A NUMBER of jobseekers trooped to the CareerCon Cebu 2016, a job fair held Saturday, September 10, at SM City Cebu Trade Hall.
The event was made possible by Career First Institute (CFI).
The job fair started around 10 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. At least 20 exhibitor-firms from different partner companies provided job opportunities. Their major sponsors include Bombardier Inc. and SSI Philippines Inc.
Ronaldo Cocoba, CFI head of Corporate Learning and Development, said the CareerCon is all about bringing people at the center of recruitment.
“We focus on two things: our Career Talks and the Career Fair. The talks make the applicants aware of the qualifications their chosen professions demand and empower them by helping them further develop their skills. Those who are rejected might feel like they don’t have enough talent, but we believe that the real problem is their lack of training. They simply weren’t prepared enough,” he said.
As part of the process, applicants had to register, fill out the necessary application forms, and look for the jobs that they qualified for. Once a job is selected, the applicants had to approach the company’s designated booth, wherein their resumes were checked. The interview followed.
“There might be additional processes for some companies where they proceed to an on-site recruitment,” Cocoba said.
"For instance, if you go to the Teleperformance booth. If you’ve been given an okay, there will be a coaster waiting for you outside to take you to IT, since the final steps for recruitment need to be done in their company. Sometimes, there are cases of a one-day job processing," he said in Filipino.
Opportunities
“CareerCon isn’t your typical recruitment fair,” Cocoba said, stressing: “Our agencies are usually from the Business Processing Outsourcing industry (BPOs) and our aim is to promote Cebu companies. All of our exhibitors are our clients and partners, and they provide the job opportunities we offer to the applicants.”
He said the job fair’s goal was to help reduce Cebu City’s unemployment problem and job mismatch.
Although there was an abundance of job offerings from call center agencies, CFI acknowledged that not all people would like to work in the BPO, the reason their exhibitor-firms came from various fields, such as education, manufacturing, healthcare services, distributing, and printing.
Geralyn Quezon, 21, said she was looking for a job that would help her achieve her goals in life.
"Akong ganahan jud unta nga trabaho kay kanang no voice ra ba, bisag technical nya no calls. Okay ra jud nako bisag unsa na kompanya basta mao to, wala’y calls (I prefer a job that would not require me to take or answer calls. Even if I had to do something technical as long as I don’t answer calls. I’m fine with any company, but I don’t want to receive calls)," she said.
“We’ve also partnered with institutes such as Julie’s Bakeshop, Plantation Bay and Chong Hua Hospital,” Cocoba said. “We believe that with the right mindset and motivation, applicants are sure to be hired in no time, whether they are fresh graduates or career shifters.”
Paul Enrera, 52, was last employed a year ago as a system engineer for a telecommunication company in Taiwan. He heard about CareerCon through social media and decided to apply for a job, accompanied by his wife.
“I came here today with the expectation to get hired,” he said. “I decided to apply for a job because I want to make a career shift and I want to get in the BPO industry. I think it’s interesting.”
Career First Institute and Consulting Inc.
CFI has been operating for three years already, but this was its first time to launch CareerCon.
“We started off with a job fair we called ‘Instajob’. We used to have events like this in JCenter Mall, and we only had 10 exhibitors back then,” said Cocoba.
Asked about how they would handle job mismatch, Cocoba said: “CFI has programs such as in-house corporation training, which aims to further develop individuals’ skills. More importantly, we have what we call near-hire training.”
“When applicants don’t make the cut, they are trained for two weeks in order to improve their skills. After two weeks, we endorse them to the company once again, in order to give them a second chance,” he added.
He said it's not enough for them to just provide people with the opportunity. “You need to make sure that they are trained well and can pass the interview,” he said. (Adarrah Rose J. Angulo, UP Cebu student)