A total of 64 technical-vocational graduates in Central Luzon were hired on-the-spot in a job fair organized by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) regional office here.

A report released by TESDA-Central Luzon on Wednesday showed Bulacan province has the highest number with 17 job applicants accepted by employers immediately after the interview and evaluation of their qualifications and requirements.

The job fair was held during the World Café of Opportunities (WCO) at Waltermart in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga province last Aug. 25.

Meanwhile, the provinces of Zambales and Aurora had 16 and 14 applicants, respectively, who were immediately hired.

Other job seekers from the provinces of Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Bataan and Pampanga complete the number of those immediately hired.

The WCO is a job facilitation activity annually conducted by TESDA to celebrate its founding anniversary.

TESDA III Regional Director Balmyrson Valdez thanked the private companies who joined the jobs fair.

“I am also grateful to our partner government agencies who did not only provide their frontline service but also took the opportunity to also hire some tech-voc grad-applicants,” Valdez said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Department of Labor and Employment Regional Office III accepted the application of two job seekers from Bulacan who are both bookkeeping NC II graduates of TESDA.

Participating private firms such as Deliscents (Mister Donut), Global Mode Manpower Services, Prima Plastic Manufacturing Corp., Wheel Auto Services Experts, Brookside Group of Companies, ASKI Group of Companies, Inc., ATE Energy, and Yellow Circles Construction and Trading Corporation also successfully found their needed skilled workforce during the one-day job fair.

Valdez cited the support of the provincial government of Pampanga and other stakeholders in the conduct of this year’s WCO which enabled the TVET graduates/alumni and employers to converge for easier job-skill matching.

Around 33 companies under the construction, manufacturing, information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) and tourism sectors joined the event and offered almost 3,000 local job vacancies.

Most of the jobs that were filled in belong to the food industry as well as automotive and construction sectors.

“TESDA is not just here as an alternative but the best partner in the upskilling and re-skilling of interested workers and individuals. The certification of workers and tech-voc grads certainly opens a lot of employment opportunities,” Valdez said. (PNA)