Frantic push to secure Games promises plethora of jobs
PARIS — With a name that doesn't ring oldschool French like Jean, Pierre or Jacques, and a home address in a tough suburb of Paris where riots flared, Salah Benkadmir is discovering how hard it can be to make prospective employers in France see beyond their prejudices.
Despite having a high school diploma in sales and work experience as a vendor on his resume, the 19-year-old job seeker says that when he sends it to stores making hires, often no one calls him back.
“I feel like I've got a label stuck to me. It is very unpleasant," he says.
But with the Olympic Games soon to hit Paris, Benkadmir thinks his fortunes may be about to improve. Organizers urgently need thousands of security guards to help keep athletes and spectators safe and reduce the likelihood of another deadly extremist attack in the French capital.
Demand for people at checkpoints, to scan tickets and help manage crowds is so great that France's state employment agency is offering free and expedited security guard training courses, with no specialist qualifications required.
The “We need you!” approach and promises of plentiful paid work from July to September during the Summer Games and Paralympics are a welcome change for job seekers who feel ostracized from the labor market. Benkadmir hopes that by training for and then working in the huge Olympic security operation, his skills afterward will be more evident to employers in the retail industry than his mix of French-North African roots and his post code: 92000 Nanterre.
Nanterre was the epicenter of rioting that spread across France over the summer after a police officer shot and killed a 17year-old in the town just west of Paris. The death of Nahel Merzouk during a traffic stop hit Benkadmir close to home: Some of his brothers were friends with the youngster, he says.
Like other suburbs of Paris with large immigrant populations, Nanterre is blighted by inequality, disadvantaged housing projects and young people who feel the odds are stacked against them, in part because they're Black and brown. Benkadmir hopes to bust through those obstacles with an Olympics security job that will "show we are versatile, that we invest ourselves in different projects, that we don't just stay in one place, that we really want to succeed.”
Proof of that: He and about 30 other young men from Nanterre invested a morning of their time earlier in December to attend an Olympic jobs presentation in Paris. Benkadmir and his friends got a ride there from one of their dads. Others traveled by public transportation. Gathering in a semicircle, they listened intently as an introductory speaker explained: "The Olympic Games are coming and there's a huge lack of personnel."
In the Paris region alone, state employment agency Pole Emploi is looking for at least 6,000 people in the next four months to take a free three-week training course that will qualify them to work as security stewards at the Olympics and other public events like concerts. That's on top of the 14,000 security workers who have already been newly trained.
“It's rare to have so much work all at one time,” said Najat Semdani, in charge of the recruitment drive. She said it will “benefit people who have been left by the wayside a bit” and those who have experienced “the accidents of life” — including people who left school with no qualifications, youngsters from underprivileged neighborhoods and those who have long been unemployed.