Of the 125 jobseekers, 26 were selected for employment during the 9th job fair conducted in Samdrupjongkhar on January 22. The theme for this year’s fair was ‘The road to a career begins here.’

Officials from the regional labour office said that of the 26 jobseekers, 12 were selected for contract employment in government agencies and 14 for private organisations. Officials said most jobseekers applied for teachers, salesperson, office assistant, accounts and Non-Formal Education (NFE) instructors while few applied for carpentry jobs and vacancies in technical training institutes.

About 20 companies announced 314 vacancies for front desk, site engineer, sales executive, sales manager, sales personnel, waiters, housekeeping, receptionist, baker, dishwasher and accounts assistant among others.

Officials said that some companies are unable to participate in the fair while most job seekers do not opt for available jobs. “Reaching out to everyone to attend the fair is also another challenge since it is costly to make announcements in media,” programme officer with the regional office, Karma Wangmo said.

Labour officials observed that there are few job takers in the automobile, furniture and brick manufacturing sectors despite attractive pay and allowances. “The office is genuinely happy with the turnout of job seekers attending the fair and also with the selection of the candidates during the fair,” she said.

The total budget for the fair was Nu 165,000.

A job seeker, Rinchen Lhamo, 26, from Orong said, she could not continue her studies after class XII because her family couldn’t afford it. “I didn’t try for jobs immediately because I just completed six months IT course and stayed in village helping my parents.”

She attended the job fair hoping to get employment. “I applied for front desk in hotels, accounts assistants and NFE instructors but I was not selected for NFE because of low marks,“ she said. She is awaiting response for the other jobs.

Job fairs help those like her to learn about vacancies and how to apply for jobs. “It will be more helpful if the labour ministry could conduct job fairs in all dzongkhags,” Rinchen Lhamo said.

Until last year, more than 673 jobseekers were registered with the office.

Kelzang Wangchuk