SOME employers, who joined the “Trabaho Ta Bai” jobs fair organized by the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), preferred to hire fresh graduates over those with experience.
They said fresh graduates are easier and willing to be trained.
“We hire for the attitude. It doesn’t matter if he or she is experienced or not because we have people who can train them. We prefer fresh graduates because they are the people who haven’t established bad habits yet,” said Maria Isabel Lerio, human resource (HR) head of Global Pacific, an import company.
She said fresh graduates are always curious and are often productive in their respective tasks in the company.
Lerio said their company is growing and they needed to expand their human resource assets.
“We need salespeople, accounting clerks, marketing assistants and compliance officers. We are really growing and we want to conquer the market,” she said.
Angel Nobleza, HR manager of Virginia Foods Inc., said they too, they too do not prioritize experience in choosing applicants.
“We want fresh graduates because we like to teach them ourselves compared to those with experience,” she said.
There were 37 companies who participated in the one-day local jobs fair on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2019 at the Oakridge Pavilion in Oakridge Business Park, Mandaue City.
Jasmine Arina, 19, who is now on her second job, said she applied in a bakery franchise company because of the overtime pay.
“I am applying as a production staff and I believe that a company that gives overtime pay is an advantage to us. It doesn’t matter if I work hard as long as I get the proper compensation,” she said.
Another applicant, Emmanuel Iway, 28, said he is hopeful to land a job in the hospitality sector. He lauded the initiative of MCCI to mount a jobs fair on a holiday.
“The interviewers are very welcoming and approachable. The application and interview processes are very smooth,” he said.
Finding the best talent
Gio Gandionco, chairman of the job event, which is part of the Mandaue Business Month 2019 celebration, earlier said they wanted to give opportunities to companies all over Mandaue and Cebu to find the best employees they can have, and also for applicants to find good jobs.
“We believe that employees are really the core of every business, especially with the job market now and how difficult it is to find a job,” Gandionco said.
Available jobs featured during the jobs fair were those in the fields of accounting, finance, engineering, production, manufacturing, sales, marketing, information technology, operations and medical, among others.