800 jobseekers attended TESDA's 'World Cafe of Opportunities'

Leilanie Adriano | Philippine News Agency

LAOAG CITY. Philippine News Agency (25 August 2023) - Around 800 applicants from Ilocos Norte trooped to the “World Cafe of Opportunities” (WCO) held at Robinsons Ilocos mall on Friday to seek local and overseas jobs and avail of starter toolkits and wellness services.

Led by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), in partnership with other government agencies, private companies, and technical-vocational (tech-voc) institutions, the WCO was held simultaneously nationwide as the country marks "National Tech-Voc Day,” an annual program under Republic Act 10970, which aims to promote tech-voc education and training across the country.

Under the law, all heads of government agencies, local government units, schools, technical-vocational institutions, private employers and industry groups are encouraged to provide time and opportunities for their employees to participate in activities related to the "National Tech-Voc Day” every Aug. 25.

TESDA provincial director Socorro Galanto said in an interview that at least 500 job vacancies were up for grabs during the whole day activity participated in by 19 local and overseas employers.

The WCO served as a one-stop shop where government agencies, private companies, and tech-voc educational institutions (TVET) converged to offer employment, training, competency assessment and financial assistance to graduates or alumni.

“Through this activity, we hope to hire at least 45 applicants on the spot and to employ more TVET graduates while providing more starter toolkits to those who recently trained with TESDA,” said Galanto.

After undergoing a 30-day training on dressmaking, 35-year-old Nelly Mar Adayan of Barangay Caaoacan in this city received a portable free-arm sewing machine courtesy of TESDA.

She was among the recipients of a free livelihood starter kit meant to give her another source of income, aside from farming. “We are blessed to have gained additional skills like sewing and the starter kit will be useful for us when there are clients in need of sewing services," she said.

With the opening of classes, a number of sewing shops in the city and nearby towns are looking for part-time workers to be commissioned to make student uniforms, among others, Adayan said.

In Ilocos Sur, 979 local job opportunities were also made available for jobseekers at Tagudin Farmers Civic Center in celebration of TESDA’s 29th anniversary.

TESDA and its partner agencies also provided a career talk to student-participants to enable them to make sound decisions as they level up their education.

Job-skill mismatch is also addressed when the country has a pool of graduates taking up courses that can easily lead to decent jobs, said Galanto.

“We envision to produce TVET graduates to become employable,” she said, adding that career decisions should be based on the interests of the child and the aspirations of the parents, knowledge of the child's potentials, up-to-date information of the labor market and the education and training environment.

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