28 Business Firms Now On-board; Baldoz Lauds Employers’ Support to JobStart Philippines

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz heaped praise upon 28 employers that have signed a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Labor and Employment, through its Bureau of Local Employment, in support of the JobStart Philippines, a pioneering program that seeks to mainstream full-cycle employment services—through local Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs)—to young and inexperienced jobseekers as a way of preparing them for productive employment.

The 28 employers—Aquino Basket, Carats Manufacturing, CGS Solid Aircon and Refrigeration, CS Garments Inc.,Elixir Industrial Equipment, Inc, Enriquez Security Services, Inc. (ESSI), GB Express, Grandis Jubilance Ventures, Happy Haus Food Corp., iGO2 Group Inc., Image Doctor’s Clinic, IMES Global Inc., Interlink Manpower Development, JobCrest Management, LA Bakeshop, LA Bakeshop and Groceries, Manpower Development Corporation, MB Garbez, MKP Inc., P. IMES Corp., PC Storage, Proserve Manpower Inc., Romac Group of Companies, Sankou Seiki Co. Ltd. Inc., Site Skills, Tele Sight, and Telford Service Phils. Inc.—have pledged to provide internships/apprenticeships to 277 youth beneficiaries from General Trias, San Fernando, Taguig City, and Quezon City in the form of technical and on-the-job training with pay.

On 4 December 2014, the DOLE facilitated and witnessed the signing of MOAs between some of these companies and Quezon City Mayor Herbert M. Bautista.

The Bureau of Local Employment reported that 35 MOAs are expected to be completed by the end of January 2015.

“I am pleased that more and more employers appreciate the fact that JobStart Philippines is about them as much as it is about our workers. It is about companies getting the right people and about jobseekers getting hired for the right jobs, the right qualifications, and the right reasons. It is about cutting the job search from two years to nine months,” said Baldoz after BLE Director Dominique Tutay reported the MOA signing in Quezon City.

The 28 establishments in four cities and municipalities are the pilot program implementers of Jobstart Philippines since its inception.

According to Ruth R. Rodriguez, BLE focal person of the JobStart Philippines Project, 22 more companies with 754 internship offers are expected to finalize their MOAs with Scope Global.

JobStart Philippines prepares jobseekers for productive employment through enhanced career guidance, life skills training, technical training, and on-the-job training (OJT). Under the program, employers participating are reimbursed of the cost in overseeing the technical training and delivering the jobseekers’ OJT.

All the 28 companies agree that the JobStart Program is beneficial to them.

Atty. Ma. Elena Enriquez, manager for administration of Enriquez Security Services, Inc. (ESSI), says:

“As somebody in charge of recruitment, I always look for people who have the knowledge about the jobs they applied for because I had nobody to train them. But I realized that when we were young, we also did not know how to do the work we wanted,” she said, adding:

“It had taught us about our corporate social responsibility to give back by helping jobseekers job-ready.”

David Tabanera, human resources head of Elixir Industrial Equipment, Inc., said the program enables his company to find the right people because jobseekers are ‘re-tooled’ according to the available jobs in the labor market.

“Not all jobs that young jobseekers prepared for are in the labor market which, by nature, is constantly changing. JobStart is very helpful in making the right match of employees for us,” Tabanera said.

Gilbert Jim, chief executive officer of Grandis Jubilance Ventures, hailed the life skills training stage that young applicants have to go through with JobStart.

“It has always been our company’s objective to teach our employees with the right values, including career growth. We teach them to aim higher, from the rank-and-file to managerial positions, and we are happy to partner with JobStart because it instills these values in the applicants,” Jim said.

Another employer happy with JobStart is Rafael Chico, chairperson of Manpower Development Corporation. Chico, in fact, signed two MOAs—one for Quezon City and another for Taguig City youth beneficiaries, and he is willing to go further, saying he will invite fellow employers to participate in the program as their platform for corporate social responsibility.

“This is profit with honor, and I wish the DOLE will expand this program to include more employers so that we will be able to help the youth acquire life skills training and technical competencies. It is through these strategies that we can address job mismatch and unemployment,” Chico said.

Toyota Commonwealth, represented by Mr. Nico Samson, completed the batch of five employers who signed agreements with JobStart.

Funded by the Government of Canada and administered through the Asian Development Bank, JobStart qualifiers are young people who are 18-24 years old; at least high school graduates (including college graduates and undergrads); have no job experience or have not more than one year of work experience; currently not in employment nor enrolled in school or in any training; and actively seeking work.

JobStart is being piloted in four local government units (LGUs) through their PESOs: General Trias, Cavite with 200 beneficiaries; San Fernando, Pampanga with 360 beneficiaries; Taguig City with 340 beneficiaries, and Quezon City with 700 beneficiaries.

Secretary Baldoz said the enthusiasm of employers to offer internship slots to JobStart beneficiaries shows the efficacy of the program in contributing to addressing the jobs-skills mismatch. “It also demonstrates their genuine desire to help create employment opportunities in the country, and for this, I thank them all,” she declared.

Baldoz has committed to implement JobStart Philippines in all DOLE regions next year with funding support from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s Training for Work Scholarship Program.