Thousands seek jobs in Labor Day job fairs
As labor groups condemned contractual employment and low wages across the country, other people kept themselves busy doing something else on Labor Day: They applied for jobs.
At two SM malls in Cebu, 5,500 jobs were offered in job fairs.
About 3,000 job seekers trooped to stores in Cebu City and Consolacion town, said RJ Leduna, SM senior public relations manager.
At least 92 job applicants were hired on the spot in SM Cebu City where 4,000 jobs were offered. About 50 local companies participated in the job fair there.
In SM Consolacion, the Danao City-based Cebu Mitsumi, Inc. wanted to hire 500 workers. About 1,500 vacancies were offered by 20 companies in SM Consolacion.
In the Capitol, 38 companies offered over a thousand jobs to more than 2,000 applicants that pre-registered with the Provincial Employment Service Office (Peso).
According to Mathea Baguia, Capitol consultant on labor market information, a number of applicants had to be assisted in making their resumé.
Some were just copying readymade templates.
She advised those who have not landed a job not to be discouraged.
The Capitol Peso, she said, has a partnership with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) for skills training.
“Tesda graduates are in demand not only here but also abroad,” Baguia said.
Angelie, a 21-year-old fresh graduate in Hospitality Management at the Cebu Technological University, went to the SM Cebu job fair from Borbon town in northern Cebu. It was her first time applying for a job.
“Kon mangita ka’g trabaho, naa gyu’y kompetensya,” she said.(If you look for a job, you have to contend with competition.)
She said she was willing to accept any position and start at the bottom because “it’s s important to acquire work experience.”
She submitted her credentials to six companies.
Leah, an education major, is trying her luck in the business process outsourcing (BPO) firms to earn more than her present job as a private high school teacher in Lapu-Lapu City.
She said she wanted better compensation in order to support her 72-year-old mother./Correspondents Jhunnex Napallacan, Tweeny M. Malinao and Renan Alangilanwith Inquirer report
