Start Work (National Jobs Fairs)

Timeframe: May 2011 – October 2011

Locations: Ramallah, Jerusalem, Bethleham, Hebron, Nablus, Jenin

Donor/s: International Youth Foundation (IYF)

Start Work (National Jobs Fairs) aimed to improve the employability of young graduates through the provision of employment skills training and the organisation of jobs fairs.

project aimed to:

 Improve the employment prospects of young people through employment skills training
 Increase exposure to internship and work opportunities through job fairs, where young people were able to meet with potential employers

The target group were young people between the ages of 18-30 who are either in university or have recently graduated. Youth were selected then given employment skills training focusing on CV writing and interview skills. Youth were then invited to attend one of 3 jobs fairs held in the West Bank in order to meet companies interested in employing graduates.

Particular lessons learned

The project highlighted the need for simple employment skills training to narrow the gap between those able and those unable to access employment opportunities, as well as the strong interest in such trainings from young people. The project also demonstrated the need to create and facilitate better links between young people and employers, and in particular the strong interest of employers in projects which can better connect them with young job-seekers.

Project factbox

 26 Employment skills training programmes provided to train 581 young people.
 423 young people attended jobs fairs held in Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron which were attended by 47, 15 and 17 companies respectively.