LABOR DAY JOBAPALOOZA 2009 - A resounding success!

Close to 30,000 jobseekers flocked the SMX Convention Center on Labor day to join the biggest Job fair the country has ever seen.  Spearheaded by the Department of Labor of employment, this Jobapalooza is also the collaboration of many heads namely the DOLE, the main sponsors and the employers themselves. Partnering with DOLE is Jobstreet.com which is the no. 1 jobsite in the country which has more than 6 million registered jobseekers which includes me. Well I registered so that I may know how to register since we took care of the registration needs of the event since the mobile caravan was launched.

 

Mayday, Mayday...7557 got hired today

Aside from Jobstreet.com  one of the major sponsors of the event was Globe Telecoms, Banco De Oro and the SM Group of companies, the City or Manila and Pasay, the Philippine Online Chronicles, Philjob.net and the STI Education Services Group which took care of the registration. STI provided 50 computers for the event plus manpower to help on the registration. As I wrote in this blog even before the event STI has already helped in the pre - registration by way of the STI Mobile Caravan.

 

STI Student Volunteers Getting Ready

Prior to the event, pre registered jobseekers totaled more than 20,000 and a lot of them got their final interviews as 7557 jobseekers were employed on labor day. There were 330 employers that joined the Jobapalooza and the long lines of people waiting for their turn to make it inside and submit their resumes made the day also fulfilling for employers who were ready to get new employees. Leading the way were call centers, BPOs and other big companies with multi businesses like SM.

 

The Registration Scene

The registration of the participants was quite a tideous task but I am glad that our STI volunteers pulled through.  Its no joke sitting there for hours and receiving registration slips and helping others register specially when you entertain 20,000 people.  The combined team of STI Headquarters, STI College Global City and STI College Taft plus some other volunteers from STI College Cubao proved to be a great mix of STIers working for a worthy cause. If there is one thing they learned today, its that applying for a job is no joke.

The Internet Kiosk, Computers by STI, Internet by Globe

At around 10:30 AM Jobstreet Country Manager Grace Colet was alarmed that the number of people who flocked the SMX Convention Center was twice than what was expected. Crowd control seems to be the problem now and how to manage the flow of people coming in and going out. Grace pulled togehter her men, together with some people form DOLE and also some from our team to help out in making sure that the people are line up correctly so that no more problems on getting out of line will be met. When the coast cleared up at around 5:45 pm when the lines were cut and the employers already tired of a whole day’s work has already closed shop, the job fair finally ended.  

My congratulations to the small group of friends that has spent countless hours in making sure that we deliver what we promised, from DOLE Lites Villoria, Globe’s  Nonie Busuego, Manolo Nava and Ryan Fernandez, BDO’s Mau Laus and Leah Lau, Jobstreet’s Lindsay Querubin and my partner who pieced everything up Karen La Rosa, congratulations everyone for a JOBapalooza well done. My hat goes off to jobstreet for their team that never got tired in making sure that the everyone got entertained.  I was also moved by Jobstreet’s Grace Colet who thanked all our STI students one by one for their help and participation. Thanks Grace and Lindsay.  

Zerina, Rynee, RJ, Geann, Rezyl with Aga

After a full day of work to help people get work, it was time to unwind. I was lucky I was accompanied by my 5 galpals, Zerina,Rynee, RJ, Ge-ann and Rezyl. It made working all the more light and enjoyable. We are lucky that Globe sponsored a concert that featured Hajji Alejandro, Rachel Ann Go, Rivermaya and Mr. Pure Energy himself Gary Valenciano.  This worthwhile endeavor is something that we will talk about in months to come. Now let’s prepare for JOBapalooza 2010!