MAY PEN, Clarendon — Pointing to one company’s efforts to go green and branch out into less-mundane activities, Member of Parliament for Clarendon North Central Robert Morgan is talking up opportunities within the security industry.

It was one of the sectors on display during a career fair and expo held recently in the Summerfield section of his constituency.

According to Morgan, who is also minister with responsibility for Iiformation, being a security guard is now more attractive.

“Quest Security has a fleet of only electric cars so security guard is not just stand up in front of a place now. Security guards are transporting significant amounts of cash; they are doing logistics and all of those things so we just want to expand the horizons of people and give them the opportunities while giving them the services,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Training manager at Quest Security, Jermaine Johnson said the turnout was a success.

“We have had a lot of people applying; we’ve not had a failure today, and I hope that continues for the rest of the day. We are testing immediate responses, and we are also marketing some of the security products that we have, and promoting our green initiative as most of our fleet are fully electric,” he noted.

The security industry has had a challenging couple of months, with one armed guard fatally shot and others attacked while protecting large sums of cash being transported. That came on the heels of bitter negotiations over the implementation of a court ruling that categorises security workers as staff and not contract workers.

In addition to Quest Security, King Alarm also had a booth at the career fair and expo that attracted hundreds of job seekers and students. According to Morgan the event, held for the first time in his constituency, was sponsored by the HEART/NSTA Trust and also attracted participants from Manchester and St Ann.

“We are really happy with the turnout. We have had almost 500 people so far and more people are coming in, and it’s early days yet,” he told the Observer.

“We have invited numerous government agencies, not just to give services — like RGD [Registrar’s General Department] is doing birth certificates, PICA [Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency] is doing passport — but we have also invited companies and agencies like the fire brigade which is sensitising students about jobs in the fire brigade. The army [Jamaica Defence Force] is here; the police [Jamaica Constabulary Force] is here.”

He also expressed pleasure that “hundreds of people” had used the fair as an opportunity to sign up for free classes at HEART. The venue for the event was the Sir Donald Sangster Community Centre.

Echoing comments made by the day’s guest speaker, Morgan reiterated the need for youngsters to broaden their employment scope.

“Importantly, Minister [Floyd] Green — the minister of agriculture, fisheries and mining — was here and he gave a very good presentation encouraging the young people to expand their horizons and look at other opportunities,” he emphasised.

When asked whether young people now have a greater interest in the civil service compared to the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, especially given the Government’s new compensation package, Morgan, skilfully dodging the question, focused on the unemployment rate.

“I think we have a shortage of people; our unemployment rate is now at about six per cent [so] we need more people. And there are a lot of young people who are underemployed, there are a lot of young people who are now seeking employment, so the more we can expose them to the opportunities [the better] because there is a lot of myth. Not a lot of people understand what really is happening, what opportunities are out there,” he said.

“We are not waiting for them to go out there and seek the opportunities; we are actually taking the opportunity to them so they can look if they want to join the army, the police force, the fire brigade, or be a security guard,” he added.

Councillor Hershel Brown (Jamaica Labour Party, Chapelton Division) praised the event. He was impressed with the turnout as well as the variety of participating agencies.

“The persons that have come are really utilising the services that are being offered,” he noted.

“An event like this is extremely important because these persons would have to travel, in some cases to Kingston, to access these kinds of services so to bring it here to them is of extreme importance. It would be good if we could do it much more often. We are looking at an annual career fair and expo. Hopefully, we can do [it] every six months to bring the services to the people, rather than them going to it,” he added.

Twenty-one-year-old Fidel Richards was also impressed. He believes the fair will have a positive impact and he is hoping even more can be done for marginalised communities.

“I am interested in at least three areas that I have seen – JDF, Quest Security Company, and the [Jamaica] Fire Brigade. Security is the type of career that I see myself doing. More fairs should be done, not only in Summerfield but mainly in places that don’t have a lot of exposure to things like this, like Kellits, James Hill, and Frankfield,” he said.

Thirty-six-year-old Cordella Temple from Chapelton, who expressed similar sentiments, also wants to see more done to support young people from the area.

“They should do more of these fairs ’cause it’s very helpful, especially for the youth coming up now so they can participate in the different areas. They need a HEART school to occupy their time,” she suggested.

During the fair 80 technical and vocational graduates received certificates from the Heart/ NSTA Trust.