15 out-of-school youths could soon be on their way to jobs in cyberspace. The youths have spent the last three weeks learning to use a new desktop software than can pave the way for paying jobs in customer service, administrative services, and other job fields. The youths are doing it all from the Yabra Community Center. We found out more.
Keith Swift Reporting,
These youths aren’t just checking their emails -they are applying for jobs online – using a job placement software.
Douglas Hyde, Police Youth Coordinator
“The Odesk program is a professional international site where young people and persons on a whole can go and get jobs and actually get paid for these jobs. What we’ve done is to create a program which focuses on three objectives; to give these young persons can opportunity, the second is to enhance and develop their computer skills, and the third is to give them an international exposure. Odesk does all three of these.
The steps are to go on and create a profile, they put on their resumes
up there, and they go and take tests and after taking the tests they look at these different type of jobs and the jobs are like customer service, web page development, administrative area, and they look on research, and so you go into these areas and you can tap on the area of work which you want to.”
18 year old Carldeen Lawrence is one of the students.
Carldeen Lawrence, Applicant
“I am always willing to learn something every time and to try this and I am someone that loves to deal with computers so be here doing this is doing something I really love to do. I chose customer service due to the fact that I already knew what to do as a customer care representative due to the fact of a job I had before.”
Keith Swift,
“How did you do on the test?”
Carldeen Lawrence,
“Well I thought that I did great but according to the Odesk management, you have to dop a perfect 100 to pass.”
Keith Swift,
“So you’re going to retake the test?”
Carldeen Lawrence,
“I have to retake the test in order to build my status on Odesk.”
And even if they aren’t successful in finding jobs, the Police’s Youth Coordinator Douglas Hyde says they will still come out on the winning end.
Douglas Hyde,
“It gives them also that experience that if they do decide that they want to work at these other companies that we have in Belize like Ready Call and these other places that has similar concepts that they have that basic experience and that knowledge.”
Other youths interested can apply at the Community Policing Center on Caesar Ridge Road.
