ILOILO City – One hundred thirty job seekers were hired on-the-spot during the recent two-day job fair of the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) Iloilo.
A total of 2,346 job seekers went to the two venues – Iloilo provincial capitol grounds and Casa Real de Iloilo (old capitol) – said PESO-Iloilo chief Francisco Heler Jr.
The turnout was low in comparison with the 60,707 vacancies available – 7,506 for local employment and 53,201 for overseas employment.
Most of the 130 hired on-the-spot during the Friday and Saturday job fair were females (88), according to PESO-Iloilo.
Some of them will be working in malls, lending companies and drug stores, while others have landed overseas jobs.
A total of 124 companies participated in the job fair, including 97 local companies and 23 recruiters for overseas employment.
Among them were four government agencies – Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, and Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).
PESO-Iloilo did not encounter any major problem during the two-day event.
“Ang iban wala kabalo nga may ara man [employers nga nag-set up] sa Casa Real, but ang aton nga staff kept on telling or informing them,” Heler said.
Of the total job seekers who came, 1,525 were “walk-ins” while 786 pre-registered with their municipal PESO or the PESO-Iloilo at the third floor of the capitol building.
Some of the participating companies were out to hire persons with disabilities.
Aside from companies hiring workers, some government agencies set up booths to provide services at the job fair, among them the Social Security System, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Foreign Affairs, Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine Health Insurance Corp., PRC, and BIR.
This was the second job fair the PESO-Iloilo held this year. The first was in June./PN
