DOLE taps psychologists as online career coaches

To respond to the career coaching needs of job seekers especially during the pandemic, the Department of Labor and Employment’s provincial office in Batangas has launched an online career coaching (OCC) program in partnership with Batangas-based psychology professionals as volunteer career coaches.

“This pandemic has immensely affected the employment landscape. Based sa recent studies, tumaas ang depression rate. One of the factors is unemployment. Now, with OCC kung saan katuwang natin ay mga professionals talaga, we will try to alleviate their burden. When they need someone to talk to, we are here. When they need advice pagdating sa trabaho, andito kami,” Director Predelma M. Tan of DOLE Batangas field office said.

Tan invites job seekers to book a coaching session by registering at www.tinyurl.com/OnlineCareerCoaching.

DOLE-Batangas assured job seekers that the Department is ready to help them in their career struggles which are often characterized by the questions: Bakit kaya hindi ako matanggap?; Ano ba talaga ang sakto na trabaho para sa akin?; Paano kaya ako mapopromote?

“Ang nakakatuwa pa dito sa OCC, it promotes volunteerism. It moves members of the community to help fellow members of the community,” Tan added.

The pioneer batch of volunteer career coaches are Carl Reman Maranan, RPm, MAEd GC; Marc D. Tesico, RPm, RPsy; Adrian P. Magahis, MA Psych, and; Giselle Ann E. Manansala, RPm.

“Noong nakausap ko sila, tuwang tuwa sila sa konsepto. At walang hesitancy, they said ‘yes’ right away. They know the need; they felt it. And they know na they are morally obliged to help,” Dr. Karl Joseph D. Sanmocte, DOLE Batangas labor and employment officer and lead implementer of the program, said.

Manansala confirmed this. She added, “This is a very nice initiative. Sa mga primary work namin, alam namin yung situation. So to see that DOLE is adapting to the situation, nakakatuwa siya. There is hope.”

On October 14, Dr. Sanmocte deepened the volunteer career coaches appreciation of the online program.

In their meeting after the daytime working hours of the volunteers, they were re-oriented on the process flow of the service which can be availed through Facebook messenger, Zoom, Google Meet, or phone calls.

Basic re-enactments were also done to situate the coaches to the actual scenario. They also revisited the guide questions because they are important for the coaches’ preparations.

As of this writing, 20 individuals have tried OCC which is part of DOLE-Batangas’ earlier project: Employment E-Services.