THE Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) will start holding regular online jobs fair next month for aspiring overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to make job applications abroad easier and to counter the growing number of internet-based recruitment scam syndicates.
In an interview, Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople said the virtual jobs fair will kick off on July 7 and will initially be held once every two weeks.
“For the moment, we will hold it every other Friday,” Ople said, adding: “We want to bring the employment opportunities closer to (OFWs).”
DMW spokesman Toby Nebrida said the online jobs fair is also being eyed to counter the prevalence of online recruitment scams.
“To counter online illegal recruitment, DMW will start biweekly online job fairs starting July.
Tatapatan namin ‘yun ginagawa nila (We will match what they [scammers] have been doing),” Nebrida said.
Ople made the announcement during the Overseas Mega Jobs Fair conducted by the DMW as part of the country’s celebration of the 125th Independence Day yesterday.
Held at the DMW central office in Mandaluyong City, the one-day event drew 2,859 job applicants, which included 1,280 females and 1,579 males.
Thirty recruitment and six manning agencies which participated in the event offered 11,750 overseas employment opportunities to nurses, welders, construction workers, laborers, waiters/waitresses, baristas, warehouse supervisors, food servers, chefs, bakers, accountants, and seafarers, among others.
In Marikina City, the city government partnered with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and held a jobs fair at the SM City Marikina branch to celebrate Independence Day.
Mayor Marcelino Teodoro opened the event with SM Marikina manager Francis Brian Cruz, and DOLE Supervising Labor and Employment Officer, engineer Roberto Chavez, Jr.
“Today as we celebrate the Philippines’125th Independence Day, we are simultaneously holding this job fair for everybody so we could be liberated from poverty through jobs,” Teodoro said.
Some 30 companies participated in the event. As of 2:30 p.m. Monday, the city government of Marikina said 40 applicants have been hired on the spot. — With Christian Oineza
