Holy Cross job fair gathers 661 job seekers, 16 firms

THE two-day exclusive jobs fair for information and communications technology and business process outsourcing (ICT-BPO) listed a total of 661 job seekers who applied for the opportunities being offered at the Holy Cross of Davao College Inc. (HCDC).

At least 16 companies participated in the fair, eight of those were non-voice firms, some of them include medical transcription and software development, and eight voice firms offered opportunities for contact centers.

All of them have high demand of around 3,500 jobs.

Of the total registered applicants, 17 of them were hired on the spot.

Data from Public Employment Service Office (Peso) showed there were more applicants hired on the spot recorded in the second day of jobs fair, with 11 applicants than that of first day with only six applicants.

In an interview on Tuesday, Mark Anthony Ventura, Peso manager of HCDC, said the first two-day ICT-BPO jobs fair went well, with the participation of several government agencies and private sectors, including Department of Labor and Employment (Dole), Business Process Outsourcing Association of Davao Inc. (BPOADI), and ICT-Davao.

He said several applicants showed up in the venue of the jobs fair, which only means many have responded to the demand of the local ICT-BPO in terms of workforce in the city.

He said what made the ICT-BPO jobs fair unique is the holding of career talk as a side event before the applicants were interviewed by the employers.

"Career talk is not just about the career talk. We orient the job seekers on the nature of the job there is in the contact center," he said.

He cited other objectives of holding such a career talk being – to diminish the mindset that working in contact center is hazardous to the health and inform the prospect applicants that they can earn better living in ICT-BPO.

He said ICT-BPO will resolve the city's problem of unemployment.

Applicants who were not able to qualify the jobs' fair were subject for screening if they can qualify the Industry-Based Training for Work Program (I-TWSP) scholarship of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).

As of this posting Tuesday, at least 70 new scholars were enrolled in the program. Sixteen scholars are enrolled for Jobs Academy, 19 scholars for Philippine College Technology, 11 scholars for e-Joji Ilagan Bian (e-JIB), and 24 scholars for for MTC Academy.

ICT Davao president Lizabel Holganza said there is a need of holding such a fair since there's the requirement of all the ICT-BPO companies in the city is getting higher.

ICT Davao executive vice president Bert Barriga they are expecting some 16,000 workers for ICT-BPO by yearend, which is within their target of 35,000 jobs by 2015.