11,000 Jordanians apply for jobs during recruitment initiative

AMMAN ? More than 11,000 Jordanians applied for jobs at the Ministry of Labour?s National Recruitment Days initiative, which concluded on Thursday, according to a senior ministry official.

The initiative falls within the National Employment Campaign, initiated by the government last month to provide 18,000 job opportunities.

Under the slogan ?We are all partners?, the campaign now involves more than 200 enterprises and is implemented in cooperation with the private sector.

?Over the past months that preceded the campaign, ministry staff researched job vacancies in the labour market and job seekers across the country. This enabled us to collect a database of around 18,000 vacancies and nearly 20,000 job seekers,? the ministry?s secretary general, Hamadah Abu Nijmeh, told The Jordan Times.

He added that over the past 10 National Recruitment Days, dozens of ministry staff worked closely with unemployed youths to put them in direct contact with employers, noting that the ministry will evaluate the process to highlight the pros and cons of the initiative.

?We will announce the outcome of the initiative next Tuesday, which will highlight the number of Jordanians who secured jobs through the campaign,? Abu Nijmeh said.?

?Based on the results, the ministry will launch a campaign targeting the governorates in order to set up meetings between local job seekers and potential employers within their districts,? he added, noting that the ministry?s efforts to find work for the unemployed are not exclusive to this campaign.

?We have also signed individual agreements with mega-companies in several sectors, where the ministry offered incentives to employers such as contributing to the salaries of new recruits or providing transportation at the ministry?s expense to share part of the financial burdens,? Abu Nijmeh said.

Interviewed by The Jordan Times while filling out an application at the event, Amani Horani said she graduated from university nearly a year ago with a BA in civil engineering and was frustrated because she had not found a job.

?I finished high school in 2006 and chose to study civil engineering believing that this specialty is highly needed in the local market. My journey of frustration started soon after I graduated,? the 27-year-old said, adding that she couldn?t find a job to support herself even though her father had spent ?thousands of dinars? on her tuition fees.

However, as soon as the Irbid resident heard about the initiative, she took the free transportation offered by the ministry and headed to Amman in hope of securing a job.

?The ministry staff showed me how to fill an application and where to apply. I submitted the application to several employers who said they were looking for fresh civil engineering graduates,? Horani said, adding that she was keeping her fingers crossed.

Wahid Alawneh came to the recruitment event at the Royal Cultural Centre on Thursday from Ain Basha, northwest Amman.

Noting that he is still living with his parents because he is jobless, Alawneh said he feels like he is a burden on his father.

?I have been unemployed for nearly a year and this is making me feel miserable as I cannot take care of myself financially. It is not easy for a man of my age to ask others for money even if they are family members,? the 27-year-old said, adding that his years of experience in air-conditioning maintenance had not helped get him a job so far.

?I hope that I will be able to find a position in my field, but I don?t mind taking any job in the meantime instead of being unemployed,? he said, noting? that one of the companies he applied to promised to contact? him within a few days for an interview.

Rabaa Haj Hassan, the labour ministry?s head of recruitment and vocational guidance, told The Jordan Times that the initiative also focused on securing jobs for people with disabilities (PWD), noting that 169 PWD applied for jobs at the event.

?The ministry and the Japan International Cooperation Agency are working together to create job opportunities for PWD all over the Kingdom,? she said, calling on employers to abide by the Labour Law, which stipulates that private and public sector institutions with over 25 and less than 50 employees must employ one person with disabilities, while in companies with over 50 employees, 4 per cent must be PWD.

Source: http://jordantimes.com/11000-jordanians-apply-for-jobs-during-recruitment-initiative

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