The recruitment industry yesterday encouraged graduating high school students to enroll in technical or vocational courses for bigger employment opportunity.

Lito Soriano, chairman of LBS-E Recruitment Solutions, said many available jobs abroad require technical skills. "The growing mismatch of workers' skills and the need of the industry have resulted to several overseas job vacancies unfilled by OFWs. It’s a matter of choice for students who might want to start a career abroad," he said.

Soriano said that many graduates end up unemployed because they lack the required technical-vocational skills which most industries here and abroad need.

In Saudi Arabia alone, there are job orders for housekeeping, gardeners, equipment technicians, water treatment, civil technicians, plumbers, painters and all maintenance positions on top of the 4,000 Filipino health workers needed there.

The recruitment industry leader said six of the largest military hospitals in the host country such as the Al Hada and Northwest Armed Forces Hospitals are in the process of hiring Filipino workers to work in its medical facilities.

"OFW deployment to the Kingdom will not drop and we expect a higher figure this year due to huge construction projects and increasing need for medical personnel from military hospitals," Soriano said.

The government through the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has already started a shift in their investments towards more vocational courses under the Ladderized Program. President Arroyo recently announced that the government will allocate P1-billion fund to be used by TESDA to implement massive training programs nationwide for Filipinos in order to gain the necessary labor skills, particularly on machine works, trade, IT, among others.