You can’t give up on looking for a job until you’ve tried everything. Aside from the internet, a couple of offline resources can also help you find a job. In the case of Misamis Oriental, many employers prefer to post their job advertisements in these offline resources because they don’t need to pay much compared to posting ads in national job sites. Check any of these offline resources regularly and you are bound to find a good job or two.
- Public Employment Services Office (PESO)– This is an office located on the third floor of city hall. You need to go to the back part of the building to locate it. The PESO office is one of the richest sources of job advertisements in the city. They have a job board outside their office where you can check for jobs submitted by employers. Sometimes there are forms available outside that you can fill up and submit to the office. These forms are submitted to employers whose needs match your qualifications. The office also sometimes facilitates hiring for overseas employment but only when there are recruitment agencies that request for their services.Note: Surprisingly, they don’t seem to have a lot of job listings this month. This might probably be because it’s almost the end of the year. Many employers may prefer to hire on the early and middle months of the year.
- Provincial Jobs Assistance Center– If Cagayan de Oro has PESO, Misamis Oriental has this office. This is located in Luna St. You have to enter a gate and a dark hallway to get to this office. They do not have as many job posts on their board as PESO but they can help you look for the right job if you provide them with information about you. To access other job vacancies submitted to this office you have to fill up a form and present a recent 2×2 picture, your resume and a photocopy of one of the following: police clearance, barangay clearance or NBI clearance.
- Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)– You’ll find this office across Xavier University in Coralles Avenue. Its entrance is the one with stairs leading to the second floor. You don’t need to go up. DOLE has a board on the left side of its entrance where some jobs are posted. This used to contain a lot of jobs but in the last few weeks, there has been a green barricade over the board. You can still sometimes see some job advertisements though so you should still consider checking the DOLE board from time to time.
- Pesosaver– This is one of the most innovative publications ever created in Misamis Oriental. It is also a pioneer in the job advertisement publication industry since it is Cagayan de Oro’s first. It publishes a variety of advertisements and informative articles but it also has a couple of pages dedicated to job vacancies. Aside from Cagayan de Oro jobs, it also has job posts for jobs in other places like Davao and Manila. The best thing about Pesosaver is that most stores give copies of the paper away for free. I had to buy my first issue though from a newspaper vendor. Pesosaver copies are given away by different stores and restaurants across the city. You need to be quick though. Copies of the paper run out quickly.
- Newspapers– When big companies in Misamis Oriental hire people, they often post in the Sunday issues of Inquirer or Manila Bulletin. You can also rely on local papers to post information on job vacancies. The usual papers to buy are Sun Star and Mindanao Gold Star Daily. Gold Star however does not have a Sunday issue so advertisements are posted in weekday issues. There aren’t always a lot of job advertisements but local papers aren’t very expensive. They only cost around P9 each. The male vendor in Divisoria and the newspaper store in Cruz Taal St. will even let you browse the paper first to see if it has what you want before you buy it.
- School Boards– Most of us came from schools before we became desperate job hunters. You can visit your old school in Cagayan de Oro to check if they have any job advertisements on their boards. I’ve seen many job advertisements on the boards of Liceo, Xavier and MPSC. You do have to check every board though since different organizations post different advertisements. Some schools also have guidance offices that would be willing to help their former students look for jobs. Some schools though have rules of helping only their own. They omit the addresses and contact information of employers on job ads. Alumni would have to go to the guidance office and present an ID card before being allowed to access contact information. If this is the case, you can simply skip the guidance office and look for other school boards that contain freely accessible job ads.
- Around the City– Are you gaining weight or becoming unhealthy because you’ve stayed home too long waiting for the calls that never came? Why don’t you take a long walk around the city especially in the streets that connect to Divisoria. Many offices in these streets post job vacancies on their office windows. I got the idea for this blog after walking around the city and noticing the job advertisements posted in different establishments. Don’t do this too often though. You may get slimmer from walking and you may get a few job leads but the gas emissions from cars can turn your lungs black.
You don’t need to break your bones looking for a job. There are many resources at the tip of your fingers. You just have to be patient, resourceful and diligent with your job search.
