Allied Builders has thirty five vacancies for various sections while Le Relax has four vacancies.

“We are advertising our positions for new graduates; however, if there are skilled workers interested we will very much welcome them,” said Ms Rigodon.

She noted that one challenge they face with graduates most of the time is their lack of interest for the job itself. However the HR officer remarked that they do have some motivated workers that they hired at past fairs still with the company.

Ascent Projects, which was being represented by Caraline Ruchends, noted that the company has vacancies in four companies that fall under Ascent Projects.

“In the past, we took a few students, however most of them don’t stay long either to pursue another career or further education,” said Ms Ruchends.

She noted that one challenge they have is the lack of commitment as they don’t complete their training.

Companies were not the only ones recruiting at the fair as the University of Seychelles were also there to display their courses on offer for undergraduate programme.

“We participate every year to showcase our training courses that we offer at the university,” Monica Françoise, the marketing executive for UniSey, said.

The Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) was one of the dedicated companies that has been participating in the fair for years.

Paul Quatre, the SCAA recruitment officer, said that the goal of the company is to hire as many Seychellois workers as they can.

“Usually we don’t target a lot of students as we have certain criteria we are looking for and most students don’t like to work shifts,” noted Mr Quatre.

He also echoed some of the same challenges that the other companies face in terms of graduates only wanting a career and not a job.

Nineteen-year-old SBSA graduate Ashley Bastienne said she came to the fair with the aim of finding a job as soon as possible and she was satisfied as there were many vacancies for her to choose from.

She noted that this fair is a good initiative as choosing a first job can be intimidating and this process makes it so much easier.

Since the scheme’s inception, the government has spent R10 million on it so far.

The accompanying photos by our photographer Jude Morel show some highlights of the fair.

Christophe Zialor