In a country mired in poverty, having a good job, or actually, simply having a job, can make all the difference. Yet, despite job openings, thousands of Filipinos still strain to land a job. It can be difficult and time consuming for the struggling to go to various offices and job fairs without even being guaranteed employment. More problematic are the fees for commuting on job hunts, which can easily reach P150 a day– nothing to sneeze at, especially if you ought to be the breadwinner and have a family to feed.
From an understanding of this situation came the idea of JobWALK, a tie-up between Caritas Manila, and JobsDB Philippines . Fr. Anton Pascual, Executive Director of Caritas Manila met with Ms. Jayjay Viray, General Manager of JobsDB Philippines , with the idea of having people simply walk to their vicariates to find a job there. Computers with internet connections will be available for free to job seekers to search the JobWALK site, powered by JobsDB, for openings. Once they find something that interests them, they can email their resumes. Volunteers trained by JobsDB will be at hand for assistance and those who are unable to use the facilities on the scheduled days may simply fill up a form and have a volunteer input their resumes for them. Those with internet access may simply log in from home or the nearest internet facility.
JobWALK is basically the cheap and painless solution to job hunting for many financially-pressured Filipinos.
Promoting JobWALK is Radio Veritas, one of the media arms of the Archdiocese of Manila. Kharla Turingan of Radio Veritas applauds JobsWALK as a crucial venture that will easily allow Filipinos, particularly those who have little to spare, to go job hunting.
Caritas Manila is currently seeking sponsors for the computers to increase the number of JobWalk Centers
Ms. Jayjay Viray expresses hope for the project, “My goal is the same with Father Anton: which is to help about 300,000 unemployed parishioners to find a job. To be able to bring the jobs closer to the people and eventually find a job for them.” She adds, “My belief is that work is really life for most of us. That’s why it’s called hanapbuhay. If we are able to find jobs for let’s say at least 10,000 to begin with, that’s 10,000 lives, and 10,000 families that will have lives.”
To a number of Filipinos, a new job, and a new life – may now be only just a few steps away. |
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