GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/12 January) — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Region 12 is planning to launch more major job fairs this year as part of its enhanced employment facilitation program.
Ofelia Domingo, DOLE Region 12 director, said they are targeting to surpass this year their accomplishment in terms of facilitating employment for local job seekers by way of job fairs, which reached 70 in 2014.
The agency conducted 66 of these job fairs from January to November last year that facilitated the employment of 155,977 job seekers from various parts of the region.
Four more job fairs were conducted in the area in December that coincided with DOLE’s 81st founding anniversary.
“We came up with a target for 2015 based on last year’s accomplishment and it would be better if we can exceed that,” Domingo said.
Also known as Soccsksargen, Region 12 comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, North Cotabato and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.
The official said they initially targeted to hold a total of 56 job fairs last year but it eventually increased to 70.
She said they aimed to place some 69,074 job seekers but were able to cover 155,977 or an accomplishment rating of 226 percent.
As of the end of November last year, she said they registered a total of 19,115 job applicants out of their 81,100 target and referred for placement 167,493 of them from their aim of 72,990.
“We’ve set a placement rate of 85 percent but we were able to achieve 94 percent during the period,” Domingo said.
For this year, she said they started their preparations for the lined up major job fairs, among them the Labor Day and June 12 or Kalayaan events.
She said they will also continue with the rollout of its enhanced computerized skills registry system (SRS) in parts of the region.
SRS, a key component of DOLE’s job generation program, is a repository of manpower information used by the agency in circulating job opportunities within a specific area when demands arise and become available.
A DOLE briefer said the registry features a roster of active manpower supply that shows information on the qualifications and skills of registrants that were either acquired in school or gained through experience.
“With a computerized system, this registry of skills can be readily accessed by clients or interested parties through an information highway that is available all throughout the country. In addition, a database on job posting of employers shall also be maintained and be made available to indicate the current demand for labor,” it said.
The skills registry may be readily accessed by employers through the Phil-Jobnet website, which serves as the government’s main job portal. (MindaNews)