The wide range of job opportunities at the 6th Manila Bulletin Classifieds Job Fair 2013 has won praise sfrom the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
At yesterday’s opening of the two-day employment exhibition at SM North EDSA Skydome, DOLE Assistant Secretary Rebecca Calzado recognized the efforts of the country’s leading newspaper in coming up with a “unique” job fair to help Filipinos get employed.
“I’ve been to other job fairs and what I noticed about Manila Bulletin’s job fair is that there’s a bigger variety of exhibitors,” she said, congratulating the organizers as early as now for a successful event. “We, at DOLE, welcome with open arms all initiative and efforts by the private sector or other partners who conduct these kinds of activities which will put together all the applicants and the companies in need of workers,” she said, adding that this type of event “is very important.” Calzado represented Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz during the opening ceremonies.
She revealed that she actually went around and noticed that the participating companies come from various industries. There are around 60 booths featuring 55 companies taking part in the job fair.
She also noted a high number of young applicants flocking the job fair. “We’re very happy because there is a lot of youth coming in it,” she said. According to her, this only highlights the importance of addressing the challenges of employment in the country.
“We are also addressing the [employment] mismatch,” she said, adding that the work is not exclusive to DOLE. “Buong government, kasama na ang DepEd,” she said.
Calzado went on to say that the K-to-12 Program aims to address this employment gap. “The last two grades will introduce special subjects that will equip students in high school with skills so that when they graduate they are more job-ready than before,” she explained.
Aside from the fresh graduates, the MB Job Fair targets jobseekers who want to shift careers or try out other work.
“Our theme, ‘Your First Day of Work Starts with Us,’ is not only for those coming out of college but for all those who want to change, who want to follow another career path” MB Classifieds Advertising Vice President Lyne Abanilla said during the opening remarks. She added that one of the participating BPOs proudly told her that their job openings are not gender-restricted and have no age limits. “Those who still want to continue working, please come over to the job fair. There are job opportunities for you,” Abanilla said.
As for the fresh graduates, she has this to say: “To the new graduates, you spend so many years learning [in school] and now you have to face the real world—that is really part of the challenge. It’s only natural for you to get frustrated at first when you don’t land a job immediately. You need to have patience and not lose hope that you will be able to find not just a job but really a job that suit your qualifications,” she said.
Calzado said she looks forward for Manila Bulletin to take this job fair to the next level. “I hope when this works well we can transfer to a bigger venue [and] by the looks of it marami ng aplikante,” she noted. The 6th MB Job Fair will also be in SM Cebu on September 24 to 25 and in SM Sta. Rosa, Laguna on October 15 to 16.

Source: Manila Bulletin- August 14, 2013