EFC joins EDEX to bring job suppliers and seekers together

Tuesday, 10 December 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

In its continuing efforts to find different ways to bridge the skills gap for its employer members, the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with EDEX to help empower Sri Lanka’s youth. As the voice of over 550 employers in Sri Lanka, the EFC persistently and very publicly reminds educators and policy makers that the country continues to suffer from an ever widening skills gap.

Our education system continues to churn out graduates who are unable to find jobs because, for all the studying and exams they have done, they lack the skills and training needed to get employed. For this reason the EFC was happy to sign an MOU today pledging its support to EDEX’s initiative to ‘Empower Sri Lankan youth to be globally competitive’. The EDEX initiative is a multi-stakeholder project, promoted by the Royal College Union which is the alumni of the Royal College in Colombo. It started in 2004 as an education and careers exhibition and since then, has grown into a multi-disciplinary voluntary service organisation that serves the nation in many ways in the arena of education, training and youth employment. Civil society initiative “We started the EDEX Expo in 2004, because we felt that as a civil society initiative we could step in and try to make a difference,’ said EDEX Chairman Kamal Abeysinghe. “We want all like-minded people to come together on this. This is not something that one individual or one institution alone can solve.” EDEX is looking to promote its state of the art web platform which will be a vital asset to anyone concerned with job seeking. The platform is designed to connect the education arena to the world of employment. The portal allows senior students to set up personal accounts and as they progress in their education and start to get ready for employment, this account becomes an automatic CV builder as it logs their educational achievements, training and progress. This gives EDEX a comprehensive database of school and university leavers that both training institutions and employers can access. Commenting on the portal Abeysinghe said, “The facility has the ability to search and match relevant parties. It matches training and employment and allows job seekers to cut across the delays in the job searching process. The EFC’s Director General Ravi Peiris said that he was very happy to be endorsing EDEX’s efforts via the MOU. “As the collective voice of our employer members, we can help EDEX by letting them know what kind of skills and training employers are looking for.” EDEX is best known for its flagship careers fair that it holds annually. This year the event will be on 17 - 19 Jan at BMICH.