PRESIDENT of the Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA) Brian Pengelley is calling on educated school leavers to apply for jobs in manufacturing companies through the JMA.

The JMA head said a number of companies in the manufacturing sector are currently expanding and retooling and will need trainable young people for their businesses in the near future.

“In the manufacturing sector at the moment, there is major investment going on and major investment to come. We are increasing productivity levels, becoming more efficient; and for that we need skill-trained, capable individuals, people who we can bring into our plants and give them the additional skills in technology, and that why it’s important that in our education system we are graduating kids who have that ability,” he told Career & Education last week.

Pengelley, who is also sales director at Red Stripe, said young persons with the right attributes are not easily found, but indicated that the manufacturing sector needed to see more of them to assess their abilities.

“They are not easily found. I think we need to do some more searching, but I think people need to feel free to come forward and put themselves up,” said the man who was participating in the National Career Development Conference at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston on Wednesday.

“I was talking to some young people and they [asked] ‘when are we going to get a job?’ and I said ‘where have you applied? The first step must be taken by you, and then we’ll take it from there’. So people must not be afraid to contact us through the JMA,” Pengelley added.

Meanwhile, in the main address at the conference, Minister of Education Reverend Ronald Thwaites implored the students present to take seriously their opportunity to get an education — a right which was denied to earlier generations of Jamaicans.

“If you are hoping for a better future for yourself and your children, then your dedication to your education is one of the foremost things you can possibly do — more important than dancehall, more important than passa passa, more important than all the bling and Babylon that we so fill our lives with,” he said.

Thwaites also urged the students to become efficient in mathematics, English and information technology — no matter the career or vocation they choose.

“As much as we love our language and enjoy speaking it, the command of English is essential if we are to advance in whatever career we choose,” he said.

The minister recalled that as a boy, he was held back in his progress because he “did not pay enough attention to mathematics when I was your age”.

He said while career goals may change several times over the years “what mustn’t change is your ambition to do well for yourself and for your community”.