“We Need Qualified Liberians for the Job Market”

Partial View of job seekers

---Says MOL Director Employment; Begins Issuance of Special Employment Scheme Registration forms to job seekers in partnership with LCC

The Ministry of Labour in collaboration with the Liberia Chamber of Commerce (LCC) has begun the issuance of the Special Employment Scheme Registration Forms to job seekers in Monrovia.

The exercises, which kick-off during the week at the Ministry of Labour on the compound of the Ministerial Complex in Congo Town was launched by the Director of the National Bureau of Employment of the Ministry of Labour, Mr. Otis K. Wreyou.

Speaking during the ceremony, Director Wreyou said that the forms were developed with technical assistance from the Association of Liberia Human Resource (ALHRP) Professionals and the Liberia Chamber of Commerce in order to ensure that qualified Liberians are recruited for the job market.

Wreyou said that the Liberia Chamber Commerce (LCC) has informed her members (employers and employment institutions) of the need to have qualified Liberians to occupy jobs within their various entities as a means for reducing influx of non-Liberians when there are available and qualified young Liberian graduates for the job.

He added, on that basis the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Labour and Liberia Chamber of Commerce recently signed a Memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the provision of 500 new jobs for recent college and university graduates in the country. 

According to Wreyou in line with the MOU, the Ministry of Labour and the LCC are jointly collaborating to ensure that the best applicants are recruited to fit in the vacancies that will be created by employers and employment institutions.

Director Wreyou made it clear to the job seekers who attended the ceremony that filling in the forms must not in any way be considered that they have a job, noting that qualified applicants will have to go through vetting, interview and jobs training by a special recruitment committee before they are sent out in the job market.

He maintained that there is a vetting committee comprises of the Ministry of Labour, LCC and Association of Liberia HR Professionals that will go through the forms to select qualified and suitable applicants for placement.

The Director of Employment at the Ministry disclosed that the Ministry of Labour does not have jobs currently put aside for job seekers, but the exercise is intended to have them register into the Employment Data-bank of the Ministry to match with vacancies from the LCC for possible placement of an applicant who have gone through the process. 

“So we do not have the vacancies put aside to employ anyone to say, for example, ‘Accountant’, to have you be placed,” Wreyou explained. “However, the LCC has assured us that the vacancies will be created, but we want to ensure that we have qualified people in our database for jobs ahead. So when the vacancies are created, we will already have people in our database that are ready for the job market. We do not need to start running out there looking for qualified people.”   

He further informed the job seekers that the forms will subsequently be placed on the Ministry’s website for access to the general public and as such, applicants will no longer be required to come to the Ministry to acquire one. “You can get it filled and submitted to the Ministry.”

Speaking of requirements, the Director said “Applicants will take the forms and return it with the following requirements: National Identification Card or Liberian Passport noting that “These two requirements are very important because the jobs are for Liberians only. So in order to properly identify an applicant as Liberians, they must produce these two. Other requirements include: two passport size photos, a CV with all supporting documents, but the process does not require a letter of application.