ST JAMES, Jamaica — A number of young people from Lilliput who participated in last week’s Opportunity Day seminar have lauded the session that prepared a number of them for the subsequent Hyatt job fair.

The job fair was staged on Wednesday at the Hyatt Ziva Hotel (formerly Ritz Carlton Rose Hall) just two days after the seminar hosted by attorney Ashley-Ann Foster, who is also the People’s National Party chairman for East Central St James.

Hundreds of people turned up at the job fair for an opportunity at employment at the hotel which is to open in November.

Twenty-five-year-old Yanique Wilson said she “learnt a lot of things from the opportunity seminar, “like how to conduct and prepare” oneself “for an interview.” Wilson admitted that she has worked in the hotel sector as a trained in bartender. She, however, noted that she was never required to go through the experience of a formal interview.

The 90-plus attendants at the two-hour long seminar were given practical advice on how to successfully move from applicant to employee, work ethic and relevant training opportunities for jobs in the sector.

The young attorney thought it to be a fitting occasion to offer such training as many of those who may be applying for jobs may have earned the key technical skills but may not have been exposed to the required soft skills needed to move their careers forward.

According to Foster, the impetus to organise the training session was born out of her belief that “every human being deserves an opportunity and there are times when it looks as if persons are lazy or they do not try hard enough. We judge others off our own standards when perhaps what they need is a helping hand.”

Presenters at the seminar were Myrtle Dwyer of Glamour Destinations Ltd and Everdon Dixon, recruitment officer at Heart Trust/ NTA.