Local employers prefer fresh grads

CEBU, Philippines - Contrary to common beliefs that the experienced workers have the advantage of getting employed, local employers who participated in this year’s Labor Day job fairs said they prefer young employees and therefore would opt for fresh graduates.

Human resources and recruitment officers from various companies said they are generally looking for young employees.

Gaisano Main, Inc. human resources manager Melodina Lubiano said the company is looking for workers who are determined, in need of work and willing to learn the duties of a sales clerk, cashier or bagger. 

She said they are not keen on employing people who already have work experience but they instead prioritize to give job opportunities to fresh high school and college graduates.

“Of course we can be satisfied later on kay kahibawo man mi nga matudlo-an na sila sa trabaho,” she further said. “Kini atong mga batan-on sayon ra man ni tudlo-an.” (We are confident that we will be satisfied with our news hires since the young are easy to teach and are highly trainable.)

She added that proper orientation is a must to make sure the new workers will be competitive and capable of doing their tasks. “We should also make them realize nga di sayon ang pagpangita og trabaho. So those who are hired should value their work aron mo-appreciate ilang employers.”

‘Recent grads are better’

HR officers prefer young and new graduates because even as these newbies do not have the experience yet, they are the ones who are very eager to learn and have the drive to fulfill their tasks on time.

They are usually appropriate for the rank and file positions considering that they have not experienced working yet and are still starting to build a career, explained Joana Marie Amadeo, recruitment specialist at Budget Builders, Inc., a manufacturer of home products.

Rank and file workers are the non-executive and non-managerial employees of a company and are usually ordinary members who do not have senior positions.

Amadeo said, “Honestly, we can be satisfied with our new hires because we are willing to train them. Generally, we hire those who are showing sincere willingness and are open-minded.”

She also believes that the way employers recruit in this generation has changed significantly as recruiters now consider attitude on top of the skills as a priority in hiring an applicant.

“We prioritize good attitude,” the specialist said, “because it would imply being hard working, open-minded, willing to learn and not a great complainer--and those are assets to the company.”

The attitude of a person can be noticed on how he answers questions during the job interview, she added.

She also shared young employees should be given an avenue to learn further even if they have not been exposed yet to the workplace. 

The HR officer of Harolds Hotel, Fontina Ybañez, also echoed the same response that work of the young people are usually ‘better’ as enthusiasm always prevails in them, thinking of the new learning environment they are in.

“If you ask them, ‘Are you willing to work overtime?’, ‘Are you ready to do any job?’, ‘render your time’, they will answer ‘yes’ even if they’re not sure,” Ybañez laughed. “That shows aggressiveness and it gives satisfaction somehow.”

Mismatched

While the Labor Department provided several jobless Filipinos a way to start a new work life, most of the jobs available do not match with the capabilities or expertise they can offer or what they had been trained in school, said an economics professor in Cebu.

“Well, job fairs are actually helping but the jobs offered, for the most part, do not fit on what the applicants are trained to do,” explained Luzviminda Roda of the University of San Jose - Recoletos.

She said most applicants go to job fairs for the main reason of finding a stable source of income to help the family and satisfy one’s needs and wants. But in reality, they are, in some way, dissatisfied with the mismatched job.

She cited that job fairs--with their indirect concern for the jobless--or other labor events do help, in a way, decrease ‘but not 100percent the high unemployment rate in the country.

“Not all who go to job fairs would be luckily employed,” she noted, adding that there are still a number of people left jobless and are out of the labor market.

What can be done, she suggested, in order to drive labor force growth is for the government to provide jobs appropriate to the capability and expertise of the applicant: “There should be establishments waiting for their services.”

However, today’s situation shows that with so many people out of work, they would probably take any upright opportunity available, handing out resumes and tying with potential employers with the intent hope to spur quality life. (FREEMAN)