A popular recruitment portal for job seekers said that teaching positions through ESL (English as Second Language) remain the top job contributor for fresh graduates this year.
JobStreet Philippines reported that as of June 2021, education “remains the top specialization that welcomes fresh graduates” at 21%.
This is mainly through ESL wherein people teach non-native speakers to understand English, either online or in-person.
The job entails ESL instructors to help students reach fluency in English as their second language, which includes reading, writing and related communication skills like speaking and listening.
It is commonly taken online in the Philippines and applicants don’t need to have prior teaching experience to get recruited.
A feature posted by the Home Based Pinoy website said that an ESL teacher needs to have “excellent interpersonal communication skills” and the “best internet provider” in their area since the work is usually virtual.
JobStreet said that other opportunities for fresh graduates include jobs in the BPO (business process outsourcing) or customer service at 14% and clerical or administrative support at 9%.
Others are general work at 7%. These include housekeeping, driving, dispatch and more.
There are also vacancies at healthcare (7%), the security or armed forces (5%), general or cost accounting (3%), sales (2%), banking and finance (2%), and agriculture (2%).
Three percent of the specializations for fresh graduates are work-from-home while 99% are on-site.
“In 2021, we observed from the monthly average total of job vacancies in JobStreet that 29% are for positions that require less than a year of experience,” JobStreet Philippines Country Manager Philip Gioca said in a release.
“So, our new graduates must submit job applications to as many companies as possible for more chances of landing their first job,” he added.
Gioca said that the remote working setup “will be here for a while” due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, especially with the threat of stronger variants like the Delta variant.
“Remote work will be here for a while. That is why investing in a conducive work from home setup also helps fresh graduates be job-ready, especially for companies that are temporarily
implementing this arrangement during the pandemic,” he said.
More than 16,000 jobs on the recruitment portal are implementing remote work setup. The positions are mostly of virtual assistants, online teachers and customer service representatives, with most of them accepting applicants with less than a year or without experience.
Gioca said that fresh graduates may also opt to learn new skills via online courses to build their resumes or digital profiles on the platform.
JobStreet offers online courses in partnership with FutureLearn.
“While they are looking for jobs, they may also want to take the opportunity to learn new skills through online courses relevant to their preferred career path, which can build their resumes or digital profiles,” he said.