140 hired on the spot in DOLE-7 Independence Day job fairs

CEBU, Philippines — Some 140 job applicants were hired on the spot (HOTS) during the Department of Labor and Employment-7’s Kalayaan Day Job Fairs held on June 12, 2022 in Cebu City and Dumaguete City.

DOLE undersecretary and concurrent DOLE-7 director Victor Del Rosario said that there were 136 applicants hired on the spot for local employment and four for overseas posts.

At the Cebu City Job Fair, the applicants who got hired on the spot reached 62, while the same event that was spearheaded in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental yielded 78 HOTS.

“We are very glad and grateful for the outcome of the two job fairs which we simultaneously conducted last Sunday. What is very interesting is that this number of HOTS is likely to increase in the coming days as we also have tallied many applicants falling under the Near Hires category,” del Rosario said in a statement.

Meanwhile, there were 603 “near-hires” or jobseekers considered hired but still need to submit additional or lacking requirements.

There were also 455 near-hires for local employment and 145 for overseas employment. The DOLE will continuously monitor the status of these near-hires for a month right after the conduct of said job fairs.

Close to 8,000 vacancies were made available during job fairs, which were participated in by 61 employers.

DOLE-7 said of the 1,906 applicants who registered, only 795 were considered qualified.

There were also 15 applicants referred to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for further skills training, 117 to other agencies offering services at the One-Stop-Shop, and about 39 were referred to the Department of Trade and Industry for business opportunities.

DOLE-7 added that their department and its partner-agencies pooled resources together to make the job fairs possible.

By conducting the initiative, Del Rosario said they hoped to liberate the fresh graduates, the unemployed youth, the displaced workers, the graduates of training institutions, and all jobseekers alike from unemployment and poverty.

“We are profoundly indebted to all our partners and the participating employers for their generous and friendly help in making sure that the job fairs held last Sunday were made possible,” del Rosario further said. — JMD (FREEMAN)