In QC, job fair eclipses rallies

Thousands of people converged yesterday at the Elliptical Road in front of the Quezon City Hall, not to stage a protest rally, but for the "mega job fair" sponsored by the city government, national agencies and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), where 30,000 local and overseas jobs were up for grabs.

As early as 8 a.m. jobseekers filled the covered court where the "Trabaho Muna" and job opportunity program was held. Companies and job placement agencies distributed employment forms for the applicants to fill up.

Joey Javier, 23, from Novaliches, said he hoped to land a new job after his stint as a contractual employee in a department store.

"I am optimistic of getting a new job," he said.

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. earlier urged the city residents to take advantage of the activity, which lasted up to 5 p.m.

Aside from the job fair, the national government agencies brought their services to City Hall, among them the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) which deployed their mobile clearance van, Social Security System, the National Statistics Office (NSO) and Bureau of Internal Revenue.

The National Food Authority also deployed the "Tindahan Ni Gloria" rolling stores that sold very cheap basic commodities to city residents. Skills and livelihood training and lectures were also held during the daylong activities.

The series of job fairs conducted by the Quezon City government and the national government resulted in the hiring of some 4,500 jobseekers from various barangays, the Industrial Relations Office-Public Employment Service Office (IRO-PESO) reported recently.

The report said the job description of the newly hired applicants varied depending on individual skills, ranging from janitorial services, call center operators to top level executives and overseas employment.

The job fair is a regular activity of the city government in coordination with 400 companies that have given priority to Quezon City residents whenever there is a job opening in their firms.

Each company gives a monthly report to the city government on the number of newly hired personnel referred to them as an offshoot of the job fairs.

Meanwhile, the IRO-PESO office has also sponsored career guidance counseling program to some 5,898 students from 17 schools in January and February.