SBSA hosts recruitment fair |08 November 2016

The Seychelles Business Studies Academy (SBSA) hosted its third annual recruitment fair yesterday at the school’s premises at Anse Royale.

The aim of the fair was to encourage students to seek employment before completing their exams and to allow the establishments to make themselves known to the students and availability of employment.

The SBSA has about 122 students who are in their third year and will be graduating shortly.

The companies and departments who took part were Barclays Bank, University of Seychelles (UniSey), Pool & Patel, Seychelles Fishing Authority, Ministry of Finance, ACM & Associates, Creole Travel Services and the Ministry of Labour.

SBSA director Josianne Bristol said the recruitment fair is seen as a stepping stone for the students who wish to join the world of work or even further their studies.

“For the students it’s an opportunity to meet the companies to become aware of what’s available for them out there and it’s easier for companies to come and target students who are doing business so this is their first contact with the soon to be graduates to see what kind of attitudes will be joining them shortly,” she said.

From the past two fairs, Ms Bristol has received very positive feedback and she urged the students to make the most of this one as well.

The head of HR of Barclays, Valerie Bresson, said the month of November is dedicated to giving back to society and be involved with the community in which they do business.

“For this year, the theme of Barclays International is ‘Ready to work’ – that means empowering the youth and getting them ready for the world of work so in essence this theme falls nicely with this fair,” she said.

At the Barclays cubicle the students could register to the ‘Ready to work’ website, take part in a quiz on what Barclays is about and a section which assisted students on how to prepare their CV as well as giving tips on preparing themselves for interviews.

They also had a table of products available at Barclays and a list of vacancies that are currently available which they could apply for and even for positions which are not available they could also register for when they finish their studies.

MCB managing director Bernard Jackson said he would have loved to have received such an opportunity while he was a student himself and that MCB and SBSA have been great partners in the past as the bank has had the opportunity to employ a few past-students from SBSA.

“We are very happy with their performance and we think that this school is a good breeding ground for future professionals of Seychelles. That’s why MCB is interested to engage with the school and when we look at what these students can bring at our organisation we are very happy,” he said.

The students also had the opportunity to register under ‘My First Job Scheme’ with the Special Employment Unit of the Ministry of Employment.

An employment officer Marinette Freminot said out of the 122 graduants who registered under ‘My First Job Scheme’ last year, 96 are employed, one is unemployed but currently going through an interview process, 14 are following further studies, six are not ready for employment and five of them have no contact.

Most of the students preferred to further their studies at UniSey or abroad depending on their exam results and a few pointed out that more organisations should take part in the fair.

The accompanying photos show SBSA students learning more about the various job opportunities through the different stalls at the fair.