By Dave Achondo THE Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) hosted the 3rd Northern Mindanao Career Advocacy Congress earlier last week at the Pryce Plaza Hotel of this city. The two days activity showcased different career choices of today’s youth, tackling unemployment and employment issues, informing stakeholders of the latest trends and job opportunities here and abroad and most importantly to literate, remind both employee/employer regarding their rights. Director Agravante that with the ample and accessible Labor Market Information to source job applicants; soft skill gaps are evident among new graduates. “This is our challenge now in making our education and training system more responsive and relevant to the needs of employers in making our graduates employable and absorbed in the labor market, thus this Congress,” he said. Agravante said that through the collaboration with PRC on capacity-building seminar-workshops for Guidance Counselors and Career Advocates ensured the continuous training for our career advocates. “In fact, our newest venture in addressing job-skill mismatch among the youth is the JobStart Philippines Program with the Local Government of Cagayan de Oro,” he said. It is enhanced career coaching and life skills training as part of the pre-employment preparation among young adults resulted successful among previous pilot areas. Agravante said that with these achievements, our guidance counselors and career advocates at the regional and local levels are now ready to reach more students, jobseekers, parents and stakeholders at the grassroots for the said advocacy. This continued endeavor calls on a strong commitment to maintain the implementation of Career Guidance activities. This year’s 3rd Northern Mindanao Career Advocacy Congress theme is “Follow the guide, Tag a Career, Like the Future”.