More than 65,000 job opportunities were offered during the Independence Day job fair Wednesday, 8,109 applicants showed up, and 550 were hired on the spot (HOT), the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday reported, describing the activity as a “success.”
Citing preliminary data, Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said they were also to register about 3,875 applicants, who qualified for additional interview in the one-day job fair.
Those immediately hired included service crew, office staff, retailers and encoders.
Despite falling below the average 15 percent average HOTs registered on past job fairs, Baldoz said the registered HOTs for the Independence Day job fair is still acceptable since they expect some of those who qualified for interview would be hired.
“Like in the past, we will monitor the developments on the 2013 Kalayaan job fairs for a month to give employers enough time to process the volume of job applications,” Baldoz said.
“So, jobseekers should not worry about not getting hired-on-the-spot by companies because the employers will continue to process their applications despite the job fairs being only a one-day event,” she added.
She also said they were also able to register 85 other applicants, who were referred to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, while another 43 were given livelihood packages.
Meanwhile, DOLE-National Capital Region (DOLE-NCR) Alan Macaraya also noted the increasing participation of other government agencies during this year’s Independence Day job fair.

Source: Manila Bulletin - June 15, 2013