EDEX 2007 to help Lankan job seekers

With a vision of “Empowering Sri Lankan youth to be globally active,” EDEX 2007 is organized by the Royal College Union (RCU) for the fourth consecutive year in both Colombo and Kandy.

The organisers have created a web based job seekers database, which was launched at the RCU Skills Centre at Royal College on November 7. Job seekers can log on to www.careers.edex.lk and file their personal details. This service is absolutely free and hopes to bridge the gap between the employed and those who are unemployed, while the CVs filed will be referred to a number of private sector and multi-national companies from a diverse range of industries such as banking, financial services, manufacturing, airlines, business process outsourcing (BPO) etc., who have already confirmed participation at EDEX 2007.

Speaking at the website launch, Kamal Abeysinghe, Project Chairman spoke of the difficulties faced by the Sri Lanka youth when trying to find employment. Sri Lanka, which boasts of a very high literacy rate of 92.5% also has a high rate of unemployment due to the mismatch in skills demanded. On the flip side of the coin, thousands of jobs remain vacant also due to the mismatch.

EDEX 2007 promises a wide variety of stalls with careers and domestic education pavilions, along with an international education pavilion and a new entry this year, the commercial vendor pavilion seeing the participation of booksellers, computer vendors, e- learning service providers.

The exhibition will be of use to those seeking higher education opportunities locally and overseas, with the participation of educational service providers, universities, distant learning institutes who will not only explain details of numerous opportunities on offer and carry out on-site enrolments, but also consider concessions and scholarship possibilities for deserving students. A large number of universities and higher educational institutes from Singapore, USA, United Kingdom, Australia, Russia, Japan, Bangladesh, India, Thailand and Malaysia have confirmed participation at EDEX 2007.

The EDEX exhibition, which started in 2004, is now endorsed by the Presidential Secretariat, Education Ministry, Ministry of Vocational and Technical Training and the Ministry of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment. The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce will continue as the strategic partner. EDEX 2007 will host over 200 stalls and also a number of value additions which the organisers say will mutually benefit participant stallholders and visitors alike.

There will also be “EDEX Career Seminars” sponsored by Jobsnet, covering generic topics of relevance to job seekers such as ‘How to write a CV’, ‘How to face an interview’ as well as industry focused presentations. There will also be CEO’s forum themed ‘How to empower our youth to be globally competitive.’

EDEX 2007 will take place from January 19 to 21, 2007 at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial International Convention Hall in Colombo and at the Queens Hotel in Kandy, from January 23-24. (LP)