More than 1,000 jobseekers attended the Philippines-Finland Friendship Week Job Fair on Wednesday, seeking deployment opportunities in the European nation, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) reported Thursday.

The job fair recorded an on-site attendance of 1,068 applicants, including 590 pre-registered and 478 walk-in attendees. The event generated 2,932 total applications, representing multiple submissions to several agencies.

Of the total applications, 308 were qualified, 251 were disqualified, and 2,373 were marked for further interview.

Migrant Workers Undersecretary Felicitas Bay said the job fair offered around 800 vacancies, with most coming from the production and manufacturing sectors.

“These are works in the manufacturing setup or the production setup; so there are welders, pipefitters, installers, fabricators. There are also service and cleaning positions,” Bay said.

Bay stressed that a strict no placement fee policy and no salary deductions are allowed for Finland deployments. She noted that the minimum salary for general labor starts at P1,250, with the highest reaching P5,000.           

One of the participating licensed recruitment agencies, Industrial Personnel and Management Services Inc., confirmed they are looking to hire “as many as possible” for skilled industrial positions.