Recruitment interviews for overseas employment have been held in Hub for young people from 12 districts of Balochistan, as the province steps up its push to connect its youth with jobs abroad.

The drive was led by the Balochistan Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (B-TEVTA), working with the federal Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development and the Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC). A delegation of overseas employment promoters, led by the chairman of the Pakistan Overseas Employment Promoters Association, visited Hub and took part in the interviews and preliminary screening of candidates.

Deputy Commissioner Hub Jumma Dad Mandokhail said expanding overseas employment opportunities for Balochistan's youth was a priority. He was speaking as the interviews were held in Hub, the industrial town on the border between Balochistan and Sindh.

Twelve districts covered

The initiative gave young people from 12 districts — Hub, Lasbela, Awaran, Khuzdar, Surab, Kalat, Washuk, Kharan, Chagai, Gwadar, Turbat and Panjgur — a platform to explore potential employment abroad. The districts span much of southern and western Balochistan, including coastal areas such as Gwadar and Lasbela and remote districts such as Washuk and Chagai.

No figures were disclosed for the number of applicants, the positions available, the destination countries or the final selections. The report of the drive did not say how many candidates were interviewed or when selections would be announced.

Part of a wider provincial plan

The Hub drive sits within a wider provincial programme. In October, the Balochistan government announced plans to provide technical training to 25,000 young people in various fields by next year and to send 30,000 young people overseas for employment. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the B-TEVTA board chaired by Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, which also approved an Institute Registration Portal to strengthen technical education in the province.

The chief minister directed officials to draw up a strategy to bring the young people completing technical training into the national and global economy. The meeting also reviewed the slow pace of the Chief Minister's Youth Skills Development Programme and decided to take action against those responsible for the delay.

Federal support for the training effort was underlined separately this month, when the chairman of the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission, Qamar-ul-Islam Raja, said during a visit to Quetta that the federal government would ensure funding and resources for modern technical training and employment opportunities for Balochistan's youth. He said the federal government would cover participants' accommodation, meals, travel and other essential expenses, and that young men and women from Balochistan would receive training at institutions within the province and at advanced centres in Punjab, Islamabad and elsewhere in Pakistan.

What happens next

For the young people interviewed in Hub, the next step is the screening process run with the overseas employment promoters. The programme's stated aim is to equip Balochistan's youth with skills and then place them in jobs abroad, but the specific trades, destination countries and timelines for the Hub candidates have not yet been disclosed.

Anyone seeking work abroad should apply only through official channels such as the Overseas Employment Corporation and licensed promoters, and should be wary of anyone asking for payment in exchange for a job offer.