Amid rapid technological advancements, some government officials call for more initiatives to upskill Filipino workers to improve their employability.
“We need a reskilling and upskilling revolution to have a competitive and resilient workforce for the Fourth Industrial Revolution so that our people will have a better shot at sustainable and quality employment,” Sen. Joel Villanueva said last August 17 at a budget hearing that deliberated on the spending plan of Development Budget Coordinating Committee for 2024.
Facing a daunting challenge, institutions must devise comprehensive roadmaps to allow workers to adapt to the latest trends in technology, especially during the continued emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
“I think that the Philippines faces a very urgent challenge that it has created a very successful industry in customer services and customer care, but a lot of the work is voice work and it is fairly low-level customer interactions, which are prime targets for AI-based automation,” Mohanbir Sawhney, associate dean for digital innovation and professor of technology at Chicago-based McCormick Foundation, said at the sidelines of a seminar in Makati on July 17.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also underscored the need to upskill in the Philippines.
A 2021 survey conducted by the online employment platform JobStreet found that 70% of Filipinos expressed willingness to retrain to enhance their skills.
The online employment company, which has helped jobseekers since 1999, envisions to take part in developing careers even during employment.
“JobStreet really wants to support each Filipino in every stage of their career, so we are expecting our offer beyond just jobs,” Chook Yuh Yng, chief growth officer of Seek Asia, the company behind JobStreet, said at a launch in Taguig City on Wednesday.
“This is meaningful because it really helps candidates to progress in their career and help improve lives,” he added.
The need to upskill drove the need to bring its latest AI invention to the Philippines, a tool called seekMAX.
Benefits
The new tool is a learning content platform inside the JobStreet app that contains thousands of free videos providing career, salary and job search advice. Jobseekers can also connect with industry experts and fellow community members to exchange meaningful conversations.
Some original videos currently published deal with the expectations versus reality on salary, using AI to boost one’s career and detecting red flags on contracts.
The Philippines is the fourth country to experience seekMAX since it was first launched in August 2022, next to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
The job portal said that the feature now has more than 500,000 active users and has served more than two million people in “The Emerald of the Equator.”
The Philippines is a perfect breeding ground for seekMAX as more than 64.5 million Filipinos are active internet users as of 2022, according to Statista.
Online-based works such as software development, virtual assistance, social media marketing and customer and tech support are also among the top ten in-demand jobs in the Philippines in 2023, according to Nexford University.
Meeanwhile, JobStreet Philippines managing director Dannah Majarocon said that the AI tool can hone workers’ technical and soft skills as they engage in upskilling initiatives.
“Through seekMAX, they can learn new things, master their expertise, and be connected with industry experts as well as a supportive professional community,” she said.
The JobStreet mobile app is available for download on Google Play and App Store.