Zimbabwean grads seek career match at Chinese job fair

Chamber welcomes thousands of candidates for opportunities to kick-start professional lives

HARARE — Thousands of hopeful job seekers attending a job fair in the Zimbabwean capital Harare saw a total of 757 openings up for grabs.

Organized by the Chamber of Chinese Enterprises in Zimbabwe in partnership with Stanbic Bank, the two-day China-Stanbic Job Fair that opened on Oct 14 attracted 30 Chinese-run enterprises, with those in the mining and mineral processing sectors constituting the majority of recruiters.

"For us, at this job fair, we are looking for IT engineers, solar engineers, solar technicians, accounts and sales (personnel), security, PAs and receptionists — we are looking for people in almost all departments," said Maggie Feng, managing director of Satewave Technologies, one of the Chinese companies recruiting at the fair.

Gamuchirai Ndlumbi, a recent civil and water engineering graduate from the National University of Science and Technology, had come to the fair to seek a graduate traineeship.

"For now, since I am just finishing school, I am looking for a position in graduate training to start with," Ndlumbi told Xinhua. "Any position, anything that is part of the civil engineering discipline will do well for me since I am trying to learn, develop my skills and develop myself," she added.

Isheanesu Masuka, a food science and technology graduate from the Chinhoyi University of Technology, had come to seek new employment opportunities.

"I am here for this job fair because the food industry in Zimbabwe has not been operating to maximum capacity, so there are not a lot of opportunities for those who are interested in positions in the food manufacturing industry.

"I decided to come here to also explore other opportunities that could be available, and in this case, we have the mining industry whereby there are potential opportunities," said Masuka.

After staying in China for seven years, John Moyo decided to come back home to put to use the skills he acquired abroad, and had come to the fair to kick-start his career in environmental engineering.

"I have been in China for seven years, and I feel like I want to bring back the knowledge that I learned from China to Zimbabwe, and increase trade between the two countries. So this is one of the reasons I came here, to find a job and also to be part of the teams that are working toward growing our country," said Moyo.

Shannel Liu, vice-president of the Chamber of Chinese Enterprises in Zimbabwe, said the job fair aims to provide an interface between job seekers and their prospective employers.

"We have over 80 Chinese companies, and a lot of them actually come to us and want us to help them find local employees. They don't have a very effective channel to find suitable people, so they were asking if it's possible for us to hold a job fair.

"We understand that it is difficult for local people to find jobs as well. A lot of fresh graduates cannot find jobs, so they need to go to other countries to find job opportunities. That's why we created this platform for job seekers, employers and organizations, to meet face-to-face, to understand their needs and also the demand for them to meet with each other," she said.

In addition, Liu said the open and public recruitment initiative allows employers and potential employees to communicate transparently, regarding matters such as positions available and salaries offered.

Liu said that currently over 100,000 locals are employed by companies represented under the Chamber of Chinese Enterprises in Zimbabwe.

Vimbai Chiza, deputy director of employment promotion and services in the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, said the platform is in line with the government's efforts to improve the livelihoods of ordinary citizens.

"This is complementing the government's offers toward employment promotion, so we applaud this event and we are planning on having many more job fairs where we can provide employment opportunities for our job seekers in the country," she said.

Huang Minghai, the economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe, said Chinese investments have been creating opportunities in Zimbabwe. "We are glad to see that Chinese companies are making efforts to drive the economy and expand employment in Zimbabwe. The job fair provides a platform for the connection of Chinese companies and job seekers."

Over the years, Zimbabwe has witnessed an influx of Chinese investment, particularly in the mining and mineral processing sector, manufacturing, agriculture and ICT, among others. This has created vast employment opportunities in a country facing acute employment challenges.

In August, the China-Zimbabwe Exchange Center also hosted a two-day job fair to facilitate face-to-face interaction between job seekers and potential employers.

Xinhua