AS THOUSANDS of overseas Filipino workers (OFWS) come home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) has assured there will be jobs available for them in the information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) industry.
In a press statement, the Dole said employment opportunities in the BPM industry await OFW returnees, especially those with background in IT and healthcare.
The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) and the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) have collaborated to help the productive reintegration of OFWs and at the same time, fill the demand for additional manpower in the IT-BPM industry.
Recently, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Dole is seeing an increase in outsourcing opportunities as the global economic crisis will force the West to bring their jobs to other countries to save on cost, a good number of which will come to the Philippines.
In a virtual meeting Thursday, June 25, 2020, Labor assistant secretary Dominique Tutay welcomed IBPAP’s initiative and assured the Dole’s support to facilitate the career matching between employers and jobseekers.
Database
Dole will provide the database of OFW returnees who are interested or who are qualified for the job vacancies.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it has brought home a total of 51,113 OFWs since it began repatriating Filipinos affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in February 2020.
Of this number, 57.33 percent (29,302 OFWs) are sea-based and 42.67 percent (21,811 OFWs) are land-based as of DFA’s June 21 report. More are still expected to come home from June to August.
Meanwhile, career marketing activities, initial screening and job matching will be conducted by IBPAP from August to November.
Complementing this, Tutay said the department is gearing towards virtual job caravans for easier matching between jobseekers and employers.
National Reintegration Center for OFWs officer-in-charge director Roel Martin said the partnership will further help Dole’s attached agency in linking OFW returnees, and even their families, for possible employment.
He said among the agency’s partners in OFW reintegration are Sitel, the Department of Public Works and Highways and DMCI for Build, Build, Build projects, Mega Sardines and Motolite. He also said OFW returnees are referred to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for retooling and upgrading of their skills.
IBPAP executive director for talent development Frankie Antolin said despite the pandemic there are still numerous IT-BPM job vacancies because it encompasses the fields of contact center, animation and game development, global shared services, financial, IT and human resource shared services, software and IT outsourcing and health information management system.
She added OFW returnees have skill sets that are useful in performing jobs in the IT-BPM industry. (JOB with PR)