ILOILO City – Companies that participated in the recent Iloilo job fair had a few interesting to say about this year’s most prominent jobseekers event.
Although many had a lot of positive things to say about the Job Expo held on June 1, there was also almost unanimous agreement that the Job Expo could have been better organized and coordinated.
One such person was Dominic Sencio who works for the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc., a Cebu-based microfinance organization.
“This is our first time to join a job fair here in Iloilo because we are a Cebu based organization. So nakita lang namin very overwhelming ang mga applicants,” Sencio said, adding that although the job expo’s size was smaller than those in other provinces, it was too large for the venue, the Iloilo Provincial Capitol’s lobby.
“So far ang na-compare namon – compared outside of Iloilo, mas organized ang iba. Halos hindi makahinga [dito]. Chaotic. Yun ang concern na nakikita namin. So maybe going forward baka ma-improve siya,” he added.
When asked about the types of applicants they were looking for, Sencio said that he and his team were mostly interested in financial specialists.
“We are looking for candidates for other branches namin. Kadalasan microfinance, so accounting at may background sa finance,” he said.
Another company participant shared the same sentiment. Aya Narriza, an assistant human resource manager at Grand Xing Hotel, aired the same observations but had more positive things to say about the Job Expo – lauding the event’s size and the number of job applicants who joined.
“Our recruitment was fine. Manami ang flow sang job fair,” Narriza said, adding that she was looking for more experienced personnel during the event. “Mostly on operations and offices, and mostly managerial. We need more experienced staff,” she said.
There was also Ruther Esclamado of F. Gurrea Construction who had a lot of positive things to say about the Job Expo.
“Based sa experiences ko man, amo gid ni ya ang grandest. Diri gid ya ang pull sang all over Panay. May recruiter diri halin sa Manila. So effective gid and obra sang PESO [Public Employment Service Office – Province of Iloilo],” Ruther said.
A total of 103 applicants were hired on-the-spot during the job expo of the Public Employment Service Office in Iloilo province on Friday.
In an interview, PESO manager Francisco Heler Jr., said a total of 2,144 jobseekers were “nearly hired” for local employment and 944 for overseas employment.
The one-day job expo here offered more than 37,000 job vacancies.
Of the 160 companies that confirmed their participation to the job expo, 148 showed up.
Heler said the event drew 4,762 jobseekers, 700 more than the 4,007 job hunters during the job fair conducted in June last year./PN
