Minister Minors: Construction Job Fair will 'get Bermudians back to work'

TUESDAY, FEB. 14: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to announce that the Construction Association of Bermuda and the Woodworkers Association of Bermuda have agreed to partner with this Ministry to host a Construction Job Fair on February 23, 2012 at the Bermuda College from 10 am to 3 pm.

This event will feature careers in the construction industry where vacancies exist.

Employers have agreed to participate in an effort to identify, interview and hopefully hire unemployed individuals who have had some experience working in this sector.

I have attended several meetings over the past several weeks and have heard from individuals that are finding it increasingly difficult to find work in such categories as masonry and carpentry.  These are only two areas that appear to have a serious impact on Bermudians.  We encourage those individuals to attend this job fair to meet with employers and submit applications as required.

The Ministry is currently reviewing work permits and can say with some level of certainty that there will be vacancies.  This would be a good opportunity for Bermudians to take advantage of the job fair to make themselves known to potential employers. The collaborative effort with the Construction Association of Bermuda has resulted in 20 companies agreeing to participate in this event.  The list of jobs available will be highlighted at the fair.

There are a couple of things that those who are interested in attending must do before next Thursday. We are asking that you have on hand updated copies of your resume and references.

If individuals do not have resumes, they can visit the Department of Labour and Training, where our helpful staff will assist in creating a resume at no cost to the individual.

Also pre-registration for this event starts tomorrow at the National Training Board located in the Brown Brangman Building on the corner of Reid and King Streets. Any queries about the upcoming Job Fair can be directed to the Executive Officer of the National Training Board, Mrs. Pandora Glasford.

In addition, if there are any interested employers who would like to take part in the upcoming job fair, please contact Mr. Charles Dunstan, President of the Construction Association of Bermuda at 292-0633 or by email at [email protected].  There is no cost to the employer for sponsoring a booth.

Finally ladies and gentlemen, if we are going to ensure that we strengthen our economy and get people back to work, then it is critical that we engage in partnerships such as these.

I certainly want to extend my sincere thanks to Mr. Dunstan for assisting with the organization of this event.

To Mr. Ed Ball President of the Woodworkers Association, we also thank you and your newly formed association for joining us in our efforts to ‘recruit Bermuda’ and get Bermudians, and in particular our carpenters back to work.

Thank you.