Thousands of jobless pack job fair
Evi Mariani and Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The two-day Career and Recruitment Exhibition 2003 that opened yesterday was marked with a big commotion as thousands of people thronged the Kartika Chandra hotel on Jl. Jend. Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta, disrupting traffic and verging on becoming unruly.
Organizer JobsDB.com, an online recruitment service, had said on its website that it would expect around 20,000 people to attend the job fair, which was offering 2,500 positions from 40 local and multinational participating companies.
However, the Kartika Chandra ballroom could only accommodate 1,200 people, far below the projected turnout.
JobsDB.com's exhibition in 2000, with only 20 companies taking part, was held at Bapindo Plaza on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, South Jakarta, with a capacity of around 1,000 people. Their 2001 exhibition was held at the Jakarta Convention Center, with a capacity of 7,500.
The hotel compound was also inadequate to accommodate the crowd and their vehicles, causing heavy traffic congestion along Gatot Subroto.
Applicants, journalists and visitors who came after lunch could not gain access to the ballroom, and one of the organizers even told the press to return on Wednesday because no one was available to provide information to journalists. He even asked the police to deploy more personnel for the exhibition.
Anti, 22, who has an accounting degree, told The Jakarta Post that she tried for about an hour to enter the ballroom but gave up, because the crowd in front of the ballroom door was becoming hostile.
"I don't think I'll come back tomorrow. I'm scared just looking at these people," said the fresh graduate, who has sent dozens of application letters, but has received not a single reply.
A police officer guarding the hotel estimated that more than 1,000 people were standing in front of the hotel door, but was unable to estimate the number of people already inside.
The jostling and suffocating crowd, combined with the hot sun, resulted in some casualties as some prospective job applicants fainted. The remaining were soaked through with perspiration that ruined their well-groomed appearance.
In the online invitation, the organizer had suggested applicants come in appropriate business attire.
Wegi, 21, who has a degree in international trade, told the Post that he had waited for four hours and would keep trying to gain entry, hoping for even the slightest opportunity for an interview.
"I don't know how and when I'll be able enter the ballroom," he said, helplessly stuck in a crowd just outside the ballroom door.
The exhibition was opened by Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea and attended by State Minister for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises H. Alimarwan Hanan, and will be open today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.