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Last Updated: Sep 25, 2017 - 1:34:11 PM |
CONDUCTING INTERVIEW – Mrs. Carla Roker (right) of the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, conducts an interview of an applicant for the ‘Fresh Start’ Program, at Christ The King Auditorium on Friday, September 22, 2017. (BIS Photo/Lisa Davis)
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FREEPORT, Grand Bahama – Some 700 young people, aged 17-25 years, recently submitted applications for the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture’s ‘Fresh Start’ program, and, in Grand Bahama, most of them completed final interviews over the weekend as prospective candidates for securing internships, and maybe even employment in the near future.
Carla Roker of the Ministry of Youth noted that contrary to what many of the youngsters who applied may have thought, the interview is pivotal to the process.
“Many thought that because they had filled out the application and returned it, they were automatically entered into the program, but that is not so,” Mrs. Roker pointed out. “This interview process is where the final decision will be made about exactly who gets an opportunity to be a part of this year’s Fresh Start Program.”
The Fresh Start Program is a signature initiative of the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and was designed to be a training program for young adults between the ages of 17-25. Interested persons are required to fill out application forms, and those accepted at that stage are called to attend face-to-face interviews.
Those selected from the interview will make up a class of youngsters who will be trained for a number of weeks, before being outsourced to various businesses and companies.
WAITING THEIR TURN – Applicants for the Fresh Start Program wait their turn for one-on-one interview as a part of the application process at Christ the King Church Auditorium. Those individuals passing the interview process here will make up a group of young people between the ages of 17-25 years who will be trained before getting an opportunity to intern at a company or business in Grand Bahama. (BIS Photo/Lisa Davis)
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“We are looking for that marginalized young person who is in need of further training and skills in order to secure employment,” explained Mrs. Roker. “The fact that there are so many young people out there seeking an opportunity, I try not to count out anyone.”
In Grand Bahama, some of the participating companies and businesses opening their doors to give the young people on-the-job experience include: Bahama Rock, the Freeport Container Port, GB Shipyard, Bradford Marine, Pelican Bay, banks and other private offices.
The program offers seven trades; trainers for the program hail from the University of The Bahamas and the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI). She pointed out that the program can be tailor-made to reflect the environment in which a young person lives.
For example, Fresh Start in Nassau would offer more training in the tourism field (because of the number of job opportunities in that field in Nassau), while in Grand Bahama it would include trades in the industrial fields, as well as training in tourism.
She noted, “Every Fresh Start applicant has to be Bahama Host certified. So those individuals who may have applied for this program and who may not have Bahama Host certification, we are offering, as a part of the training, Bahama Host.”
There were more applicants this year than in any year since Fresh Start’s inception in 1989. Mrs. Roker noted that while the Ministry was taken aback by the high number of applications, the increase was just a part of a continuing trend for the Fresh Start Program.
“Ever since we started this program, every year our Nassau and Grand Bahama offices have seen it mushroom,” noted Mrs. Roker. “We continue to brag having sixty or seventy percent employment after the training. While we would love to have one hundred percent employment, there are a number of factors that hinder that.
“We do know that once a young person goes through this program and applies himself/herself to the training and takes advantage of the job internship afterwards, we can guarantee that [the person] will have no problems acquiring employment in the long run.”
Mrs. Roker encourages youngsters who will make this year’s cut in the Fresh Start Program to not take the opportunity lightly.
She urges them to dress appropriately, present themselves in a professional manner when appointed to a company or a business for an internship, and to use the opportunity to present the best of themselves to business owners, managers and supervisors, because it can be the difference between just going through an internship and actually securing employment.
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