Academy eyeing to forge partnership with social media

JOBS Academy is looking at the possibility of forging a partnership with a social media based in Malaysia to help its students land jobs after graduation.

JoBS Academy president Belinda Laya-Torres said they are now negotiating with Chatline, the most popular social media in Kuala Lumpur that has been introduced to other countries in the world.

Chatline is best known for its "stickers," a downloadable icon. These icons are more like emicons that are being utilized in Yahoo! and other social media.

Torres said the partnership will benefit her students who are into animation and visual graphics since Chatline is a prospect buyer of their output provided they have the most important skills needed -- drawing.

"Our students can actually create better than that," Torres said. "What we are trying to do is to look for a partner who can buy the output of our students."

The students, she said, can earn competitive revenues out of the thousands, or millions, of downloads from subscribers across the world.

Torres said the demand for information and communication technology (ICT)-related jobs is very high outside the country.

In fact, she said that an Australian firm who runs a social media signified interest in partnering with JoBS Academy by outsourcing manpower from them. This is, however, a working progress.

"This time the graphic designers, animators, and game developers can stay in the country and earn competitive," Torres said.

JoBS Academy is tapped by Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (Tesda) for its Industry-Based Training for Work Scholarship Program (I-TWSP).

The scholarship program under I-TWSP includes animation, finishing course for contact center, medical transcription, and software development.

In Davao City, Tesda in Davao Region listed 581 graduates of I-TWSP as of July this year. Of the number, 371 graduates have already found jobs.

Tesda requires at least 70 percent of the graduates must be employed six months after graduation, according to Torres.

These programs will end by November 31 this year, as there will be more scholarship offering to be offered in the next wave such as website development, software development, visual graphics and game development.