OVER 7,000 job vacancies for both local and overseas posts are up for grabs at a job fair organized by Cebu-based online job portal MyNimo.com.
Job applicants can expect to find jobs in retail, restaurants, information technology, healthcare, construction, manufacturing and business process outsourcing at the third Happy Jobs Fair on May 29.
At present, some 77 companies and employment agencies have already registered to join the job fair. But MyNimo founder Wesley Chiongbian expects more employers to join as the event approaches.
Aside from employers, government agencies will also be present to assist applicants with their pre-employment concerns. The Happy Jobs Fair will have a designated area for National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Social Security System, Philhealth and Pag-IBIG.
Career advice
The event will also have career sessions to be given out by experts from Mynimo.com, the People Management Association of the Philippines, Department of Labor and Employment and other government agencies.
“Our goal is not just to provide a venue for job hunting. We will also be there to help applicants learn about best practices when applying for jobs. As the job market gets more and more competitive, learning how to package yourself is almost as important as having the skills and experience for the job,” said Chiongbian.
As of May 18, MyNimo.com recorded 5,382 job applicants who registered online for the career event, up by 35 percent higher than the same period last year.
Most jobseekers are aged 21 to 24 and are mostly college graduates. Forty-three percent of the total job seekers are unemployed and 40 percent are experienced employees. Ninety-three percent of these job seekers are from Cebu.
Arrive prepared
About 14 percent of them wanted to work in administration or offices, followed by information technology, food/restaurant, BPO, and production or manufacturing.
Chiongbian advised jobseekers to print out at least five copies of their resumes, to dress professionally, be confident and optimistic as these translate to better rapport with the employer.
“Even if you have the skills but if you don’t package it well, you might be overlooked,” he said.
Postings growth
MyNimo statistics show that from January to April this year, job vacancies posted online in Cebu Province rose to 44 percent over the same period last year. Cebu City recorded the highest job posting, with a growth of 44 percent compared last year, followed by Mandaue City at 64. Significant job posting growth was also recorded in Minglanilla, Consolacion and Lapu-Lapu City.
Job vacancies in the skilled category grew by 76 percent, followed by sales and accounting at 43 percent, administrative positions at 42 percent and engineering at 40 percent.
In demand
As for skilled or technical skills, demand for machine operators remain high, with a growth of 125 percent over the same period last year. Electrical jobs came second at 122 percent followed by automotive (151 percent), technician (55 percent) and driver (53 percent).
The demand for teachers, meanwhile, doubled this year.
Teaching profession topped the labor challenges in Cebu, according to MyNimo’s data followed by customer services in BPO, human resource recruitment, technical support in BPO, engineering (mechanical and industrial), secretary/receptionist, food servers, finance/banking, warehouse personnel, and sales for corporate or B2B (business to business).
As for overseas employment, the demand for jobs in Saudi Arabiadropped by 75 percent while those in Kuwait dropped by 14 percent. Job postings for Macau and the United Arab Emirates also dropped. Only jobs in Qatar grew by 34 percent.
Chiongbian said the decline may be due to the drop of fuel prices in the Middle East, which resulted in the lay-off of workers in industries highly dependent on oil.
Skills
Overseas demand for skilled work, restaurant, engineering and sales also declined but job postings for hotel operations grew by 36 percent.
For overseas skilled and technical jobs, their figures showed a decline of 51 percent for postings for technicians and a 57 percent for electrical jobs. There was also a drop in job postings for construction, machine operation and automotive.
MyNimo was founded in 2006. It was recently acknowledged as one of the leading startups by Forbes Philippines. The job portal now has over 27,000 monthly visitors and more than 5,000 jobs listed every month.