3,635 jobseekers join Labor Day job fair

ABOUT 3,635 job applicants flocked to the mega job fair organized by the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole), which offered at least 6,849 jobs, last Monday, May 1, both in Cagayan de Oro City and Oroquieta City.

According to Dole, they recorded 3,419 job seekers in Cagayan de Oro, which comprised of 1,783 males, and 1,636 females.

However of the total 2,192 qualified applicants for both local and overseas jobs, only 297 applicants for local work were hired on the spot while 352 persons were near hire applicants, or those that are considered hired, but still need to submit additional requirements to the firm where they applied.

For foreign work, only 35 people were hired on the spot while 313 are near hire applicants.

Meanwhile, some applicants were referred to the different participating agencies.

About 10 applicants were referred to Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) for skills training, two applicants referred for livelihood assistance, three were referred to the Department of Trade and Industry for business opportunities, while 27 applicants were advised to go to National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Social Security System (SSS), Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa), National Reintegration Center for OFWs, PhilHealth, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and the National Council on Disability Affairs.

Among the in-demand jobs include skilled workers like carpenters, plumbers and food servers are needed in Middle East countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and also in Taiwan and New Zealand, while Japan and Germany are looking for care workers and nurses.

Top local job vacancies include call center agents, property consultants, staff nurses, field construction officers, and sales associates, while top overseas vacancies include nurses, service crew, food servers/waiters, cleaner and caregivers.

Meanwhile, Wildon Barros, secretary general of Kilusang Mayo Uno-Northern Mindanao said job seekers are grappling on how to get a job because of a growing mismatch between their training and the job skills required by most employers in the country and overseas.

Barros said this is due to the country's commercialized education where schools are the ones who choose a course for a student, when this task should be done by the government.

"There is an existing commercialization in education, meaning students will just choose on their own on what course they should take up. But I am not saying that this is a bad thing, what I am saying is, the courses being offered now do not have a matching or corresponding job," he said.

"The government should make sure that once a student graduates, he or she has a waiting job, and they will not end up unemployed or underemployed,| Barros added. (With reports from Marc Salem and Althea Rana, Liceo de Cagayan University interns)

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph