Excitement was in the air last Tuesday for the 1,326 jobseekers who waited in line for the chance to fill about 2,000 vacancies in the Dumaguete Jobs Fair.
But the excitement turned to disappointment after most of the applicants found out they did not qualify for any of the jobs.
Only two were hired on the spot that day — one for a local job, and another for an overseas job. 167 others have to wait for a “final interview”. The 1,157 others went home jobless.
There were thousands of jobs available and there were fewer jobseekers. Logically, all those jobseekers could have been taken in, with room to spare.
But that was not the case in Dumaguete, as proven in last Tuesday’s mostly-futile exercise. What is wrong?
Skills mismatch is one of the biggest reasons for not getting hired.
Probably the best-paying job for new graduates these days is that of a call center agent. There are many call centers in Dumaguete, and they always need workers. Many applicants, however, do not qualify because they have poor communication skills.
Other jobs which are in demand these days are for skilled workers in faraway countries. These are jobs for welders, mechanics, masons, carpenters, heavy equipment operators, to name a few.
The sad reality is that many of these jobs are considered menial here at home. These are not the courses that draw in the students.
One of the more popular courses these days is business administration. Do graduates of business, or other popular courses, land in good jobs? If the statistics are not favorable, perhaps the government might want to impose a limit on the number of students who enroll in these courses, as the students are likely to end up jobless.
The academe can also hone their students’ communication abilities by giving them more opportunities to express themselves orally and in written form throughout their four years in college. Communication is not just a skill demanded of call center agents. It is a basic survival tool.
Now what to do with the 1,157 frustrated jobseekers?
Government should find ways to provide them with life skills they could use to join the professional world, and become productive citizens in the community.
These jobseekers should not just become automatic candidates for the government’s conditional cash transfer program.
