Feature: Chinese enterprises hold job fair for Zimbabwean youths

HARARE, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of hopeful job-seekers were attending a job fair in the Zimbabwean capital Harare that saw a total of 757 job opportunities up for grabs.

Organized by the Chamber of Chinese Enterprises in Zimbabwe in partnership with Stanbic Bank, the two-day China-Stanbic Job Fair that runs through Saturday has attracted 30 Chinese-run enterprises, with those in the mining and mineral processing sectors constituting the majority of recruiters.

"For us, at this job fair, we are looking for IT engineers, solar engineers, solar technicians, accounts and sales (personnel), security, PAs and receptionists - almost in all departments we are looking for people," said Maggie Feng, Managing Director of Satewave Technologies, one of the Chinese companies that were recruiting at the job fair.

Gamuchirai Ndlumbi, a recent Civil and Water Engineering graduate from the National University of Science and Technology, had come to the fair to seek a graduate traineeship.

"For now, since I am just finishing school, I am looking for a position in graduate learner-ship, to start with," Ndlumbi told Xinhua. "Any position, anything that is part of the civil engineering discipline will do well for me since I am trying to learn, I am trying to develop my skills and I am trying to develop myself," she added.

Isheanesu Masuka, a Food Science and Technology graduate from the Chinhoyi University of Technology, had come to seek new employment opportunities. "I am here for this job fair because the food industry in Zimbabwe has not been operating to maximum capacity, so there are not a lot of opportunities for those who are interested in those positions in the food manufacturing industry."

"So I decided to come here to also explore other opportunities that could be available, and in this case, we have the mining industry whereby there are potential opportunities," said Masuka.

After staying in China for seven years, John Moyo decided to come back home to put to use the skills he acquired abroad, and had come to the fair to kick-start his career in environmental engineering.

"I have been in China for seven years, and I feel like I want to bring back the knowledge that I learnt from China, bring it back to Zimbabwe, and increase our production and business, economic trade between Zimbabwe and China. So this is one of the reasons I came here, to find a job and also to be part of the teams that are working towards growing our country," said Moyo.

Shannel Liu, Vice President of the Chamber of Chinese Enterprises in Zimbabwe, said the aim of the job fair was to provide an interface between job seekers and their prospective employers.

"We have over 80 Chinese companies, and lots of them actually come to us and want us to help them to find local employees because they don't have a very effective channel to find suitable people, so they were asking if it's possible if we can hold a job fair."

"And we also understand that it is difficult for local people to find employment as well, and a lot of fresh graduates, they could not find jobs, they need to go to other countries to find job opportunities, that's why we created this platform for job seekers and employers, organizations, to meet face to face, to understand the needs and also the demand for them to meet with each other," she said.

In addition, Liu said the open and public recruitment initiative allows employers and potential employees to communicate in a transparent way, regarding matters such as the positions available, and the salary offered.

Liu said currently, over 100,000 locals are employed by companies represented under the Chamber of Chinese Enterprises in Zimbabwe.

Vimbai Chiza, Deputy Director of Employment Promotion and Services in the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, said the platform is in line with the government's efforts to improve the livelihoods of ordinary citizens.

"And as such this is complementing government's offers towards employment promotion, so we applaud this event and we are planning on having many more job fairs where we are able to provide employment opportunities for our job seekers in the country," she said.

Huang Minghai, Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe, said Chinese investments have been creating opportunities in Zimbabwe. "We are glad to see that Chinese companies are making efforts to drive the economy and expand employment in Zimbabwe. The job fair provides a platform for the connection of Chinese companies and job-seekers.

Zimbabwe has over the years witnessed an influx of Chinese investments, particularly in the mining and mineral processing sector, manufacturing, agriculture, and ICT, among others. This has created vast employment opportunities in a country facing acute employment challenges.

In August, the China-Zimbabwe Exchange Center also hosted a two-day job fair to facilitate face-to-face interaction between job seekers and potential employers.