New job portal for migrant workers

The UN Migration Agency (IOM) has partnered with Bdjobs.com Ltd, the largest online job portal of Bangladesh, to provide latest information on overseas employment opportunities to jobseekers and to connect them directly with employers.

The two agencies signed a memorandum of understanding on Sunday to create a new online portal that is set to go live within six months, IOM said in a statement yesterday.

The portal will have some unique features, particularly designed for Bangladeshi migrant workers.

The android app will offer Bangla/English language preferences and will allow jobseekers to create profiles. The profiles will be integrated with a search engine through which government, foreign missions, employers and recruiting agencies will be able to identify suitable candidates, IOM said.

“Overseas opportunities, job requirements and the terms and conditions of their employment are the bare minimum that migrant workers should know to make conscious choices,” said IOM Bangladesh Chief of Mission Giorgi Gigauri.

“Credible information need to become more accessible, not only to potential migrants, but also migrants living abroad and those willing to re-migrate,” he added.

According to the statement, every year nearly two million people in Bangladesh join the working age population, while only 200,000 jobs are created locally.

This phenomenon, coupled with pull factors -- including peer influence, expectations of higher income and the perceived social status attached to living abroad -- often lead working age people to migrate for jobs overseas.

But prospective migrants frequently find themselves misled by middlemen when it comes to signing contracts and confronting working and living conditions different from what they were promised before migrating.

Some jobseekers even become victims of human trafficking and end up facing extreme exploitation and abuse.

“The changing market dynamics are driving us to focus more on technical jobs, which are filled by a large number of migrant workers,” said Bdjobs.com CEO AKM Fahim Mashroor.

“We believe this initiative will definitely help migrant workers get more accurate and timely job information for safe and regular migration,” he said.