I have recently seen some comments being made about jobs becoming rather scarce in Malta or that Lawrence Gonzi is responsible for all the unemployed as his government is incapable of offering job opportunities to the young talent in Malta.

From my own experience and from others’ (having interviewed prospective candidates not so long ago) it would appear that being over 40 is a serious detriment to finding a suitable job, irrespective of whether the candidate possesses or not the relative qualifications or experience.

There is a tendency in Malta to disregard maturity and years of experience as this seems to imply higher demands for salary. The majority of local and foreign companies here in Malta prefer to hire school-leavers or temporary staff in industries such as i-gaming and IT. Although the Employment Act clearly does not discriminate against the middle-aged or the sexes I can clearly say that this is sadly not the case here and that being in these categories greatly reduces the chances of employment.

Any vacancies being offered by any company in Malta must, according to law, be made public and anyone can apply. The truth, however, is that the selected candidate has already been chosen (usually from within) and this therefore defeats the task of offering it in the first place. Maybe someone from the ETC can enlighten me as to how others may benefit from this law?

A clear case of the above may be seen when an advert appears in the local papers. I have the credentials, I have the experience and I also have the confidence to apply for a job I feel well-suited for. More often than not my application is not even met with an acknowledgement and requests for updates are met with a rude silence. This practice is applicable to major companies here and also, to some extent, to some of the recruitment agencies mushrooming all over Malta.

I have heard that a law will soon be introduced so as not to show bias towards middle-aged applicants. But regulation must be enforced to not allow the above to happen, ever!

With regards to Lawrence Gonzi’s participation to this general failure I must stress that Smart City and the sports village in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq seem to be blights which the Prime Minister would best admit to and remove rather than progress with as it is clear that nothing solid is due to come of the two projects.

Other than that I would simply disagree that the government has not thrown opportunities at the population, minus the fairer sex and middle-aged!