The private Sector has challenged the Kigali Employment Service Centre (KESC) to intensify awareness activities that would bring on board more prospective employers to the centre.During a breakfast meeting that brought together the KESC and members of the private sector in Kigali yesterday, the vice mayor in charge of Social affairs in City of Kigali, Hope Tumukunde said the centre has not yet had the envisaged impact.“After six months of operation, the challenge we face is of the people saying; “yes you are trainings us on how to find a job, but it is not enough because you are not giving us jobs,” she said.“It’s not in our mandate to offer jobs; we are asking you employers to tell us what can be done to address the issue,” she said.The meeting attracted different business operators in the City of Kigali, including the association of artists, association of garage owners, institute of engineers of Rwanda, breweries’ association and other corporate entities. They told the city and centre officials that there is need for the KESC to reach out to more companies to acclimatise them with what the centre does. In every major corporate entity, the centre was advised to have a focal person. The centre can also use the power of ICT to spread the word, the private sector representatives said.In return, the private sector said they are ready to make use of the services of the centre.This implies that they should register with KESC and regularly post vacancies in their organisation on the centre’s website. Aminadab Hategekimana represented African Art Rwanda, a handcraft firm. He said: “we are going to register to become partners with the centre after this meeting; we always struggle to get people to help in the customer care department. That there is a centre which can ease recruitment is good news to us.”On the other hand, the Private Sector Federation(PSF) promised to disseminate the information about the KESC to their members.Natacha Kaneza, head of membership coordination at PSF, said: “we know there is still a big gap in finding employees, especially in manufacturing, engineering and construction industry. We shall help the centre disseminate such information”. Kigali Employment Service Centre was created in May this year, to serve as a link between jobseekers and employers and to impart basic skills on self employment. The jobseekers, who are mostly graduates from tertiary institutions, are also given tips on how to make a successful job application and on how to conduct themselves in a job interview.According to the latest records, the centre has so far registered 694 jobseekers. Over 135 jobseekers trained on how to employ themselves, while 106 jobseekers were trained on job search strategy. So far 18 job-seekers reported that they got a job through the centre. Seven companies are registered with KESC, while 16 others promised collaboration.
