By: Emmanuel Akayeti
Hundreds of job seekers, including employees, have benefitted from a digital job fair in Bolgatanga, in the Upper East Region.
It was convened under the theme: “Building Resilient Creatives for the Job Market”.
The job fair aimed at supporting the government’s effort at addressing graduate unemployment in Ghana.
The fair followed six (6) weeks of training in Digital Media organized by the Dansyn Innovation Social Organization, (ISO), in partnership with the Ghana Tech Lab and supported by the MasterCard Foundation Young Africa Works, the World Bank and Ministry of Communications Ghana.
The young participants were trained in digital media. On the practical side, some of the youth were attached as a form of business incubation at Dansyn ISO, while others went into internship placement after the training period.
The Bolgatanga Digital Job Fair brought together employers and job seekers with the aim of providing the needed platform for the Youth to find jobs, propel networking and build relations with others for business collaboration.
Some of the think–tanks and organizations that attended the programme included the Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU), Munet Global Network, and the Ghana Export Promotion Authority.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dansyn ISO, Daniel Nang, explained that his outfit decided to bring the employers and job seekers together so as to help connect job seekers and job givers for possible employment opportunities.
He indicated that while many of the beneficiaries have gained employment, others are also in incubation with his outfit, stressing that “all this is to enable the youth to gain employment and also employ others”.
Speaking at the Job Fair again, the Regional Director of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) in charge of the Upper East and West, Martin Akogti said, digital skills plays a crucial role in linking prospective employees to potential employers and that the digital Job fair was timely.
He observed that the rising youth unemployment situation in the Upper East Region and the entire country Ghana is due to job immobility and the digital skills gap.
For his part, the Laboratory and Network Administrator at the Department of ICT at the Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU), Richard Azunre cautioned the participants to be mindful of the way and manner they use social media and hinted that employers use social media as a window for employing job seekers.
”Most job seekers don’t get employment because of the way and manner they conduct themselves through the use of social media. The attitudes and behaviors of many people are reflected in the way they chat with friends and others on social media and their dress codes also counts”, he warned.
He stated that BTU intends to run short courses in Computer, Ethical Hacking, Forensic Investigation for local professionals in ICT as well as establish Cyber Clubs in Junior and Senior High Schools to begin teaching young graduates in Cyber Security and Forensics.
Head of Project at Munet Global Network, Abdul-Rahman Shuiabu commented that the programme was full of opportunities for young people to learn from and that there are direct opportunities such as podcast agents, a direct access person developing applications or software or any programme that will carve out a programme in the society.
