Jobless US citizen workers pin their hopes on job fair

Millie Olopai of Oleai village has been trying to get a government job for four years now, to no avail, so she is taking her chances with the private sector with the help of her medical background.

As the breadwinner of his family, Kagman resident Jordan Ongklungel wants to provide his wife and son a good life by securing himself a job as a repair and maintenance or hotel staffer.

Through the skills she acquires from attending the Northern Marianas Trades Institute, Lucia Lisua hopes to get a job in any of the hotels on island.

Olopai, Ongklungel, and Lisua were among the nearly 1,000 job applicants that flocked to the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe last Friday for the CNMI U.S. Eligible Workers Job Expo.

The job expo, held from 8:30am to 2pm, was organized by the CNMI Department of Commerce in collaboration with the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, the Governor’s Office, Legislature, jobs.marianas.us website, KKMP radio station and Sorensen Pacific, and Vice Speaker Felicidad Ogumoro (Cov.-Saipan) and Rep. Edmund Villagomez (Cov.-Saipan).

David Maratita, Alcohol & Tobacco Control director who also served as the event’s project technical support, said that the job expo, funded by a $1-million grant from the U.S. Department of Interior, featured about 30 employers, all looking to hire U.S. workers.

“This is one of the stepping stones right now that we’re taking to move forward with this endeavor with U.S. eligible and qualified workers,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Only two hours to the event and a lot of the participating private businesses—from hotels and restaurants to insurance and maintenance companies—had already ran out of application forms.

“I think I was among the first to come here, as early as 8am,” said the 42-year-old Olopai who came with her niece. “I decided to come to the event as soon as I heard about it.”

Olopai, whose last work was as a juvenile probation officer/social worker for the Division of Youth Services, said she has been trying for years to get back in the government but it’s been challenging.

“Being out of a job for four years is very hard because I have family to take care of and bills to pay,” said Olopai who eyes working for medical facilities because of her social work background and her stint at the Commonwealth Health Center.

The job expo, Olopai said, is “a positive setup for the unemployed here in the CNMI,” estimated at 6,000, based on statistics from the CNMI Department of Labor.

Lisua, Olopai’s niece, said that she’s been taking culinary classes at NMTI for four months now to help her get a job at any of the more popular hotels on Saipan.

“I’m excited because I think I have the advantage,” said Lisua, who obtained a number of hotel application forms that she and Olopai plan to submit within the week. “I want to get a job to help my parents pay the bills.”

Ongklungel, who has a son that just started with the Head Start program, disclosed that it’s especially hard for locals to get a job “since other companies don’t trust us.”

“They always say they’re going to give us a call but they don’t. When we follow up, they always keep saying they don’t have openings,” said Ongklungel, who was laid off in May at the Meridian Land Surveying.

Ongklungel, 32, said that with the success of Friday’s job expo, he looks forward to seeing the local government organize similar events in the future.

Same with As Lito resident Jenny Fred, who is eyeing to get a job as a cashier, given her experience working for tax company H&R Block.

“I’ve been out of work for three years and it’s been really hard. I really hope this event will help me get a job,” said Fred who submitted application forms for Saipan World Resort and Herman’s Bakery, among others.

Acting Commerce secretary Sixto Igisomar said that Friday’s event was the first job fair they organized and with “this magnitude.”

Igisomar said the “great” turnout reflects the estimated 6,000 U.S. workers that are currently unemployed.

“It’s to prove a point that we do have workers out there, U.S. qualified workers, that are looking for a job,” he said. “It’s now just a matter of the businesses giving them the opportunity to try. You always have to start somewhere.”

Igisomar emphasized that the job expo is “a win-win situation” not only for the job seekers but also for the employers, which are given the opportunity to be able to hire qualified U.S. workers and augment their businesses.

Miriam K. Seman, human resources manager for Saipan World Resort, agrees.

“I commend the Department of Commerce for coming up with this idea. So far, I see it being a very successful event,” she said.

Seman said they handed out close to 100 application forms in the first three hours of the event. They plan to do a process of elimination followed by the scheduling of preliminary interviews.

She added that they are “very much” positive that they will be able to fill their vacant positions.

Pacific Medical Center Helen Al-alou, for her part, said they also received close to 100 applicants halfway through the event.

Al-alou said it’s the first time for PMC to participate in a job fair and their main consideration is to ensure that applicants “have at least some kind of medical field background.”

“I think this event is helpful. I’m a local myself and I’d be more than happy to assist applicants,” said Al-alou, adding that PMC is willing to train U.S. workers that meet their requirements.

Friay’s job hunters, however, were not only limited to the adult crowd. Even students looking for part-time jobs were also on the lookout for opportunities to earn green bucks.

Lunesa Borja, who is taking job class at the Northern Marianas College, said she went to the job expo to look for a job related in sales and administration.

“I’m glad this job expo actually happened,” said Borja, 18, who has been trying to get a job since she was in high school two years ago. “I’ll keep my hopes up. I’m not doubting anything at this point.”

College freshman Allen Joseph Calvo has been trying to get a job about a year now. “Having a job will help me supply for my family and help my mom pay the bills,” said Calvo who is currently taking up Liberal Arts, also at NMC.

Calvo, 19, said he came to the job expo with his girlfriend and a friend and has his eye on getting a position as a front desk officer at any of the major hotels on island.

Mark Rabauliman, project coordinator for the job expo, said the event saw ten-fold of the over 100 job seekers that pre-registered at the main sponsor website, jobs.marianas.us.

Igisomar said that Commerce will be calling back participating businesses and “track” how many of the job seekers had been “successfully hired.”

Likewise, Igisomar said they will be giving the list of U.S. workers to businesses and organizations that will be awarded with the remainder of the grant from the U.S. Department of Interior to train these workers and include them in their pool of potential employees.