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On May 21 and 22, 2008, our company JobsDB.com held the Career and
Entrepreneurship Fair (CEF) 2008 at the World Trade Center, Pasay
City. More than 15,000 people, bussed in through the “Libreng
Sakay” assistance by Metropolitan Manila Development Authority
Chairman Bayani Fernando, Mayor Wenceslao “Peewee” Trinidad of
Pasay City, Mayor Strike Revilla of Bacoor, Cavite and Mayor Maria
Lourdes Fernando of Marikina, benefited from the two-day fair that
presented thousands of job openings from various participating
companies and free seminars on career development and
entrepreneurship. The event was made possible with the support of
Convergys and the Presidential Adviser for Job Creation Arthur Yap
who shared the same vision of providing opportunities for every
Juan.
Vice President Noli de Castro; Secretary Cerge
Remonde of the Presidential Management Staff, in behalf of President
Gloria Arroyo; Peter Musngi, Manila radio division head of ABS-CBN
Broadcasting; Victor Fernandez, president of Philippine Association
of Service Exporters; our chairman, Samuel Sung; and yours truly
graced the opening and ribbon-cutting ceremonies on May 21. The Vice
President, with the other VIP guests toured the entire venue to get
a glimpse of the event features.
The CEF 2008 is a continuation of our efforts to
provide opportunities to Filipinos. We started this in 2006, with
the Career and Education Fair where we introduced the paperless job
application system through the use of the Career Card, an electronic
card that stores a jobseeker’s resumé allowing him to apply to
participating companies during the fair without the need for a
printed bio-data. The use of the Career Card has now become standard
in all job fairs organized and sponsored by JobsDB.com.
Like in the CEF 2006, we conducted free career
development seminars in this year’s CEF, courtesy of our corporate
partners John Clements Consultants, Inc., Job1 Global, iCareer
Academy and Inter-Education Specialists. Other organizations that
provided free talks were the Center for Family Ministries, which
shared their insights on how to achieve a work-life balance; the
Philippine Overseas Employment Administration , which discussed
opportunities abroad; and International Organization for Migration,
which talked about the right procedures in availing an authentic
passport.
In CEF 2008, we expanded our coverage to reach
to more people. Besides providing opportunities in
technical-vocational field for the skilled workers, we included
entrepreneurship as part of the event highlights, hence the
replacing “Education” with “Entrepreneurship.” The
Philippines has a growing number of freelancers and the so-called
raket-eers (the people who accept rakets while holding a day job),
as well as silent entrepreneurs who are home-based business people.
As our support to them, free talks and seminars were featured:
Technology and Livelihood Resource Center demonstrated
fashion-accessory making; Google Philippines discussed doing
business online; Kikay Exchange tackled blogging as a means to
promote one’s business; and PC Express talked about how to put up
an internet café. 88DB.com, a service portal under the JobsDB.com
network that provides free ad posting to freelancers and
entrepreneurs, shared a new strategy that maximizes technological
innovations to boost up a business, called “cyberboosting.” The
service portal also offered free ad posting online and gave away
personalized calling cards to freelancers and entrepreneurs who
registered at the 88DB.com booth.
88DB.com, tagged as the “Philippine raket
central” (88DB.com is where you can find various rakets and
sidelines) showcased some of its advertisers: Loi Villarama of The
Loi Events Management hosted the 88DB.com program and events, which
included the abovementioned entrepreneurial talks, chorale
performance by the University of Makati Chorale, live band shows by
Lifesprung and White Bananas and appearance of celebrities Angel
Locsin, Nancy Jane, Mat Ranillo 3rd and daughter Krista, Nicolehyala
and Chris Tsuper of Love Radio’s Tambalang Balasubas at Balahura
and the band Hale. Totally Creative Graphic Studio provided photo
and video coverage and Flower and Design Station supplied flowers.
Meanwhile, other 88DB.com advertisers granted
free services and products to selected lucky attendees as added
attractions during the two-day fair. Six freelance make-up artists
provided beauty make-over; YJC Beauty and Slimming Center gave
facial treatments; Foot Options, foot spa and massage; Blind
Massage, head and back massage; Resti Santiago offered his expertise
in astrology; Marcelle Fabie entertained the audience with his magic
tricks; Magic Potion gave away beauty products; and The Pastry
Studio, mini-cakes.
With the success of the CEF 2008, we have become
more driven to give our share in bringing more opportunities closer
to our fellow Filipinos. We aim to continue this goal as we extend
the CEF series in Cebu on July 10 and 11 and in Davao on October
2008.
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