LUKE DOUGLAS, Observer writer editorial@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, January 24, 2008

The woman at left climbs over other persons as she tries to get into the Ministry of Labour's job recruitment centre in downtown Kingston yesterday. Photo inset shows some of the thousands who turned up at the centre from dawn yesterday to apply for hotel jobs in the United States. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)

THOUSANDS of job-seekers yesterday crowded the Ministry of Labour's recruiting facility in downtown Kingston to apply for hospitality jobs in the United States, overwhelming staff and forcing organisers to review the interviewing process.

Armed with certificates, passports and recommendations, the prospective workers, mostly women, massed at the recruiting centre from before dawn in an effort to be selected for the programme.

But by midday, with hundreds continuing to squeeze through the facility's doors, it became obvious that the ministry's staff would be unable to process all the persons gathered.
After conferring with advisors, Labour Minister Pearnel Charles announced that further recruiting would be done at four centres - one each in St James, St Mary and Manchester, in addition to Kingston - at a date to be announced.

"Step back, step back, because it can't work," Charles shouted to the throng at the Overseas Employment Centre on East Street. "We going to set up three other centres, so you don't have to waste yu time fi come a town."

However, only few persons budged as they sought to get into the already crowded centre.

Inside, ministry staff worked feverishly to process applicants for the 2,000 hospitality jobs on offer at the employment fair which continues today and ends tomorrow.

But some recruits complained that the selection was open to favouritism.

"I completed a course in housekeeping Level 1 from HEART, plus I have one year's experience working in a hotel, and I was turned down," said a woman who declined to give her name. "As far as I see it, unless you have contacts you nah get through," she added.

The woman claimed that other people with the same experience and certificates as her were selected.

The woman, a 31-year-old mother of two who resides in Rockfort, Kingston said her letter of recommendation from a hotel in Arizona, USA where she worked last year was rejected. "They didn't even look into my passport to verify the information," she said.

A 39-year-old woman from Fort George, St Ann said she slept overnight with relatives in Kingston to be on time for yesterday's job fair. But she said that when she arrived at 5:00 am she was shocked to see the number of people already there. "The line was very long. People were c*u*hing and jumping over the fence," she said.

Charles said, however, that the newspaper advertisement about the recruitment said only persons with detailed resumes, certificates and passport should apply. He said others could be admitted on the discretion of the overseas employers.

The minister said the crowd was an indication of the level of unemployment, especially among women. "We have 2,000 jobs on offer, and we have a crowd of maybe four times that," he said.

Charles said he would be leaving the island today for the US to seek more jobs for Jamaicans.