What should students and jobseekers do this summer?
Start job hunting in the different job fairs, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said yesterday.
“We encourage new graduates—our future workforce members—to be ready by knowing the right venues where to find jobs. They themselves should become their own lookout during the job hunting season,” Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said.
The Labor chief said their monthly job fairs aim to bring jobs closer to jobseekers, especially in the region to make job search easier.
“By visiting the DOLE’s job fairs, graduates and jobseekers will spend less money and minimal effort to find a job since the DOLE already gathers both local and overseas employers all in one venue,” said Baldoz.
In fact, the 150 job fairs that DOLE conducted in the first two months of the year revealed that out of the 264,292 job applicants who registered for the 500,000 job vacancies offered by 2,324 local and overseas employers, 175,130 jobseekers were already placed by the DOLE, through the 16 Regional Offices and the Public Employment Service Office (PESO), while 112,916 applicants were hired directly by private sector employers. The remaining 62,214 workforce entrants were employed in various positions in government.
“Another milestone that the DOLE has accomplished in its first two months of job search and placement assistance is the recorded 15,040 hired-on-the-spot (HOTS) applicants from the nationwide job fairs,” Baldoz said.
The DOLE’s year-round job fair schedules and venues are posted for online accessibility in the government’s job and skills matching portal, www.phil-job.net
. For the month of April, the schedules are as follows:
NCR: April 1-12 - PESO Taguig; April 11-12 – New Valenzuela City Hall Parking Lot; April 12 – PESO Pasay; April 15-26 – PESO Taguig; April 26 – PESO Pasay; April 29 – PESO Taguig.
CAR: April 4-5 – La Trinidad Municipal Gym; – Provincial Plaza; Region 1: April 12 – San Quintin Gymnasium and Manaoag, Pangasinan; Region 2: April 11-13 – Kasibu, Nueva Viscaya; April 16 – Alert Building Saguday, Quirino; April (TBA) – San Mateo, Santiago, Ilagan, and Cauayan in Isabela; Region 3: April 9 – CLSU multi-purpose gym; Region 4B: April 26-27 - Looc Covered Court, Romblon.
Region 6: April 2013 – University of Negros Recoletos, Bacolod City; Pandan Antique; Capiz Provincial Capitol; Iloilo Provincial Capitol; La Castellana Municipal Hall; Isabela Covered Court; La Carlota and Himalayan City; Roxas City; and Guimaras Provincial Covered Court.
Region 8: April 12 - STI Campus Ormoc; Region 9: April 20 - Isabela City Gym; Region 10: April 18-19 - Cagayan de Oro City Hall grounds and April 27 – Atrium LKKS.
Region 11: April 12 – Davao Doctors College; Region 12: April 4 – STI Kidapawan City; April 10 – LGU Aleosan; April 27 – St. Alexius College, Koronadal City; and CARAGA: April 8 – San Miguel Surigao del Sur Municipal Hall.
The job fairs include mega job fairs, city and municipal fairs, in-house, mini, and barangay job fairs in close coordination with local government units (LGUs) and the Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs), supervised by the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) and DOLE regional offices.
Aside from the array of job vacancies, the job fairs also provide a one-stop-shop venue for jobseekers, wherein they could avail of the readily available pre-employmentdocumentation services from government agencies services such as National Statistics Office; National Bureau of Investigation; Professional Regulation Commission; Philippine Health Insurance Corporation; Pag-IBIG; and Bureau of Internal Revenue.
“These job fairs are just the start-off of the DOLE’s extensive and intensified conduct of employment services in the regions this summer. Aside from the regular monthly job fairs, thousands of local and overseas jobs shall be up for grabs on the nationwide Job and Livelihood Fair, which is the centerpiece event of the Labor Day celebration on May 1,” Baldoz said.

Source: Manila Bulletin - March 17, 2013