TESDA's job linkaging and networking intensified

June 25, 2018

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has stepped up its Job Linkaging and Networking Services (JoLiNS) to help technical vocational education and training (TVET) graduates find jobs, scholarships, and possible availment of loan packages during the World Café of Opportunities.

TESDA Director General, Sec. Guiling ‘Gene’ A. Mamondiong said that among the steps to prepare for the conduct the World Café of Opportunities is the holding of five-day capability training program for 53 of the agency’s employees and officials.

The training program “Strengthening the Competencies on Industry Coordination of Career Advocates and JoLiNS Focals” will be held at the National TVET Trainers Academy (NTTA) in Marikina on June 25-29, 2018.       

Mamondiong explained that the World Café of Opportunities is a jobs fair that will be held simultaneously in 17 regions of the agency nationwide during the celebration of the National Technical-Vocational (tech-voc) Day on August 25.

It can be recalled that on February 7, 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act No. 10970 which declares Aug. 25 every year and thereon as National Technical-Vocational (Tech-Voc) Day nationwide.

This World Café of Opportunities will now be held twice a year on a regular basis or once in every semester in the respective regions or provinces in the coming years, he added.

According to the TESDA Chief, the training program aims to capacitate the officials and employees of the agency as well as its TESDA Technology Institutes in industry coordination to better prepare them for the implementation of this bi-annual event.

Of the 53 officials, 17 regional officials will be trained in the Career Advocacy Program; 17 Focal Provincial Directors under the Job Linkaging and Networking Services (JoLiNS) and World Café of Opportunities; 17 JoLiNS persons from TESDA Technology Institutions (TTIs) and 2 Career Advocates from Partnerships and Linkages Office(PLO).

World Café of Opportunities in a sense, will open job opportunities and other employment support interventions which shall be offered and will be placed in various stations within the event area, where the jobseekers could roam around and pick the opportunity of their choice. The twin benefit strategy is one of the twists, where jobseekers are not the sole beneficiaries but even the partner agencies/companies.

Its target beneficiaries are TVET graduates; entrepreneurs, companies/industries with job vacancies, and returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their qualified beneficiaries.

Among the services offered under World Cafe of Opportunities are job opportunities; basic/upgrading skills required for employment of TVET graduates and industry workers; technical assistance for TVET graduates/entrepreneurs so that they could avail of loan for their business; and training for OFW returnees and their qualified beneficiaries.

All regional and provincial offices (RO/PO) are required to hold regular semestral sectoral World Café of Opportunities under JoLiNS.

Mamondiong said that every TESDA branch is required to assign an Industry Coordinator (IC) who will oversee the activities and will serve as bridge to TVET graduates, jobseekers, industries and partner agencies in connection with the employment intervention packages.

JoLins was institutionalized through TESDA Circular No. 38, series of 2016 in line with Duterte's thrust in strengthening the war against poverty and with the TESDA's two-pronged direction towards poverty alleviation, to serve as a delivery platform to hasten the employment hunting period for TESDA’s certified TVET graduates by providing them various ways and means to gain access to immediate employment opportunities.

Among the partner agencies that will be tapped by TESDA include: Regional/Provincial Offices of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Public Employment Service Office (PESO), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Overseas Worker and Welfare Administration (OWWA), Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration (POEA), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), companies/industries, sectoral industry associations, financing institutions, technical-vocational education institutions (TVIs) and other stakeholders.