Lariele Arce, Department of Labor and Employment’s regional employment focal person, says that their new career guidance advocacy called JobsFit will address the job and skills mismatch and the youth unemployment in the country.(Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY— The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) presented a new career guidance program in a bid to address the job and skills mismatch which the government said is the cause of unemployment.
In a press conference on Friday, July 29, Lariele Arce, DOLE’s regional employment focal person, said that their new career guidance advocacy called JobsFit will address the job and skills mismatch and the youth unemployment in the country.
She said the unemployment rate of people aged 15-24 yeas old is two to three times higher than the unemployment rate of those aged 25-54 years old.
“We will immerse our students and parents to know the reality in labor market,” she said, adding that they need the help of the guidance councilors and career advocates to inform the students of the needed jobs.
She said that the “JobsFit” program is one of their biggest programs together with their technical working group, the Department of Education, Commission of Higher Education, Department of Science and Technology, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and Professional Regulatory Commission.
”I-convince nato ang mga guidance counselors and career advocates nga gamiton nila ang career guidance as an effective tool to address the job and skills mismatch (We will convince our guidance counselors and career advocates to use the career guidance as an effective tool to address the job and skills mismatch here),”she said.
In “JobsFit”, Arce said that the youth will know the demand jobs and hard-to-fill jobs in different industries.
Eliza Suarez, president of the Regional Network of Guidance Councilors and Career Advocates Inc. said that in line with the career guidance week which started last July 25 to 29, they targeted that the students will learn the “skills they needed to create informed decisions in their career choice.”
Suarez said that the process of the implementation is, first, there are career inputs and processing “so it is done inside the classrooms and the children will be more aware of themselves, they will know their strengths, weaknesses, skills, talents, interest, and their personalities.”
She said this will ensure that their interest and skills “will fit the labor market.”
“Those National Assessment Career Examination given to the students will be interpreted by the guidance councilors and the students will also do career counseling together with their guidance counselor,” she said.
Arce said that the industry that in demand are the creative industry, power utilities industry, the renewable energy industry and the diversified farming and fishing industry, whole sale and retail industry, hotel and restaurant industry.
In the wholesale and retail industry, Arce said the positions of design officers, accountants, management analyst, auditors and graphic designers are “hard-to-fill jobs”.
Hotel and restaurant industry also have hard-to-fill jobs which include the communication specialist and operation manager. Professionals with backgrounds in electrical, mechanical, civil, industrial engineer, and finance controller are also in demand. (davaotoday.com)
