iTrabaho eyes LGU tieup to ease online job search

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu-based online job matching portal iTrabaho.com will be partnering with the local government units (LGUs) in order to bridge the gap between the job seekers and the employers.

Managing director of iTrabaho online and SMS-based job portal John Kim said in an interview that the company is starting to negotiate with the Lapu-Lapu City government to transfer all its qualified manpower supply listed in the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) to be made available online.

Kim said his company will propose a partnership with different LGUs in the country, starting with Lapu-Lapu City, in order to give these LGUs a more effective platform for providing employment to their residents or constituents, as job search or application will only be made online or through text messaging.

“We would like to create online profile out of their (LGU-PESO) data,” said Kim.

According to Kim, iTrabaho.com is doing away from the complexity of applying via the traditional online job sites and now gives applicants convenience by linking its site to SMS, which makes it the first job site to offer “Text-to-Apply” feature.

Introduced in 2011 with the help of young Cebuano developers, iTrabaho is now registering an average of 90 thousand hits a day, “and this is growing.”

Kim said his company has already prepared a platform that is more localized and will fit on the requirements of every LGU.

Aside from its “Text-To-Apply” feature, a registered job seeker will also be included in the database of iTrabaho.com which employers can look into, without requiring the applicant to upload his/her resume to every interested employer.

 â€œNo existing technology today [in the Philippines] allows one to send resume via SMS,” Kim said.

Kim, however, clarified that the site will not only limit its employer membership to Cebu-based companies but eventually also invite firms from all over the Philippines.

This time, the company is reaching out to the LGUs to help them be effective in their provision and linking of employers and job seekers.

While there are also other existing job sites operating locally in Cebu and the Philippines in general, Kim said iTrabaho offers innovations that will make job hunting much easier.

At present, iTrabaho is in partnership with the ICT Council of the Philippines. And in Cebu, it is also working closely with the Cebu Educational Development for Information Technology (Cedfit).

In the long term, he said Now Media Group, the company that operates the job portal will expand its mileage to cover job seekers from outside of the country, linking with employers around the world, probably starting with Korea and Singapore, among others.

Kim is a Silicon-Valley based venture capitalist who also maintains a company in California, named Human Capital, a market-entry firm that provides informative data for companies wanted to expand in unfamiliar territories around the world.  (FREEMAN)