FOUR in every 10 jobseekers should be hired-on-the-spot (HOTS) during the simultaneous job fairs set for the celebration of the 121st Labor Day.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday said it is targeting a 40 percent HOTS rate for the job fairs set to be held nationwide from April 30 to May 1.
“Our target for the HOTS is at 40 percent. We want to try to improve,” said Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma in a press conference yesterday.
“Hopefully, we can fill up almost half of the jobs to be offered,” he added.
He said their target number is higher as compared to the previous job fairs held by DOLE.
“In the past, the HOTS was only at around 5 to 10 percent of the jobseekers,” said Laguesma.
He urged jobseekers to be prepared to face job interviews and come with their pre-employment requirements.
“Their documents must be complete. When they are asked, they should be able to answer impressively. Most of the time, it boils down to these issues,” said Laguesma.
Based on the latest DOLE data, over 70,000 job opportunities are set to be offered during the job fairs next week.
In a statement, DOLE announced that 73,779 job vacancies are set to be offered by 808 employers during the simultaneous job fairs to be held in 42 sites nationwide.
Among the top industries participating are business process outsourcing, manufacturing, financial and insurance activities, manpower services, and sales and marketing.
The top job vacancies are customer service representatives, production workers/operators, financial consultants, service crew, and sales agents or sales clerks.
The DOLE also defended President Marcos Jr. against criticisms that he is ignoring the workers despite the forthcoming celebration of Labor Day.
Laguesma assured that Marcos intends to hold a dialogue with the working sector as soon as his schedule permits it.
“To organized labor, you are not being ignored. We just need to put a proper time frame for them to be able to have a dialogue with the President,” said Laguesma.
“The request (for dialogue) has reached the President. We all know that anyone can have the opportunity to talk to the President. Probably, there will be a right time for that,” he added.
On Labor Day, Marcos is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with the US President Joe Biden.
“Whatever their concerns are, contractualization, security of tenure, ILO (International Labor Organization) high level mission recommendations, the Department of Labor is acting on it. We are taking action,” said Laguesma.