The ‘mega job fair’ organised by the Office of the Commissioner of Labour and Employment on November 8 at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, Taleigao, promises to be yet another employment opportunity for the thousands of Goans who are jobless and clueless about their careers.
Labour and Employment Minister Atanasio Monserrate’s attempt to bridge the gap between job seekers and providers must be welcome. Expectations are that 120 private companies from across India and overseas, including seven cruise liner companies, will participate in the fair, which brings an added interest in the fair.
For a state that is reeling under the unemployment crisis, job fairs are welcome because they open up new vistas and widen the horizons of opportunity seekers. The nearly two-year Covid-19 phase has dealt a telling blow on lives and livelihoods, forcing youth to switch to make-shift businesses and small enterprises to sustain families. With the virus clearing, the job fair would be the first realistic opportunity for many to make a fresh start.
There are takeaways for the government too from these job fairs ” the first being that there is no fiscal liability here. Secondly, political interference, quotas and corruption usually associated with jobs are eliminated.
However, on the flip side, job fairs held in the State, including the ones held in Porvorim and Sattari in the past, have been disappointing, given the low job conversion rate. We must understand the success of job fairs cannot be measured on turnout since any call for a vacancy evokes an overwhelming response in Goa. We have seen the serpentine queues of candidates with documents in tow for even the lowest-ranked vacancies. What is crucial is to understand the number of Goans recruited via job fairs, which should be the barometer of success. The number of jobs up for grabs should not count, but the actual vacancies that are filled.
Job fairs, no doubt, are essential in any given scenario, but it is for the government to leverage its position. While Monserrate spoke about bridging the gap between job seekers and job providers, there must be a conscious effort to understand what the industry wants against the available resource. The job fair provides a unique opportunity for the government to take stock and find that balance. The companies participating in job fairs are not coming out of desperation, nor are they seeking to fill up clerical jobs. Instead, they are coming to scout for skilled manpower that fits into a specific mould. The job fair, in this aspect, provides a fair opportunity to both the job provider and job seeker.
Under this situation, these job fairs would provide an insider view for the government on how to go about training manpower, so fitment becomes a seamless exercise. There has to be an audit of manpower and opportunities to understand where we stand in terms of joblessness; otherwise, we will continue to live with an illusion of mere job openings.
