17,000 jobs open to tech-voc grads

MANILA, Philippines — At least 17,000 jobs are up for grabs for technical-vocational (tech-voc) graduates and other jobseekers, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) announced yesterday.

“TESDA will hold job fairs and provide financial assistance to our graduates in all the 17 regions nationwide to mark the agency’s 24th anniversary and National Tech-Voc Day on Aug. 25,” TESDA director general Guiling Mamondiong said.

Dubbed “World Café of Opportunities,” the job fair is one of the strategies to link the tech-voc education and training (TVET) graduates to employment opportunities both in wage and self-employment.

Over a thousand job vacancies will be presented in every site to graduates who are looking for jobs or those who want to start their own businesses with the help of participating companies and partner government agencies.

National government agencies, private companies, tech-voc institutions and financing institutions will converge in strategic locations to offer all possible employment, training and financing opportunities and facilitate higher job-skill matching, according to Mamondiong.

Most of the jobs offerings come from construction as part of President Duterte's Build, Build, Build program.

TESDA graduates may also apply for financial loan which they can use in starting a business such as baking, hair salon for those who finished hairdressing, automotive shop for automotive mechanics, and welding shop for welding graduates.

Meanwhile, the Department of Labor and Employment reported that thousands of jobs generated from the Build Build Build program are still available and accessible via the Jobs portal or at http://www.build.gov.ph/Home/Jobs. 

Labor Secretry Silvestre Bello III noted that many jobseekers, including returning overseas Filipino workers, were already hired under the Build Build Build infrastructure program during the first Jobs Jobs Jobs caravan held last week.

He said over 35 contractors for major Build Build Build projects hired new civil engineers, architects, plumbers and carpenters, among others.

Bello said the Jobs Jobs Jobs caravan held at the SMX Convention Center is only the first of many job fairs to be organized by the Build Build Build agencies nationwide.

The Build Build Build program, according to Bello, also seeks to encourage OFWs to come home.