Sixteen passes — no job in Jamaica

(Jamaica Observer) JUZZLE Sayles worked hard in school and made her mother proud, but despite having 16 Caribbean Examination Council passes she has been unable to secure a job, and her parents are unable to find money for her to pursue further studies.

After completing close to 50 job applications and facing equal rejections, the 21-year-old Edith Dalton James High School and Camperdown High School past student is now appealing publicly for a job.

The Jamaica Observer learnt of Sayles’ plight from her mother, Sophia Thompson, who was a guest at Wednesday’s launch of the National Poverty Reduction Programme at Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston.

Thompson was among parents whose children are beneficiaries of the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH).

The event was hosted to outline Jamaica’s Vision 2030 plan to reduce the prevalence of poverty to fewer than 10 per cent of the population by 2030.

Thompson, who herself holds seven CSEC subjects but has been unemployed for more than 20 years, said that she has long theorised that it is difficult for the majority of inner-city children to get a fair shot at life.

The family lives in Cassava Piece, a low-income community in St Andrew.

The mother said that Sayles, the eldest of her four children, was fired from her business process outsourcing (BPO) job after just a year. However, Thompson insisted that her daughter’s dismissal was a case of victimisation. She also said that her daughter is a hard worker.

She said she was not able to fund Sayles beyond upper sixth form and her brother Zienden beyond lower sixth form. The mother said that she had signed up for a grant from the National Youth Service, but to date has not received a callback from the government-run institution.

“It’s difficult and disheartening because they go to school and get their education, did so well, and now they come out and still not into a job. Everywhere she sent her résumé or applied for have rejected her. Sometimes she’s at home she cries; sometimes I have to cheer her up. It hurts as a parent to see your child’s pain. It hurts,” Thompson told the Observer.

While arguing that getting a job in Jamaica requires “links”, the 40-year-old woman appealed to organisations to reach out to her daughter who, she believes, “will not be a disappointment”.

“It’s not only my children who are feel-