By Foday Moriba Conteh
On the 1st May 2021 hundreds of students turned out to seek for jobs at the Fourah Bay College Amphitheatre during a job fair organized by the Academic and Career Advisory and Counselling Services (ACACS) and Confucius Institute.
The Director of Confucius Institute, Professor Shuping, said attending a job fair gives students an edge. Students who attended the fair in the past were successful in getting better jobs as most companies want to hire students that they can mould to meet the institution’s demand, it was highlighted.
The event was a success as it attracted hundreds of students from various Universities in Sierra Leone. Both the local and international companies present were overwhelmed by the outpour of job seekers and promised to always be in attendance whenever such events are being organized.
The Chinese Economic and Commercial Counsellor who was also present made a statement on the significance of providing jobs for young graduates, as this will help to develop the economy of Sierra Leone.
He said this is the norm in China as many graduates attending job fairs have succeeded in landing better jobs. So as it is organized in Sierra Leone he hopes that it will be the trend as these young graduates will succeed.
Professor Shuping said he was happy that so many companies took part and expressed delight that the Chinese companies were present as many of them took part as they really want to make sure they employ more Sierra Leoneans.
“I want to thank ACACS for putting together this job fair and it has been a success since it started three years ago. This year has been the biggest and I hope that next year will be better as more and more students have taken it very seriously because they have seen their colleagues that have benefitted in the past.”
Some of the officials at the Confucius Institute said participating in the event always provides employers with opportunities to recruit from hundreds of eager and qualified candidates, add to diversity recruitment strategies and increase or maintain visibility.
Officials of ACACS that were present were happy that the job fair is improving every year as more and more students are participating as well as companies in the country.
They called on students that this is a way of getting jobs and those that are not successful should understand that not all of them will be successful.
Furthermore, they called on the companies to continue to participate and hope that next year many more companies will take part to help the students get jobs so that the economy will continue to grow.
The Ministry of Youth, Ministry of Labor, the Director of Confucius Institute and Director of ACACS were all present and they made brief statements during the opening of the event.
