Online staffing firm eyes Cebu expansion

After seeing so much growth potential in Cebu, JobsDB.com, known to be the pioneer for the paperless job fairs in the country, has expressed great interest of expanding its operation in the area.       

JobsDB in cooperation with the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) recently held the first ever paperless job fair in the city dubbed as the Cebu Employment Fair which was flocked by thousands of applicants looking for competitive and productive career opportunities in the field of IT, ICT, Manufacturing, Entertainment and other industries.

According to JobsDB.com’s Sales Manager Philip Pogiongko after noticing Cebu’s “clannish” culture and so, the company figured that the best way to penetrate the market here is to establish their own home-base in the area. He said that this way, it would make earn the trust and confidence of businessmen who are their potential clients that operates in Cebu.

“We are very keen on setting up a team that will be based here in the area this year. Right now we are still doing market study and we find it very positive. We are still making the final financial plans for the implementation of setting up the office and coordinate with our Hong Kong office for the budget,” Pogiongko said.

The company is eyeing to locate their office in the IT Park or the Cebu Business Park. And its projected investment is targeted to more than a million and will probably be done on the first quarter of next year.

In Manila, JObsDB’s main clients are mostly coming from the BPO industry and its second biggest clients are IT-related companies and because most of these companies have started to relocate their operation in Cebu, JobsDB seen the importance of immediately setting up their operation in Cebu as well.

Interfaced with their Hong Kong office, the company needs the infrastructure and connectivity to strengthen their operation and as for the case of Cebu, JobsDB said that the area has all the required infrastructure and connectivity that they would need if they start the expansion.

As their Product Support and IT Manager Genny Gragasin pointed out, “Cebu’s infrastructure and connectivity is very much ready for our software applications requirement so locating in Cebu will not be difficult.”

JobsDB also operates 88DB.com, the first multi-media lifestyle portal and on-line community hub. JobsDB also pioneered the career card, an easy to use card, which applicants can use as passport or resume for applying to several companies that meets their requirements.

As of the moment, JObsDB already signed up more than a million applicants and job seekers in the Philippines alone and about 7 million across Asia Pacific. They have operations in countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Philippines and Australia. —Rhia de Pablo