Since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, millions of Filipinos have lost their jobs due to industry-wide company closures and the retrenchment program being implemented by employers to reduce its operation cost and stay afloat during the crisis. The City of Pagadian is no exception, the pandemic badly affected its local economy. It recorded thousands of displaced workers in the city because of the crisis and the economic downturn it causes.

As part of its recovery efforts and to provide employment opportunities to its local constituents, PESO Pagadian City conducted a two-days Job Fair dubbed as “Asenso sa Panarbaho Job Fair 2021” on August 12-13, 2021, at City Executive Function Hall, Pagadian City.

The said activity is part of PESO Pagadian’s employment facilitation strategy that aims to fast-track the meeting of its local jobseekers and the participating employers and overseas recruitment agencies in one venue to reduce the cost, time, and effort on the part of the Pagadianon applicants.

The job fair is open to all unemployed, skilled, and unskilled workers, fresh college graduates, graduates of training institutions, displaced workers especially those displaced by the Covid-19 pandemic.

There were at least 2,013 local and overseas job vacancies offered by twenty (20) participating establishments.

Participating employers includes Ace Hardware, Gaisano Capital, Dunkin Donuts, Robinson’s Supermarket, Bo’s Coffee, Philippine Statistics Authority, NEDA-9, and 3 private hospitals in the city.

Among the local job positions offered are cashier, office clerk, accounting staff, telemarketers, and nurses. While for overseas jobs, domestic helper, household service worker, restaurant worker, cleaner and general nurses top the list. A record breaking 826 applicants were interviewed and 138 of them were hired on the spot or HOTS.

PESO Pagadian City was one of the few PESOs in the region who was granted by DOLE and IATF the authority to conduct a face-to-face Job Fair in 2021 due to its conducive facility and strict observance of health and safety protocols to control and prevent the spread of Covid-19 virus.

“Conducting Job Fair at this time of the pandemic is totally different from all the pre-pandemic Job Fairs we have conducted; we have to place mechanisms and strict health protocols to make sure that our job applicants will not be infected by COVID-19, and they can return to their families safely. We are also grateful to DOLE and DICT for the technical assistance during the planning phase and until the success of the activity” said Engr. Vince Quipot VI, the PESO Manager of Pagadian City.

Gray James G. Zamora, 25 years old, is one of the applicants who were hired on the spot during the job fair, he said that he came to know of the event when he was tagged by her friend on the Facebook post of PESO Pagadian. He then immediately prepared his resume and tried to apply as Electrical Engineer at Gaisano Capital Pagadian, he was hired immediately by the employer and started his work on September 02, 2021. Currently, he is on track to be a regular employee of the company and he was happy that he can now start helping his mother and PWD father.

“I am very fortunate to be hired on the spot even though I have no work experience. This is also my first time joining a Job Fair activity like this.” added Gray James G. Zamora. ###