BY IAN KAUKUI
BEVERLYN Mei Taoha is one of the many beneficiaries of the Pre-Employment Training carried out under the Honiara City Council.
The Pre-Employment Training (PET) is the second component of the Rapid Employment Project (REP) in partnership with the Honiara City Council (HCC).
Beverlyn Mei Taoha who recently attended the last PET batch before the program closed in December told Solomon Women that when the office reopened in January 2016, Beverly came for career coaching and assistance in finding a job.
She was told about a vacancy with the Taiwan Farm in the King George VI area and she was encouraged to apply and submit her CV and a copy of her PET certificate and a Reference Letter from the PET Team Leader,” the statement adds.
She was among 40 other applicants considered for the 3 vacant positions and she was overjoyed when she was chosen with two others.
When asked how PET has helped her she said, “I have no qualification, and only educated to form 3 level, so the training and the certificate have helped me to secure a job.”
She has plans of having a farm of her own and passing on farming skills to other family members and those interested in farming.
Since 2011, PET has trained 12,295 people in Life Skills and has certified 11,558. It also stated that since 2011, the REP has provided 561,838 person-days of work and employed about 10,246 people for an average of 54 days each in mostly street cleaning, roadside brush cutting, and small infrastructure projects such as Jacob’s ladders and footbridges.
In 2014, the project introduced career coaching and referrals for those who wish to find employment other than street cleaning.
Since August 2014, PET –REP has 1, 147 one on one career coaching and social services referrals and helped 818 people produce CVs. Having met its targets, the Pre-Employment Training has stopped in December 2015, but the career coaching and referral services continue.
