In the hope to find an employment, Tukimin, 27 years old, travelled for almost 16 hours by bus from Lampung to the two-day Job Fair for Disabilities held in Semarang, Central Java, from 8-9 December. “I arrived last night and I hope that I can find a job through this job fair,” he said.

Tukimin was one of 500 job seekers with disabilities looking for an employment from 27 companies participating at the Job Fair for Persons with Disabilities, jointly held by the ILO, the Provincial Government of Central Java and Better Work Indonesia (BWI), a joint programme of ILO and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The job fair was conducted in conjunction with the International Day for Persons with Disabilities.

The first inclusive job fair held in Central Java, the job fair did not only offer job opportunities, but also training programmes for representatives of companies’ human resources departments regarding the recruitment processes for workers with disabilities.

The many participating companies were from the garment sector, followed by food and beverage, tour and travel, retails and manufactures. The job fair was also supported by the Ministry of Manpower, Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo) and Kerjabilitas, the Indonesian biggest online job search platform for persons with disabilities.

Candra Yuliawan, Head of Placement and Transmigration of the Provincial Manpower Office of Central Java, explained that the job fair aimed to directly connect job seekers with disabilities with the companies, provide better employment opportunities for persons with disabilities and support the companies to fulfil the obligation by Law No. 8/2016 to employ one percent of workers with disabilities from the total number of workers without disabilities.

“Persons with disabilities still face challenges in finding employment due to lack of information and lack of self-confidence in interacting with others. Thus, we hope that the job fair can provide a greater employment access and opportunity,” he said adding that job fair increased the age limit for applying jobs to over 35 years old.

Meanwhile, Tendy Gunawan, ILO’s Programme Officer for Inclusive Workplace, appreciated the high enthusiasm shown by companies in Central Java to hire and employ workers with disabilities. The participating companies, therefore, offered two recruitment mechanisms: The first mechanism was the pre-selection of job seekers with disabilities who already sent their CVs in advance and second was direct selection by having job seekers with disabilities giving their CVs on the spot.

Ratna, a representative from Alfa Midi, an Indonesian supermarket chain, greatly appreciated the first job fair for disabilities. “We have already employed 12 workers with disabilities. We greatly appreciate this initiative as the job fair can directly connect us with the job seekers with disabilities,” she said.

The same appreciation was also given by Rita Purwandani from PT Ameya Livingstyle Indonesia. She also wished that the job fair could be sustained and be conducted regularly. “Our company comes from Yogyakarta and we are pleased to be part of the first job fair for disabilities. We already employ workers with disabilities in varied departments such as administration and sales,” shared Rita.

Similarly, Jayatun from PT Pan Brothers in Boyolali, hoped that through the job fair, her company could find potential candidates and increase the number of workers with disabilities. “Workers with disabilities have a high working performance and they also a high productivity and enthusiast,” she added.

The first job fair is a follow-up to the signing of a Collaborative Declaration to Promote Placement and Expansion of Job Opportunity for Persons with Disabilities through Employment Disability Service Unit in August. The Collaborative Declaration was signed by the ILO together with the representatives of the Ministry of Manpower, Provincial Manpower Office of Central Java, Apindo and BWI.

“Lessons learnt and good practices taken from this first job fair for disabilities would be used to replicate and enhance similar works for other employment disability service unit in other provinces and areas. We hope to continue and expand this good initiative,” concluded Tendy.