Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese Email this article news.gov.hk
SLW visits Labour Department's Y.E.S. resource centre in Kwai Fong (with photos)
*********************************************************

     The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, visited the Labour Department (LD)'s Youth Employment Start (Y.E.S.) in Metroplaza, Kwai Fong, today (August 13) to see for himself the one-stop employment and self-employment support service provided by the youth employment resource centre.

     Accompanied by the Commissioner for Labour, Mr Donald Tong, Mr Cheung was first briefed by LD officers and staff from the Hong Kong Young Women's Christian Association on the centre's operation and was given an overview of its service provision.

     The LD has set up two Y.E.S. centres since 2007 to provide one-stop employment and self-employment support service to young people aged between 15 and 29. The target users include trainees of the Youth Employment and Training Programme, school leavers, young job seekers, young people seeking alternative employment and self-employed youths. The Y.E.S. centre in Kwai Fong and the other centre, located in Langham Place, Mong Kok, together rendered services to about 75 000 young people in 2013.

     Mr Cheung first visited the Y.E.S. Business Members' Corner to see the tailor-made services and facilities for registered members who are operating their own businesses with valid Business Registration Certificates. These include free usage of workstations, business rooms, a design corner, professional consultation services and more.

     Y.E.S. regularly organises workshops as well as qualified legal and accounting advisory services relating to self-employment. Young entrepreneurs are invited to share their success stories of setting up businesses with young people, so as to equip them with self-employment and entrepreneurship skills. Self-employment Experience Days are also held to offer opportunities to young people with business aspirations to gain experience in setting up a business or self-employment. During today's visit, some Business Members told Mr Cheung that they had benefitted a lot from these workshops and services that helped to equip them for developing self-employed business.

     Mr Cheung toured the Mock Interview Room and the Computer Zone which were set up to assist young people to gather career information and prepare resumes and application letters. During a chat with members, he was pleased to hear that a comprehensive career assessment kit is available for members to better understand their career interests. There are Y.E.S. career consultants to help young people to analyse their career aspirations after completion of the career assessment test. Personalised guidance on career and training are also available to facilitate their career planning. Moreover, Y.E.S. registered social workers are there to offer professional counselling services to young people on an individual or group basis to support their personal growth.

     Mr Cheung was glad to know that Y.E.S. works closely with schools to prepare secondary students for the world of work. This includes assisting young people to understand the actual working environment and cultivating positive work ethics and attitudes through experience exchange and training. Career talks and workplace visits are arranged. Workplace preparation sessions are also organised to help young people understand their career interests and brush up their job interview skills. In 2013, Y.E.S. organised 208 school talks/visits to the two Y.E.S. centres for a total of 10 801 secondary students.

     Before concluding the visit, Mr Cheung thanked the staff for providing suitable and personalised one-stop employment and self-employment support services to young people. He encouraged them to keep up their efforts in assisting young people to access the latest labour market and self-employment information.

Ends/Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:35

NNNN

Photo Photo Photo
Print this page