Less than 20 out of 500 applicants qualified for available overseas jobs – Basintale

The Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), Malik Basintale, has revealed that fewer than 20 out of more than 500 Ghanaians who applied for overseas jobs met the basic requirements set by international recruiters, despite the vacancies requiring what he described as ‘not difficult skills.’

Speaking at the launch of the YEA's Nationwide Labour Migration Readiness Campaign, Basintale said the outcome highlighted the urgent need to strengthen the skills and preparedness of young people seeking employment abroad.

According to him, the agency had witnessed several recruitment exercises where hundreds of young people expressed interest in available jobs, but only a handful qualified after assessment.

"We had over 500 people who were interested in the jobs available. And when these recruiters came, we could get only less than 20 who met the requirements," he said.

Basintale explained that the available positions included carpenters, plumbers and drivers, stressing that the recruitment tests were not overly demanding.

"These were not difficult skills. These people needed carpenters, plumbers and drivers. Our best drivers in this country, some of them could not pass the test of these recruiters. They asked them basic questions, they failed. They asked them to conduct simple exercises, they failed," he stated.

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He noted that although there were about 500 job opportunities readily available, the country was unable to fill them because many applicants lacked the required competencies.

"There were 500 opportunities out there, readily available, but because some of our young people lacked the requisite skill, we could not get up to 20 of them who qualified," he added.

Basintale further disclosed that the agency has encountered instances where successful applicants struggled to adapt after arriving in their destination countries, citing the case of a young man who was deported after being unable to use Google Maps despite having been shortlisted for a job in Dubai.

He said such experiences informed the agency's decision to launch the nationwide campaign, which seeks to both improve the employability of Ghanaian youth and educate them on legitimate international labour migration opportunities.

According to him, the YEA believes Ghana must simultaneously enhance the skills of prospective workers while increasing awareness of legal labour exchange programmes to enable more young people to take advantage of employment opportunities abroad.

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At the launch of the Youth Employment Agency’s Nationwide Labour Migration Readiness Campaign, CEO Malik Basintale revealed that despite hundreds of international job opportunities available for carpenters, plumbers and drivers, fewer than 20 applicants met the required… pic.twitter.com/U2tUZTjVWk

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