Many Guyanese living abroad who want to return home are looking for jobs in the manufacturing sector but most of the vacant positions have already been filled or do not even exist as yet.
This is according to the Head of the Diaspora Unit at the Foreign Ministry, Rosalinda Rasul, who told the News Room on Thursday that the Unit has received a plethora of applications for senior executive positions, directors, advisors, and advanced roles in manufacturing.
“When we’ve spoken to some of the companies that are big on manufacturing, either they don’t have space for such a person or they would have the job but it’s filled, meaning that they don’t have a large demand for that particular skill or have the job but it’s filled.
“They are not skills that the country will need at this particular juncture, perhaps later on when the sectors are more advanced and there are more opportunities created,” Rasul said.
This means that persons from the diaspora are ready to re-migrate to Guyana and provide support in the form of skills for the advancement of the country, Rasul noted. Work, is however, ongoing to rapidly expand Guyana’s manufacturing sector.
But with the limited positions available at this time, Rasul said the Unit is focused on promoting positions in areas that need to fill the gaps and is actively engaging various sectors. Already, the Unit has successfully secured jobs for many persons within the Guyanese Diaspora.
“It makes no sense for us to go out there and say, ‘hey come back here, there are lots of jobs available’, when the sectors are still putting in the groundwork for the receiving more skilled labour and you don’t want to have the mismatch of skills,” Rasul contended.
But at the same time, the Unit doesn’t want to take away opportunities from locals who may fit the criteria for available spots. She said there is no special treatment involved in the Unit’s handling of job applications.
“We are looking for that level playing field and its means that we are not asking for special treatment or procedure for the diaspora. For example, if someone is tendering an application, we do not expect and we are not asking for an agency to pull that application out for a member of the diaspora and advance it and leave the locals who would’ve sent in an application behind,” she explained.
Rasul emphasised that the Unit simply connect people from the diaspora with the hiring company if their qualifications meet the criteria for a job within the sector.
