A TOTAL of 521 job applicants were hired on the spot (Hots) during the Kalayaan Job Fair held last June 12 at the NCCC Mall of Davao.
In a text message, Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) Davao Region regional director Lawyer Joffrey M. Suyao, said of the total Hots, 439 were hired by local companies while the remaining 82 were hired by overseas employers.
Also, the total number of Hots this year is 45 percent higher as compared to last year with only 286.
The agency listed a total of 2,600 jobseekers who participated in the Kalayaan Job Fair, of whom 1,831 were qualified in Davao City.
Two job fairs were held last June 12, the first one was in Davao City while the other was in Digos City.
The agency has also lined up another two job fairs in Mati, Davao Oriental (DavOr) and Nabunturan, Compostela Valley (Comval) on June 17 while the schedule for Tagum City is yet to be finalized.
"We expect that the figures will go up since what we have now on hand is just from Davao alone, we are still waiting from the reports of other provinces. Digos conducted its job fair simultaneous with Davao. While Mati, Nabunturan, and Tagum City are still set to conduct their job fairs next week," the director said.
Sara Mae D. Sotonil, was among those applicants who were hired on the spot during Independence Day Job Fair. She landed a job as a store service crew at the Mandarin Tea Garden.
"It was my first job application and interview, luckily I got hired on the spot. This (job fair) really helped us (job seekers) a lot because opportunities were opened and offered to us, jobseekers," she added.
Jocelyn Manulat, who regularly joined in the previous job fairs, finally secured a job last Friday for an opportunity abroad.
She said she found this year's Kalayaan Job Fair more convenient as compared to last year.
"Sa una perting guota, karon luag-luag na og hapsay, maka-apply na mi og tarong (Before, the fair was too crowded but this year was a lot better and more convenient to the applicants. The application process is way better," said Manulat, who is hired by the LRC Manpower Services International Inc.
The job fair offered a total of 20,450 job vacancies from 80 local and overseas companies. Of the figure, 2,752 vacancies were from 52 local companies and 17,698 vacancies were from 28 overseas companies.
Meanwhile, online job-hunting and talent-sourcing event kicked off in the city dubbed as "1st BCH Independence Day Online Job Fair", which opened on last June 10 and on-going until June 30.
The fair is initiated by the the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) in partnership with BPOCareerHub.com (BCH), an online job portal made for IT-BPM (BPO, KPO, Call Center).(ASP)