FOLLOWING the easing of quarantine restrictions in previous weeks, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced it will be mounting “hybrid” job fair and business expo, where over 15,000 vacancies will be available, during its anniversary celebration starting on Monday.
This will be the first-ever job fair event to be held by DOLE with a limited face-to-face component since the onset of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) last year.
Available vacancies
IN a press statement issued during the weekend, Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said of the 15,526 vacancies, 12,598 are local vacancies. These vacancies, Bello said, includes positions like customer service representatives, production workers, sewers, sales associates, salesmen, office staff, helpers and kitchen crew.
Also to be made available are 2,971 overseas jobs positions such as registered nurses, bakers, auto mechanics, household service workers and kitchen crew from 35 recruitment agencies.
Successful applicants for the said overseas vacancies will be deployed to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Kuwait and Qatar.
The event is expected to provide new job opportunities to over 4.2 million unemployed workers tallied by state statisticians last September and also to more than 800,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who were repatriated since last year.
Safety protocol
THE labor department said that minimum health standards would be in place during the nationwide event to ensure the safety of the participants of its onsite job fairs.
DOLE spokesperson Rolly Francia told the BusinessMirror that jobseekers will be allowed to participate in the face-to-face job fairs regardless of their vaccination status.
Francia said those vaccinated will be required to present their vaccine cards while those who are unvaccinated must undergo free antigen tests.
Labor Assistant Secretary Dominique R. Tutay said that, as an additional safety precaution, onsite applicants would also be required to undergo a temperature check as well as wear a face mask.
Tutay added that only 20 jobseekers at a time will be allowed into the onsite job fair venues.
“They will be allowed for a maximum of 45 minutes maximum to stay inside [the venue],” Tutay told the BusinessMirror.
Hybrid job fairs
BELLO said the hybrid job fairs, which include both face-to-face and virtual platforms, would be held in the National Capital Region (NCR), Bicol Region, Central Visayas and Zamboanga Peninsula.
In the NCR, the physical job fair would be held in the DOLE Labor Governance Learning Center, San Jose Street, Intramuros, Manila on December 6, while the online job fair to be held in the region will be hosted at the JobQuestPH portal.
For the Bicol Region, jobseekers may go to the fourth floor of the Ayala Mall Legazpi, Legazpi City, Albay on December 8 for the physical job fair, or visit https://www.workbank.com/ if they want to apply online.
Workbank.com will also host the online job fair in Central Visayas, while the physical job fair in the region will be held in SM City Cebu, Mabolo, Cebu City from December 6 to December 8.
The last hybrid job fair would be held in the Zamboanga Peninsula, wherein applicants could go KCC Mall de Zamboanga in Zamboanga City on December 8 to apply in person and at the DOLE IX Job Fair System from December 8 to December 10 for virtual application.
Exclusive onsite or virtual job fairs
BELLO said only physical jobs fairs will be held for the following on December 8: Skyzone Area, Porta Vaga Mall, Baguio City (Cordillera Administrative Region); Pangasinan Provincial PESO, Capitol Complex, Alviar Street East, Lingayen, Pangasinan (Ilocos Region); Malvar, Santiago City (Cagayan Valley Region); and, Bulacan Polytechnic College, Malolos City, Bulacan (Central Luzon Region). He said that the physical job fair in the Mimaropa region would be held on December 13 at the Bulwagang Panlalawigan, Provincial Capitol Compound, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro.
Other regions that will also conduct only face-to-face job fairs on December 8 are: Western Visayas (SM Iloilo, Iloilo City); Eastern Visayas (Robinsons Mall, Marasbaras, Tacloban City); Soccsksargen (KCC Mall of Gensan Convention and Events Center); and, Caraga (SM Butuan, Butuan City). The face-to-face job fair for the Davao Region would be held at the New City Hall, Tagum City and at the Barangay Gredu Covered Court, Panabo City on December 7.
Meanwhile, Bello said the two regions that will only conduct virtual job fairs are Calabarzon (https://www.workbank.com on December 8) and Northern Mindanao (https://www.mynimo.com on December 9 to December 13).
Tutay explained the job fairs in the Calabarzon and Northern Mindanao regions are limited to online since it was only recently when the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) opted to lower the Alert Level in some provinces in both regions.