With over 170 attendees attending the recent job fair of the Solid Waste Management Corporation (SWMC), management is upbeat with the outcome of the event. General Manager of the SWMC Mr. Alphonso Bridgewater, said after the fair that he understood some persons who arrived later, left when they leant that the conference room where the fair was held was filled. “I want to use this occasion to say that even though you weren’t there, we still would accept your application because we want the best of the lot,” Bridgewater said.

Director of Human Recourses at the SWMC Jamella Christopher, said the event was very positive. “We had a large turnout, a very positive turnout. We had persons coming out from various areas of St. Kitts, almost every village has someone attending,” she said. “We had a lot of females however. We wanted to see a more equal balance of males but it was very, very positive, people were enthusiastic, they were ready and willing to work and we’re basically moving forward in screening these applicants,” Ms. Christopher said. She added that the process of selecting a shortlist of candidates from the applications would take two weeks.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bridgewater said they would go through the applications and select a few persons for additional interviews. “We have completed application forms which we can now use to screen and then come up with a shortlist and then move to the whole process of screening,” he said. Before the application process began at the job fair, attendees were given a detailed presentation from the heads of the various departments on the positions and what these entail. They were also given an insight into the work of the corporation and what is expected of them if they are employed. They were also shown a short video with some staff members speaking on the working environment at the SWMC and the opportunities that are afforded to them including traveling overseas for training. Mr. Bridgewater is satisfied that people left with a greater understanding of the role of the SWMC in the country. “What they get is a more amplified view and position of all that solid waste does because one of the good things about the presentation and the job fair was to give staff who work in the actual areas an opportunity to speak directly to that—the street cleaners, the people who work on the landfill site, on the trucks, the drivers and so on,” he explained.

The SWMC is hiring persons to fill several positions including street sweeper, utility officer, heavy equipment drivers, garbage collector/loaders, landfill site operators, security officers, mechanics, litter wardens and office cleaners.