Thousands of jobless pack job fair

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.