Life is sweet in Guyana, Too Sweet!

Sep 27, 2011 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Who says there are no jobs available locally. This past Sunday’s newspapers indicate that it is not the availability of jobs that may be the problem but the availability of sufficiently skilled or interested workers.
A number of vacancies were advertised in the last Sunday’s newspapers. One organization was requesting an accounts clerk. Interestingly, they were not asking specifically for qualifications or experience in accounting. The requirements included a sound secondary education, a police clearance and two references.
Another organization required two accounts clerks. Interestingly, the bar has been significantly raised here. The jobs require applicants to have five subjects at the CSEC of which Mathematics, English and Accounts are compulsory. The candidate is also expected to be matured and be familiar with sales software.
There were also a number of vacancies for drivers, all of which required the obvious. The applicants must have a valid driver’s licence. There were also a number of vacancies for security officers, both male and female, with minimal entry requirements.
One company which specializes in heavy duty machinery wants a sale representative who must have a diploma in mechanical or electrical engineering and must be familiar with Microsoft Office. Yet another firm wanted an administrative intern who must have six subjects at the CXC examinations.
A major hardware firm advertised for tally clerks, a customer broker and a mechanic.
If you are interested in becoming a battery technician you need a sound education, a police clearance and two references. And if you have a degree in chemistry and two years working experience in a laboratory, then you may be eligible for a job in a major manufacturing establishment.
The US Peace Corps has also advertised for a number of facilitators all of whom are required to have a first degree. They are also in need of drivers. In seems quite a few places need drivers.
An establishment is looking for a secretary, a fast food supervisor, a receptionist. Office staff, pastry maker and roti cool, cooks, a cashier and yes, a driver.
A major department store needs a manager who must be a holder of a degree in business administration/management or a related discipline or possess a diploma in business administration.
Those in the education sector will find job openings at a major secondary school in Guyana where the Board had advertised for some teaching vacancies. That same department store has a vacancy for a management trainee. And the list goes on.
On almost every page on the newspaper there are vacancies advertised and there are other vacancies also advertised in the classified ads.
The fact is that these vacancies are not the only ones available. Only a small percentage of vacancies are ever advertised. Most companies do not advertise and so there are many vacancies out there.
The question is whether there are sufficiently skilled persons to fill these positions. Quite a few employers have confessed to difficulties in attracting the ideal candidates. Others have complained that many applicants are highly qualified but find it difficult to perform on the job.
There are many jobs available but quite a few persons are not interested in seeking employment. Some prefer to work with themselves, believing that if they are their own boss that somehow this independence translates to success even though some of them sit in front of the businesses all day and never register a sale or attract a demand for their services.
Then there are those Guyanese who simply do not wish to work because they have no need to work. Some relative overseas is providing them with the latest attire and that freck every month which makes it unnecessary to go out and work.
And when some of them are asked why they are not gainfully employed, they complain how the economy is in problems and jobs are not there. But offer them a few hundred dollars to wash you car and see how they will turn up their faces.

6 thoughts on “Life is sweet in Guyana, Too Sweet!”

Guest September 27, 2011 at 11:23 am

The quality of job is what drive a country economy, you feel call center and sales job would change one life or tansform it.
360jabjab September 27, 2011 at 3:43 pm

and who get the jobs? do u feel its fair to a young person leaving the university to have to do sales work and being told to move chair for people to sit.like someone currying ur pot or something. EYES WIDE SHUT.
i wonder how u peeping or like u peeping at the wrong thing.careful now.
1. Crazy10 September 27, 2011 at 8:41 pm
  
  My Friend,
  You are well aware that hundreds if not thousands of guyanese graduates who are doing real menial jobs in North America and Europe! All that matters is you get money to do the things required for the family.
  
  There is every thing good in working for an honest wage. More people should care about an honest day’s pay.
  1. 360jabjab September 28, 2011 at 8:10 am
    
    @ crazy10 i am quite aware of ur fact.BUT u have to that this is Guyana not north America or Europe. There is more than enough to be shared around for all.We are barely a population of 700000 plus people and you are saying to me that black or ameriandians people in particular must resort to doing menial jobs just for the sake of being employed in Guyana.well this is being heartless or u are blatantly ignoring the real issues here.is there and underlined agenda.
    Of course we have to take what we get when we are in another mans territory which i guess u might be doing now. HOW Sad indeed.
    1. Crazy10 September 29, 2011 at 7:03 am
      
      Sorry My Friend,
      
      See how long the charity will last.
Gewt September 27, 2011 at 10:32 pm

It is always amusing how people try to justify PREJUDICE ,SOCIAL,CULTURAL AND RACIAL INJUSTICE and the good old-fashion Discrimination.Once, on a plane going to Canada, I was seated in the “Aisle seat” next to an old white lady who was in the center row.When the male air steward started servicing drinks he had to bend over me to serve the old lady.He came once,twice, then a third time and attended her, leaving me without drinks or food. After the third visit the lady turned to me and asked, “Aren´t you going to eat anything?” I answered that apparently my money for the trip was different from everybody else´s because the steward bypassed me three times and did not seem to notice me. As he was still alongside me he offered this defense,”Don´t you think that there´s something wrong with you?”

Tom, your article today seems to be trying to justify job-profiling,discrimination and blatant prejudice and humiliation, all of which we ALL know happens everyday in the workplaces and at the job interviews in Guyana. The left-over, poorly-paid, dirty,manual and servile jobs which are thrown ” like dry bones for dogs to lick up”, are not always what the people want or deserve. In a country where hair-type and ethnicity determines who get the best jobs your article appears to be facetious, if not downright hypocritical, or worse, synical.