THE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in Negros Occidental, through its Digital Jobs PH Technical Training Project, has produced another batch of potential workforce in the province.
Romeo Tome, provincial officer of DICT-Negros Occidental, said 17 scholars in Talisay City finished on Tuesday, December 17, the virtual assistance technical training.
Tome said these completers finished the six-day face-to-face and 21 days online session, which started last November 11.
"Most of our completers are IT graduates, some are household mothers. They are all jobless," he said, adding that of the 17 graduates, two are "medalists" for immediately obtaining online jobs.
Rolled out in the country in 2017, the Digital PH program mainly aims to provide technical trainings to unemployed and financially unstable residents in the province enabling them to land ICT-related jobs.
Under which, the DICT provides trainings on courses including general virtual assistance, digital marketing and e-commerce, content writing, search engine optimization and advertising, social media marketing and advertising, graphic design, and web development.
The recipients should be 18 years old and above, at least high school graduates, and computer literate.
For the virtual assistance technical training, Tome said the modules included web research and data entry; audio and video transcription; email handling and calendar management; social media management; chat support, help desk and technical support; and freelancer 101.
Tome said after completing these modules, participants then underwent a 21-day exposure where they should look for employment online.
"Digital Job PH is really intended for employment generation," he reiterated, adding that "through the trainings it provided, we are able to upgrade the local talent pool."
In Negros Occidental, 24 scholars in San Carlos City and another 22 in Cadiz City have availed themselves of the program in 2017 and 2018, respectively. They finished digital marketing and e-commerce course.
For this year, 22 graduated the digital marketing and e-commerce course in Kabankalan City in October.
In Escalante City, 20 graduated the virtual assistance technical training last month. Of the number, three were considered "medalists."
The DICT provided the trainings and identified the appropriate module depending on the budget allocation.
The recipient-local government units, on the other hand, are taking charge of the training venue, computer, food and snacks of the trainers, and internet connection as counterpart.
Tome said the agency targets to implement the project in two sites per province every year.
"But if there's available budget, more sites can be covered. In fact, we already pending requests," he said, adding that they target to eventually saturate all localities in the province.
The official stressed that "more employment positively contributes to the growth of the province's economy."