The Siquijor Training-Employment Project aims to help job seekers in the province enhance their skills in electronic servicing and personality development.

The program is supported by the Siquijor Association of Public Employment Service Office Managers, the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority, and the office of the Congressman and the provincial government of Siquijor. STEP offers a free training for "probable and trainable jobseekers" from all towns of the province, and promises trainees a sure employment in call centers, Provincial Extension Officer Maria Theresa Tanquiamco said.

She said TeleTech, a call center company which now employs more than 100 agents in Dumaguete City, and is catering to applicants from Siqujior, is the identified Business Process Outsourcing partner.

The program is open to unlimited number of applicants for screening but is piloting only less than a hundred trainees to go with the number of computers that Siquijor State College provides, Tanquiamco added.

Those who may apply are students with at least two years of college for part-time jobs; fresh college graduates; underemployed or unemployed people with at least two years in college, and professionals seeking a second career, she added.

Tanquiamco said STEP was conceived because many jobseekers from Siquijor lack the skills that most employers need. She said TelecTech has been considering applicants from Siquijor, but their poor English communication skills, low self-confidence and lack of technical skills hamper their employment.*RG

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