By LETRE SWEETING
lsweeting@tribunemedia.net
NEARLY 30 companies and over 200 jobs will be available at the Labour on the Blocks 2.0 job fair in Grand Bahama this weekend, said Labour Director Robert Farquharson yesterday.
The Department of Labour partnered with the Ministry of Grand Bahama to host a job fair on Saturday beginning at 9am at St George’s High School Gymnasium in Freeport, Grand Bahama.
Labour Director Robert Farquharson said, “We estimate over 200 jobs will be available from 23 companies as of yesterday (Tuesday). As of this morning (Wednesday), we had six more companies join, so it’s up to 29 companies ranging from the food and beverage industry, to the cruise lines, to the industrial industry, security companies, and all aspects.”
Mr Farquharson added, “A couple of companies said to us, if you come prepared with your police record, we will hire you on the spot.”
He said the department has partnered with various government agencies in an effort to reduce challenges that job seekers may face at the job fair.
“Social services will be there because we learned a lesson from the last job fair held at Anatol Rogers, we had a number of young persons come there looking for jobs who needed immediate help. You may need a food voucher, you may need emergency housing and we want to make it easier,” he said.
“We have partnered with the Royal Bahamas Police Force, if you don’t have your police record, you can sign up for your police record right on the spot and you will be able to get your police record on Monday morning,” he said.
Mr Farquharson added: “The new owners of Gold Rock will be there and they will be hiring people. We are so excited about this opportunity. All of those employees who were employees of Gold Rock, come to the job fair. Something good will be for them if they attend this job fair.”
Grand Bahama Minister Ginger Moxey also encouraged jobseekers to participate in the job fair.
“To the residents of Grand Bahama, I say to you that as we recover and rebuild our island that jobs are available. So, I admonish you all to take advantage of this opportunity to transform your lives. This administration is truly focused on bettering the lives of our people and Grand Bahama we are with you,” she said.
“I want you to come out, participate, bring all the documents that you need and I’m sure that something will be there for you. There are many organisations that are participating,” Ms Moxey said.
Ms Moxey added that though the direct assistance with work clothing won’t be available in Grand Bahama, she will be partnering with the Department of Labour so that those in need of work clothes can have something sent to them from New Providence.
“We would want to partner with that to ensure that everyone has every opportunity to get a job. If that is one of the things that New Providence has we want to ensure that Grand Bahama has it as well,” she said.
Jobseekers can pre-register for Saturday’s job fair through The Department of Labour’s Facebook page, so that at the job fair those registered already can go straight into interviews.
Jobseekers are encouraged to bring their resume, National Insurance cards, police record and references on Saturday.
Mr Farquharson said yesterday in the future the Department of Labour will be focusing on a specialty job fair for professionals, including qualified general managers and vice presidents in need of work.
He added that the Department of Statistics will have labour force statistics from January 2023 to indicate unemployment figures, which should be completed by the end of February of 2023.
The Labour on the Blocks Job Fair held October 15 at Anatol Rodgers High School had over 1,500 attendees and saw many students and the job seekers granted opportunities for employment.
In May, the Department of Labour held two fairs in New Providence and Grand Bahama simultaneously focused on a number of inner-city communities.
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