Hundreds of job seekers check labor market in PDI career expo

MANILA, Philippines — A two-day jobs fair organized by the Philippine Daily Inquirer opened on Monday at the Trinoma Activity Center in Quezon City, attracting dozens of companies and hundreds of job seekers, many of them fresh college graduates.

About 40 companies from the real estate, hotel, tourism and retail sectors took part in the fair, which was opened by Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, the Inquirer’s chief executive officer and president.

“We wish that this career expo will help all job seekers to achieve the jobs that will allow them to reach their full potentials and fulfill their career and personal objectives,” Romualdez said in her remarks.

She said job seekers could get job-hunting tips from the Inquirer broadsheet’s Working People section while frequent Internet surfers could check vacancies listed on the Job Market Online.

Chito San Mateo, of the Inquirer’s marketing division, said the company has been holding four career expos in a year. The April leg has been set for new graduates looking for their first jobs, he said.

The first leg of this year’s expo was held in March at Greenbelt.  The third and fourth legs are scheduled for November and December.

Many companies who joined the expo came from the business process outsourcing sector. Recruiters from this industry said voice and non-voice positions, such as data analysts and technicians, have still been growing in the call center industry.

One recruiter from an established call center company said the BPO sector has been expanding its services so the need for technical and non-voice personnel has been increasing. The Philippines recently surpassed India as the No. 1 destination for BPO investments.

But recruiters from some industries noted there has been no letup in the brain drain.

Human resource personnel for engineering and construction companies at the expo said experienced Filipino engineers have been leaving for overseas jobs that promised higher salaries, thus creating a constant demand for specialized engineers in the country.

Wilma Corpuz, a senior human resources personnel of Taiki-sha Philippines, a company that has been building electronics and manufacturing factories, said the firm has been in search of 30 licensed engineers. Another company at the expo is on the lookout for 40 mechanical, electrical and geodetic engineers.

Brain drain has become such a problem for the engineering industry that some employers refuse to spend money training applicants who have no wish to stay in the Philippines for long.

Filipino engineers are among the biggest groups of science and technology professionals who migrate for work abroad, according to a recent study by the Department of Science and Technology.