What is the best career alternatives for displaced overseas Filipino workers and those returning to the Philippines for good?
The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) on Sunday said home and internet-based jobs are among them.
Labor Attaché Saul De Vries said virtual careers are "alternative options for those who lost their jobs due to COVID-19 as well as those who do not want to work away from their families."
He said the ongoing global pandemic has been causing the displacement of thousands of OFWs in Singapore and other countries.
In a webinar, Ann Kristine Peñaredondo of the DoLE's Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) said virtual career allows one to work at the comfort of home, earn different currencies and serve different businesses.
She, however, said that virtual careers sometimes create misconceptions, doubts, and fears as they are "novel" and have not been fully explored yet by many people.
Peñaredondo also said that although virtual careers are not for everyone, many of those who chose to go into these careers became successful.
She cited former OFWs Lyn Nafarette and Tina Lanipa who successfully shifted to virtual careers, which allowed them to earn as much as when they were working overseas while staying and spending time with their families.
Peñaredondo added that writers, accountants, bloggers, advertisers, bookkeepers, coders, software engineers, illustrators, videographers, and many other skilled professionals can build their virtual careers if they so wish.
Meanwhile, ILS Executive Director Ahmma Charisma Satumba said that virtual careers provide vast opportunities for OFWs and other workers as the market for virtual work is "open, wide, and empty."
The webinar, which revolved around the topic “Pano maging OFW ng hindi lumalabas ng ‘Pinas?” (How to be OFW without leaving the Philippines?) was conducted recently by the DOLE's ILS and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Singapore for some 80 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).