TESDA-7 calls on unemployed to check out World Café Opportunities

By Minerva BC Newman
CEBU CITY— The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in Central Visayas is calling all ‘tambays’, unemployed, TECHVOC graduates and alumni to visit the World Café Opportunities (WCO) gallery booth at the IC3 Convention Center in Mabolo, Cebu City on August 25 for possible wage employment, small business and self-employment opportunities.

TESDA-7 World Café Opportunities focal person Jasmin Savior told Manila Bulletin that the World Café Opportunities is a one-stop-shop matching platform for job seekers and employers as well as business opportunities mounted nationwide on August 25.

On August 26 all TESDA offices in region 7 are open for consultations, inquiries and other information relative to employment, training and TechVoc education, Savior said.

National government agencies, private companies, TESDA partner institutions and all other various employment, training and financing groups and TVET providers are there to set up their respective booths and kiosks for income/earning possibilities, Savior said.

“TESDA is singling out tambays or those people who are not in employment, education, and training to visit the World Café opportunities because here we are expecting more than 40 employers and business opportunities for them,” Savior said.

Savior added that this is also open to all TECHVoc graduates and alumni and other unemployed groups to find jobs and maybe entrepreneurship matching their fields of skills and expertise.

Not only the TVET graduates, but the WCO also target returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their qualified beneficiaries. “Maybe more than 1,000 are expected to avail of this job seeking event,” Savior said.

According to Fidel Magno, head of Cebu City Hall’s Department of Manpower, Development, and Placement, most of the jobs expected to be offered during the WCO job fair are construction work, IT-BPM sector and overseas employment.

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE-7) Regional Director Johnson Cañete said they focus on scholarship grants and other entrepreneurial opportunities for those who wish to undergo skills and training programs.

“We must train our workforce, not only to become employees but also to become entrepreneurs,” Cañete said.

According to Savior TESDA-7 invited DOLE-7 for its “Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan” program and PESO-Cebu City for its various employment linkages.

The WCO is being set up in connection with the celebration of the National Technical-Vocational (Tech-Voc) Day nationwide every August 25 as declared under RA-10970. (With a report from Cleo A. Cartagena, CIT-U Intern)