Local and Overseas Job Fair 2015: A Job Bridging Activity in Cebu

Sir Bryant giving the Welcome Remarks for the Job Fair

While studying the causes of poverty in the Philippines in the light of Development Communication, one of the principal factors that contribute to its being deep-seated in our culture is unemployment. There are no work opportunities being given to our countrymen that match the skills they have acquired with their educational attainment. It is something that major industries have been trying to address for more than 20 years now. And it is something that the government must continue to address, whether or not we are nearing election season.

It is just good that private companies are somehow taking the lead in making sure that work opportunities are not wanting in the country.     

Interested applicants at the job shopping area

Primary Structures Educational Foundation, Inc. (PSEFI), under the trade name School of Knowledge for Industrial Labor, Leadership and Service (SKILLS) held a LOCAL AND OVERSEAS JOB FAIR last May 16, 2015, Saturday, from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm at the SKILLS Campus (Old Sacred Heart School for Boys-Ateneo de Cebu), along General Maxilom Avenue, Cebu City. This job fair is a yearly Job Bridging activity organized by Primary Structures Corporation (PSC) in partnership with Cebu City’s Department of Manpower Development and Placement (DMDP). 

There were 50 different companies who joined this event, and more than 200 applicants came. All the local government units in Cebu City and in neighboring towns and municipalities were invited to this activity. What was good about this job fair was that it was not limited to the construction and hospitality industries. Hence, all kinds of jobs --- tourism-related, BPO, admin/managerial, sales and marketing, clerical, medical and occupational health jobs, etc. for both local and international companies, were up for grabs.

At the registration area with the DMDP and PSC staff

We are grateful for the following who gave their support and words of inspiration and encouragement to all those who attended the job fair: Atty. Rhett Casinio, the Overseas Employment Adjudicator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Ms. Suzanne Ordosa, the Officer-in-Charge of Cebu City’s Department of Manpower Development and Placement (DMDP), Ms. Arlyn Hamoy of Region VII’s Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and Engr. Rainero Tomas Jayme of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Region VII. 

 Mayline, PSEFI staff, assisting an applicant

I have always been for creating job opportunities in the country. However, aside from big corporations taking the lead, I would like to look into the wide panorama that creating business could do in our society. This is neatly tied in to the possibility of pushing social entrepreneurship to thrive. Our people, with their resilience and creativity, can become entrepreneurs in their own right. Given the right break and the right resources to start a business, the initiatives of each Filipino entrepreneur can become a success story waiting to be written. 

We hope that all those who came to give their resumés and were interviewed on-the-spot will be able to land a job soon. This job bridging activity is our concrete way of lessening the percentage of unemployment here in Metro Cebu.