Over 4,000 ‘hired-on-the-spot’ in Labor Day job fairs

According to the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), a total of 4,314 applicants were immediately hired or hired-on-the-spot (HOTS) for positions of factory/production worker, customer service representative, human resource officer, office clerk, and teacher. (File Photo: PTV/Facebook)

MANILA — More than 4,000 applicants were able to land a job at the nationwide fairs held on Labor Day, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on Saturday.

According to the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), a total of 4,314 applicants were immediately hired or hired-on-the-spot (HOTS) for positions of factory/production worker, customer service representative, human resource officer, office clerk, and teacher.

It added that the top five occupations with the most number of hires were Production Worker, Service Crew, Assembler, Production Operator, and Cashier.

On the other hand, a total of 21,593 applicants were considered hired, but they still need to submit additional or lacking requirements, or may need to undergo further interviews, trade test or examination.

The BLE also reported that a total of 35,242 people participated in the one-day Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan (TNK)-Build Build Build (BBB)-Jobs Jobs Jobs fair, where the main site was at the Kingsborough International Convention Center, San Fernando, Pampanga.

Among the successful applicants in the main job fair were newly-weds Jerry and Maybelyn Evangelista, who were both hired by Superl Philippines, Inc. as factory workers.

The couple said that they found out about the job fair through their neighbor. On April 30, after their wedding ceremony at the municipal hall, both submitted their resumes and pre-registered to the job fair.

“Masaya po dahil magiging magkasama kami sa trabaho, mas okay lalo na at bagong kasal kami at bubuo na ng pamilya. Maganda rin po na hindi na naming kailangan lumayo at dito lang sa aming lugar ay mayroon ng trabaho (We are happy because we will be working at the same place. This is much better for us who were just married and our about to start a family. It is also good that we don’t need to go far and we are able to find a job near our residence),” the couple said.

Another applicant, Marianne Javier, 40, qualified both as a factory worker for a local company and as a nail technician for Brunei.

Meanwhile, some of the jobseekers were referred to Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for skills training (1,543), to livelihood assistance provided by DOLE (1,604), to Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for business opportunity (2,053).

A total of 2,143 applicants were referred to other participating government agencies such as National Bureau of Investigation, Social Security System, Professional Regulatory Commission, Overseas Welfare Workers Administration, National Reintegration Center for OFWs, PhilHealth, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, National Council on Disability Affairs-People With Disability.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III expressed gratitude to employers for the more than 204,000 local and overseas employment opportunities, including vacancies in various positions in government agencies.

“We are grateful to our employers who participated. Their involvement made the job fair massive and a big success. We are equally thankful to our partner agencies in the TNK and BBB programs for the successful undertaking,” the DOLE chief said in a statement.

This year’s Labor Day job and business fairs, with the theme “Pagpupugay sa Manggagawang Pilipino”, were held simultaneously in 31 sites all over the country.