MONTEGO BAY, St James — Fifteen companies operating at Sangster International Airport (SIA) will soon benefit from an influx of new workers following a recruitment fair Tuesday by MBJ Airports Limited, which operates the airport.

The recruitment fair, which saw close to 1,000 jobseekers lining up in the airport’s departure concourse on Tuesday morning, is MBJ’s way of filling hundreds of job positions which have been vacant since the airport reopened amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, said Sharon Hislop-Holt, the company’s manager of commercial business development and marketing.

“While we have had people coming back to work we are not at 100 per cent capacity. So we are aware that there is a need for more staffing at the airport and coordinated this job fair in partnership with our stakeholders here on the airport. So far we have 950 persons registered,” Hislop-Holt told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday.

She noted that anxious jobseekers started to flock the airport grounds as early as 6:30 am as they patiently waited for the opportunity to land a job with the various companies. This, she pointed out, was a major success for the airport as it seeks to employ suitable candidates to continue providing quality service to passengers coming in and out of the country.

“The hope is that at the end of today each company will have individuals who they see available to fit some positions that are vacant and as we go through the summer period they will be employed to these companies at the airport for a smoother operation. We will benefit from more people being employed to these companies as they will be able to process the passengers more efficiently,” Hislop-Holt said.

Operations manager of Port Security Corps Limited, Arthur Adlam told the Observer that this job fair was well-needed as the security agency has been attempting to recruit suitable candidates for several months.

“This job fair that was put on by MBJ is an excellent initiative. I think most of the entities at the airport right now are without the required amount of staff, hence the need for this initiative. The turnout has been really good; we are just hopeful that at the end of the day all the entities, and the airport by extension, realises its ambition in terms of getting staff. We have an airport that is oftentimes bursting at the seams, so we need the workers,” Adlam explained.

The operations manager continued: “We have been doing recruitment for some time, but one of the things is that we are in a competitive environment. We are competing in an environment where there are the BPOs and a hotel sector that is very vibrant, so sometimes people believe that they can get more from these sectors.”

“There is also the challenge, as it relates to background checks, that has to be done for workers within the security industry, so sometimes it is very difficult to find people suitable to work. Also, Port Security’s standard is that we do not recruit people with visible tattoos and in this society, we have a proliferation of that within the demography of which we would want, especially the age group,” he added.

At the same time, Adlam pointed out, the stringent screening that is imposed upon these candidates oftentimes deters many prospective security officers. But, he told the Observer, the security company is determined to protect the country’s borders and its visitors.

“A primary part of civil aviation is about safety and security, so we want to ensure that our passengers and flight teams that come in from other destinations are comfortable knowing that they are coming through an airport that is secure. They need to know that they can depend on our security systems and security infrastructure that are in place to safeguard their interest as well as ours. Whether it be from a safety standpoint or stopping the illegal substances that are going through our airport, we are here to prevent that as the security,” he said.

Glaister Williams, the human resource manager for the airport’s GCG Group, also welcomed the MBJ job fair. Explaining that the company operates both ground and catering services, Williams told the Observer that there are many positions to be filled by the applicants they received on Tuesday.

“Currently, for our catering division, we are looking for stewarding and sanitation supervisors, cooks, mechanics and drivers. For our ground services, in preparation for the upcoming winter tourist season, we are looking to fill our ramp agents, customer service agents and aircraft groomers’ positions. We are also hoping to fill a few positions especially in our auto-mechanic department,” the human resource manager said.

“We want to fill our job vacancies to ensure that we deliver the top quality services that our partners expect of us. But we also want to give young Jamaicans an opportunity that they would not have had as the pandemic has had a big impact on the labour market, so many young high schoolers that would have gone on work experience or gotten their first job, weren’t able to do that. So what GCG is looking to do is give young people their first start,” Williams explained.

For 19-year-old Clarendon resident Javel Gilfilian, landing his first job as a ramp attendant with GCG would mean the world to him.

“This job would really help to better my life financially so that I can help to take care of my family. I just want to be able to help myself,” the Lennon High School past student told the Observer.

Similarly, 21-year-old Coneil Irving is hoping to end his two years of unemployment with a job as a special service agent with that same company. He said that it has been difficult to find a job since graduating from Cambridge High School in St James.