Prospective employees fill up application forms during the ‘Sulong Buhay Job Fair’ that FPIP held in coordination with the Santo Tomas LGUCompanies located inside the First Philippine Industrial Park (FPIP) economic zone in the cities of Santo Tomas and Tanauan in Batangas need over a thousand additional workers.

FPIP posted the employment opportunities during the “Sulong Buhay Job Fair” that FPIP held in coordination with the local government unit (LGU) of Santo Tomas City.

At least 14 FPIP locators, most of them manufacturers of various products for the export market, joined the fair organized by FPIP and the Santo Tomas LGU in order to gather in one venue both prospective employers and job hunters.

During the FPIP job fair, the locators hired on the spot 196 applicants, but around 1,500 positions remain open for grabs, said Santo Tomas vice mayor Catherine Jaurigue-Perez.

FPIP locators that joined the job fair were Brother Industries (Phil.) Inc., Canon Business Machines Phils. Inc., EHS Lens Phils. Inc., EMD Technologies Phils. Inc., Honda Logistics Phils. Inc., Honda Phils. Inc., Ibiden Phils Inc., JMS Healthcare Phils. Inc., Nikkoshi Phils. Corp., Nippon Micrometal Corporation Phils., Nippon Premium Bakery Inc., NYK TDG Phils. Inc., PKI Manufacturing & Technology Inc. and Shimano (Phils.) Inc., as well as Beta Electromechanical Corporation, a subcontractor for an FPIP locator.

Based on information from the PESO or Public Employment Service Office of the Santo Tomas LGU, the locators posted 1,685 job openings while 734 potential employees showed up at the fair. Among these jobseekers, 538 will undergo further processing and screening, leaving hundreds of other FPIP vacancies open for others to take.

FPIP expects employment opportunities inside the ecozone to expand further in the near future following the announcement of Dyson, a global technology company, to open a new P11- billion research and development (R&D) campus inside FPIP.

The new campus is thought to be one of the largest investments, and most advanced technology manufacturing centers, in the country that underscores the growing importance of the Philippines in Dyson’s global ambitions.

As part of the investment, Dyson aims to initially hire an additional 400 engineers and more than 50 graduate engineers who will join the team later this year. Amongst other things, Dyson’s R&D teams in the Philippines will be focused on software, AI, robotics, fluid dynamics and hardware electronics.

(Story/Photos by:Joel Gaborni)