By Gaelle Nohra, Contributor

June 27th, 2021

In light of the daily narrowing of the Lebanese job market, unemployment no longer constitutes a feared inconvenience yet upgraded to an eventually occurring phase awaiting graduates at the doorstep of their university senior year. What’s dangerous about this upgrade is that most candidates are now directly heading to search abroad, omitting any local job considerations.

The political turmoil accompanied by the economic daily downgrade are increasingly framing Lebanon as the impossible land of opportunities and highlighting its embedded deficiencies pertaining to the growth and recognition of the Lebanese talent. LEBridge, a Lebanese non-profit organization, was initiated with the aim of re-asserting the ever-presence of this talent that has been lost track of amidst all kinds of national and regional distortion.

LEBridge consisting of a team of 20 volunteers, 10 of whom are Human Resources professionals, was founded with the aim of directing jobseekers towards relevant vacant positions and assisting them in their recruitment journey by providing counseling services. In fact, the counseling service was very recently launched by LEBridge, it now allows Lebanese job seekers to book a free one-to-one meeting with a specific industry officer depending on the candidate’s career interest (i.e, technology, IT, pharma and health, sales & marketing, business … etc.).

LEBridge also offers a platform for any employer to post jobs while listing the position’s type, description, requirements, location, and further contact information. The main medium through which LEBridge provides its services is on its Instagram page “lebridge.lb” where sessions are scheduled via their bio link.

The Phoenix Daily had the utmost pleasure of discussing with LEBridge and getting to know more about their initiative’s vision and mission. Below are displayed the questions and answers of our brief yet insightful discussion with Tarek Eid, Founder of LEBridge.

What was the prompting factor behind the launching of LEBridge and how do you describe the connection-building process given the remarkable variety in the vacancies posted by LEBridge?

“The stimulation was the urge to have an impact in our country, Lebanon, amidst its perfect storm consisting of political, economic and social crises. With unemployment overreaching 55%, bridging the gap between job seekers and job providers was a must. Sometimes people know they can have the job, they just don’t know how to apply and unfortunately, that stands among the top reasons behind them losing the opportunity. LEBridge aims to make people understand their talents, become better candidates, and convince employers of their profile. As for connections-building, we count on people to send us vacancies on our Instagram page. We are also building an employer relations team responsible for reaching out to companies and convincing them to post the jobs on our platform.”

Could you walk us through the procedure of the counseling and referral services provided by LEBridge?

“The procedure has two sides. First, the applicant side consisting of the candidate filling out the form posted on our Instagram page and booking a one-to-one session with one of our counselors. The session usually takes place one week after the booking has been done.

The second side concerns employers, they can book a session with one of our team members and have candidate resumes sent to them. Alternatively, they can directly have the vacancy posted on our platform.”

Aside orienting candidates, what are the top messages the organization aims to deliver to the worldwide job market?

“The top message we aim to deliver is that hiring Lebanese candidates is easy, especially for freelance remote jobs. Moreover, hiring Lebanese candidates is capable of saving an entire nation.”

Has your LEBridge journey equipped you with insights regarding the unique profile differentiating the Lebanese workforce from all others?

“LEBridge has shown me that we have an amazing, talented, very motivated and ready-to-work workforce. However, it is a workforce lacking exposure to opportunities and guidance towards putting their talent in the spotlight when applying to their desired jobs. Bringing forth these exposure and guidance is our main aim at LEBridge.”

How would you assess the organization’s performance ever since its foundation?

“Thanks to the work of our amazing team, I am extremely proud of the performance of LEBridge so far. To the moment, we have assisted over 250 candidates and we’re currently in the testing phase (expected to end soon). 40% of our candidates have already applied to jobs we’ve directed them to, more than 50 candidates made it to interview stage and more than 15 candidates have already gotten a job. With our testing phase terminated, we recently launched a counseling system whereby candidates can have one-to-one meetings with our counselors.”

Are you currently welcoming newcomers? If yes, how can they get in touch with LEBridge?

“Our door is always open to new-comers and volunteers. They can contact us at contact@lebridge.me by sending us a letter of interest.”

As the founder of LEBridge, what is your final message to recruiters and Lebanese jobseekers?

“My message to recruiters: Hire Lebanese, never stop hiring them and save our country. The economy is rebuilt not just through politics but also through job creation.

My message to job seekers: Seek help, help is here. The talent is one thing but knowing how to apply is another and that’s why initiatives like LEBridge were founded.”