Job seekers descend on national employment fair

AMMAN — Hundreds of job seekers met face-to-face with potential employers on Sunday, with many hoping to nail on-the-spot interviews and secure employment.

With 14,000 positions on offer from 359 private companies, the fourth phase of the National Employment Campaign, titled “My job — My future”, is providing the largest venue in Jordan for young people to land jobs.

Maysoon Abu Dayyeh completed eight applications on Sunday, which marked the launch of the job fair.

Hoping to find a job as “soon as possible”, the 23-year-old accounting graduate said she has been “actively” searching for work for about seven months, but all her efforts have been in vain.

“I think the problem is that so many people hold accounting degrees. I have no previous work experience, so my chances of finding a good job are not huge,” the Sweileh resident added.

For business administration graduate Adnan Jaouni, finding a job was not the main problem he faced, but rather the low salaries offered by many employers.

“I was accepted to work in several jobs, but the salary for each was so low that it would not even have covered my transportation costs to and from work,” said Jaouni, who was holding several copies of his resume.

Ahmad Mahsiri, who graduated with a degree in software programming two months ago, said he felt “confident” about getting a job through the fourth stage of the campaign.”My specialisation is in demand and there is a good chance that the big number of companies here today will help me get a job,” the 21-year-old said.

Companies taking part in the campaign’s fourth phase, which will continue until November 26, operate in 11 sectors: hospitality, fuel, banks, construction, retail, textiles, industry, health, services, ICT and restaurants.

Job seekers interviewed by The Jordan Times expressed their satisfaction with the organisation of the fair and the fact that the list of companies participating on each day of the campaign was posted online.

The National Employment Campaign began in January 2013 with the goal of creating thousands of jobs for Jordanians in cooperation with the private sector.

Labour Ministry Secretary General Hamadah Abu Nijmeh said the campaign also includes training programmes that prepare job seekers to run their own businesses, which is funded through the National Development and Recruitment Fund, the World Bank and the National Company for Employment and Training.

He noted that the ministry has called on companies to provide good salaries above the minimum wage, attractive incentives, and health and social insurance.

Last year, Labour Minister Nidal Katamine announced the results of a study evaluating Jordanians’ satisfaction with the national campaign, which has so far secured employment for over 32,000 job seekers in the private sector.

The study, carried out by a local polling firm, showed that 36 per cent of the 32,000 had quit their jobs six months after recruitment due to low salaries, the impact of work on their studies, incompatibility of their educational background and skills with the job requirements, and transportation challenges.

It also revealed that 62 per cent of those who retained their jobs were satisfied, and that those employed in the construction and telecom sectors were more likely to stay in their jobs than those working in other fields.

The unemployment rate in Jordan stood at 13.8 per cent during the third quarter of this year, according to Department of Statistics figures.