Main objective of this programme is to gather both Job Seekers and Job Providers to one place and facilitate job placement activities.

On the first day, 100 beneficiaries will be selected through an interview.

On the second day, awareness sessions will be implemented for those selected beneficiaries regarding attitude development, employment opportunities, and motivation and positive thinking, which will prepare the job seekers to take the challenge of adapting to the new working environment.

During the third day, the employers will aware the participants on the companies and also the opportunities for career advancement and the benefits. The second session will be the interviewing session in which the job seekers will be given an opportunity to face interviews and be selected for jobs suitable for their qualifications, skills and attitudes.

This is an Employment Development Capability program which aims to develop soft skills of the Job Seekers and motivate them to be employed.  Main objectives of this programme are…,

• Open access paths to the school leavers to the labor market.
• Basic skills expected from the private sector in addition to educational knowledge, for recruitment for job training into the private sector workers are expected to be carried out to youth employment.
• Issue certificates related with the training.

Tourism sector saw a rapid growth in all economic activities and created the highest percentage of employment opportunities and new careers during a very short period of time. The influx of tourists into Sri Lanka has also caused a rapid growth in the tourism sector, creating employment opportunities for the youth of Sri Lanka.

Today, it has become one of a major foreign exchange flows within the country and has become a field which accepted the challenge to create more job opportunities for the country.

It’s obvious that the government policies objective of the development process has been based to meet the requirement of tourism sector. Objectives of the awareness  programme are..,

• Refer for jobs through provide practical training.
• Identify vacancies and service providers in this sector and refer beneficiaries to them.
• Inform beneficiaries about generation of self-employment opportunities, referral for training, and will provide the services necessary to maintain the business.
• Issue certificates related with the training.

Proper human resource development is essential to the development of any country. For such a development a solid education which develops the knowledge, skills and attitude of an individual is a must. Unfortunately, despite the fact that Sri Lanka is one of the very few countries of the world who provide free education even for university education, a considerable percentage of students’ dropout from various stages of the school life. These youth join the working world as unskilled job seekers.

Simultaneously, skill mismatch of the job seekers with the Job Providers, employment preferences, lower labor force participation, less understanding about the new trends in labor market, lack of knowledge about professional planning, high unemployment rate among the educated young and many other issues plague the labor force of Sri Lanka which are negatively impacting the development of the country as a whole.

Therefore proper intervention and guidance must be delivered to facilitate effective human resource development of the country. Thus, as the career guidance unit we assist the departments’ vision of creating a ‘World Class Labour Force’, by providing effective career guidance and counseling services to the youth of the country.

Hence the unit provides employment services; mainly the career counseling, vocational counseling and employment counseling to the youth empowering them to face the challenges in the labour market successfully. This intervention and assistance is meant to be long term and consistent which helps out the individuals to be successful in employment and attain positive career advancement.

In order to fulfill these targets the Career Guidance unit carries out various functions.

Providing Career guidance and counseling services to individually and in groups

Empowerment is essential for the, entrance and existence of the Clients to the working world, taking critical decisions when necessary in professional development and various stages in life. One to one counseling is done to achieve this target. Group and individual employment services for clients are given at district and divisional level officer who are deployed by the Department of Manpower and Employment.

GCE O/L career guidance programme

Every year approximately around 50% of the O/L students will be eligible for A/L therefore a large number of unskilled job seekers joins the working world without any professional qualification or a proper plan.

Students who are eligible for GCE (A/L) s should be guided to select their respective study stream according to their skills, recognition, and future career objectives, and the dropouts from formal education should be guided to adapt effectively to the working world.

GCE A/L career guidance programme

Every year approximately around 5% of the GCE (A/L ) students will be eligible for Universities and a large number of unskilled workers will join the working world without any professional qualification or a proper plan. Therefore this programme aims to provide effective guidance and counseling services, as it is essential for effective adaptation to the working world.

Winning Career Callenges programme

It’s obvious that a large number of school leavers spend their precious time uselessly without a job or a professional plan which hinders socio-economic development of the country. At the same time, it will extend its influence in creating various crises. Thus to plan ahead and to reach out, to adapt to the working world, counseling services and guidance services are essential.

Attitude changing and personal development training for undergraduate students (Int / Ext)

The spirit of the students in the country, are absorbed in to the national university system annually. The debated issue of the skill mismatch of the university graduates and their lack of employability skills which are sought after by the private sector is creating a bottleneck and obstructs the proper usage of such talent in to the development of the country. The impact of government spending is also questioned at this stage as the expected outcome is not achieved after a long term investment towards development of human capital. Thus motivation and attitude changing, soft skill development prior to the undergraduates joining the world of work is essential to break this vicious cycle whilst changing the university curricular to suit the modern labour market requirements.

Awareness programme for teachers on career guidance

Apart from a childs’ parents it is the teacher who is most closer to a student during the school career. At the same time, the teachers can influence their students in many aspects. Yet, the teachers themselves should be armed with correct approaching and counseling techniques and the latest trends in labour market to be in a position to address the needs of students successfully.

Further, it is the teacher who meet the students on a regular basis and they are in position to guide them in a proper direction.

Therefore, it is essential to provide career guidance and counseling for school children during the school time, in order to prepare their future career plans, which will lead them to be absorbed to the working world as effective participants. In order to achieve this objective the teachers should be empowered through workshops to carry out their role of guidance and counseling officer in a successful and an effective manner which would meet the demands of the students.

Awareness programme for parents on career guidance

In this country with changing socio-economic patterns, it’s parents' responsibility to focus on children and refer them to the correct path, and cater productive person to the country. Therefore, in this changing socio-economic patterns in the field of education, it is essential to aware the parents on not just about trade sectors but also about the pattern of raising children properly.

Therefore, identifying student’s skills, raising awareness of the children about the education and employment fields, methods of raising children properly, and update their knowledge is a timely and essential requirement. It is directly influential on child's future career development.

Self-employment promotion programme

Self-employment sector receives special place in economic development of a country. Therefore, the youth who has the ability for self-employment, should be referred to grab that opportunity, because it’s a timely and essential requirement.

Career guidance for vulnerable groups programme

Significant amount of the youth of Sri Lanka can be identified as who are with special needs, who have been faced various conflicts, and being influenced by threatening situations.

It’s vital to add them to the mainstream, and develop their job suitability and let them contribute to the country's economic development.Youth falling in to the category of vulnerable may it be due to a physical or psychological special need, poverty, internally displaced, loss of proper parental care or even living in a disadvantaged/ under developed region qualifies to participate in this programme.

Hasara Career Guidance and Educational Information Bulletin

To create a workforce with the knowledge, skills and attitudes, and with high potential to contribute to the development of the country, magazines of written news media and audio-visual media plays a major role. Therefore the Hasara magazine will fulfill that requirement by socializing the innovative concepts of career guidance and counseling, which will lead to create a workforce with the appropriate knowledge, attitudes, skills and potential needed for the development of the country.

Professionals and Individuals who are experts in the relevant fields are cordially invited to provide articles to the magazine.

Career path programme

The selection of a career path should be done after studying the various options available. It should not be done on sheer instinct. Therefore, the students should be made aware of possible paths available at school level itself, prior to them making the respective selection. It’s obvious that they select different courses without professional objectives and, without an idea on a career path, and there is a reasonable percentage of unemployed youth who idle without any access to vocational courses. This will effect harmfully to the socio-economic development of the country.

Thus this prograamme addresses this burning need and provide the most needed information regarding career choices through professionals in respective fields.