The jobs were aplenty but the takers were few. Some 1,326 jobseekers lined up for about 2,000 jobs which were up for grabs in last Tuesday’s Dumaguete Job Fair, organized by the Department of Labor & Employment, at the Robinson’s Place Dumaguete.
But most of them were in for a disappointment as only two applicants were hired on the spot–one for a local job while one other was hired for an overseas job.
Jenny Catan-Tilos, manager of the Dumaguete PIA Information Center, said another 167 applicants were lined up for a final interview. Of this number, 138 were applicants for local positions while 29 were applicants for an overseas job.
Kenrick Villaluz of the Department of Labor & Employment, said not many applicants were hired on the spot because those who were manning the employers’ table were just representatives of the companies or enterprises.
Villaluz said most of the local employers in the job fair were call centers like Qualfon, Teletech and SPI Global, while jobs for overseas placement were for domestic helpers in the Middle East, HongKong and Singapore, and for skilled workers in the Middle East.
Villaluz noted that most of the applicants preferred to seek local jobs, adding that the lines for the overseas jobs thinned out much earlier than the local jobs.
An applicant, Fheye Merecido Villarmino, posted in the Philippine Information Agency Facebook page to express her frustrations at the job hunting process.
“Some of the vacancies do not fit with the applicant’s qualifications and some jobs, like for construction workers, need only male workers,” she said. And most local jobs, she noted, require a bachelor’s degree. She noted that many applicants just finished high school or had only finished a two-year course.
The job fair was formally opened by Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria, Atty. Jose Ogang, the chairman of Tripartite Industrial Peace Council, among other officials.
The Dumaguete Job Fair was one of several job fairs held by the DOLE nationwide to celebrate Labor Day.
Provincial Administrator Arnel Francisco, who read the message of Gov.Roel Degamo, who had to attend to his father’s funeral arrangements, also informed the applicants of some jobs at the Provincial Public Employment Services Office, located at the Perdices Stadium.
Degamo said that as of March 15, about 75 applicants who coursed their applications through the PESO office were hired on the spot for overseas employment, while 264 are awaiting final interviews with overseas employers.
For the local scene, 30 applicants were hired on the spot and are currently working in various private establishments here, Degamo added.
