Reviving Hope for Job Seekers
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| More than 3,000 Haitians showed up to speak to employers at a USAID-supported job fair at the Karibe Convention Center.
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In Haiti, where a young population faces extremely limited employment opportunities, optimism about job prospects is scarce. However, at a recent job fair in Port-au-Prince, the excitement was palpable as leading employers connected with thousands of young Haitians. Hope was in the air.
With support from USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI), Haiti hosted its first modern job fair September 2–4, and young people filled the Karibe Convention Center in search of career information, vocational training opportunities, and job news.
The event created a national buzz, as over 3,000 visitors attended the three-day fair. A number of attendees lined up jobs during the event and hundreds more made initial contacts and filled out applications with potential employers.
More than 30 Haitian companies—including the country's two large telecom corporations, Digicel and Voila—hosted booths at the fair to advertise open positions and solicit qualified candidates. Job fair attendees found it to be useful and a step in the right direction. "Haiti needs this type of activity," said a visitor.
Admission to the fair was free, which allowed numerous unemployed and underemployed Haitians to attend. "I found several interesting job possibilities and applied for three of them," said a job seeker. "I would not have had this opportunity if this job fair was not freely accessible."
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"Technology is rapidly changing; therefore, there must be continuous training for employees. Anyone working in the communication field cannot stay six months without recycling courses."
—Bryan Gonzalez
Human Resources Director, Digicel
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In addition to providing information about open positions, the fair provided participants with opportunities to sharpen their professional and job-seeking skills, offering workshops with titles such as "The Impact of New Technologies" and "Finding and Keeping a Job."
The fair also established an interactive Web site to inform young people about additional employment opportunities. The site, www.haitijob.com, provides job seekers with access to regularly updated job postings from local and international companies.
Through activities such as the job fair, USAID supports economic growth in Haiti by connecting young people with employers. These endeavors underscore President Michel Martelly's pledge that "Haiti is open for business."
For further information, please contact:
OTI Haiti Team, DCHA.OTIHaitiDCProgramManagers@usaid.gov.
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