The Chamber of Commerce of Beirut launches the Women Digital Center for employment within the INTERNISA programme

How to tighten the gap between supply and demand in terms of women employment? What should be done to develop the women employability skills? How to help them to integrate the labour market? These are the main issues behind the establishment of the INTERNISA Women Digital Center at the Chamber of Commerce of Beirut.

The Chamber of Commerce of Beirut launched the state of the art Internisa digital Center to play the role of a help desk spot in Beirut. The objective is to offer advisory and practical support services to Lebanese young women who are job seekers and would like to integrate or re-integrate the labor market. The Center is created within the framework of the ENI CBC MED funded Project Internisa within the objective of  empowering the Mediterranean women with trainings, job support services through workshops, digital platform to promote resumes and job offers, and job fair to allow a wider reach out to the job market.

The launching of the Women Digital Center took place on September 29^th at the Chamber, in a smoothly and friendly atmosphere in presence of the Head of Development Projects at Beirut Chamber Mrs. Hana Nehme and IT & communication Manager Mr. Dory Abou Saab and the financial Manager Mr. Fady Sabeh.. The Center welcomed on the first day of activities 8 NEETs young women belonging to diverse Lebanese cultures and regions, who expressed their aspirations and asked questions regarding job opportunities and channels and what it takes to find work. Some of them just graduated, others work already and would like to improve their skills, and others would like to enter the labour market.

Dr. Oussama Ghneim, Career and Job expert at the Women Digital Center explained the offered services by the Center. “Every Monday and Thursday, under a scheduled appointment, all the Lebanese women interested in the INTERNISA project or seeking for a job are invited to the Women Digital Center of the Chamber to seek practical advice”. “Employers often tell that they receive hundreds of CVs that do not meet the required standards. That’s why, and to fill this gap, we offer these consultancies to show job seekers the best way to elaborate CVs in order for them to better present themselves to the employer.” stressed the expert.

CVs, cover letters, interviews…                                                                                   

    How to elaborate your CV? Should you illustrate it with a personal picture? What information should we insert? Do CVs vary? “This will depend on the job you are applying for”. What are the main parts of a cover letter? How do you write it well? How do you present yourself at an interview? What questions should you expect? he added. Is it better to use one or several languages? Is technical training pertinent to include?

These are several Q & A that were explained and discussed during the launching of the Center. What we can say, is that it was an interactive and practical session, fruitful to all of the attendees.

INTERNISA Job platform      

https://www.internisa.eu

    The Center will target as well the enterprises sector to encourage matching between job vacancies and the women job seekers. Thus both beneficiaries’ women and companies will benefit from the INTERNISA digital platform where they can upload job offers and demands.

The Center team will thus assist the applicants to better use the INTERNISA job platform. How to create an account? How to register as a candidate? As a public sector or private sector employee? After completing your profile account, how to search for a job in the several partner countries of the INTERNISA program?                                                                                                                        

“On November 16^th and 17^th, within the INTERNISA project, the Chamber of Commerce of Beirut will organize a Job Fair that will gather 30 employers and enterprises with the youth.  It will be an opportunity for all the job seekers to have direct contact with enterprises.

In these very dire days with the economic crisis that is still very hard on everyone, the Women Digital Center of the Chamber is a beacon of hope for the future.

TESTIMONIES OF ATTENDEES

RACHA AMER -Unemployed but several jobs’ experiences. Terminal SE     

    “The pieces of advice received at the Women Digital Center are important. They helped me knowing the gaps I have. It was also essential for me to interact with others to progress and to be aware of the new things happening or requested by the Labour market. Things change very fast; therefore, a degree is not enough., You must be up to date. In my case, I must improve my English language skills. I am French educated and, these days, the Labour market in Lebanon asks much more for English written and spoken skills.”

MAYA CHAHINE - Teacher in a public school- master’s degree in educational technology and history

“I signed up for the INTERNISA Program in hope to find a job offer related to my qualifications. In fact, based on my studies, I managed to develop a Web application that helps students improve their knowledge in history. This gave me the push to visit the Women Digital Center of the Chamber, seeking a job in the technology field. I came out with more information about the labour market as well as lots of training packages and resources related to digitalization.”

RANA SAAB - Screenwriter, actress and puppeteer

“A friend of mine, a French teacher told me about the launching of this Center. So, I got interested to attend to find more job opportunities.  This training was very interactive and helped me to improve my skills. I was very pleased to interact with the other participants.”