JOB seekers can now find it easier to get the TESDA documents needed to apply for work.

TESDA will not charge any fees for National Certificates, Certification, Authentication and Verification, and Certificates of Competencies for first-time jobseekers who actually underwent the process of Competency Assessment and need the documents for their job application.

The Department of Labor and Employment, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and 14 other agencies recently signed the First Time Jobseekers Assistance Act Joint Operational Guidelines.

The guidelines institutionalize the procedures for all implementers and the issuance of pre-employment documents for first-time jobseekers as provided under Republic Act 11261 or the First Time Jobseekers Assistance Act.

TESDA Director General Danilo Cruz said that the agency will work closely with other government agencies to help ease the burden of first-time jobseekers in getting pre-employment documents.

“The signing of these joint guidelines which further streamlines procedures, signifies the government’s commitment to help our kababayans land their first jobs, and effectively increase the youth’s chances for employment,” Cruz said.

The TESDA chief also underscored that the agency, being one of the attached agencies of DOLE, continues to help the country address perennial problems of skills-job mismatch and reduce unemployment among Filipino workers.

The FTJAA or Republic Act 11261 was signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019.

Since the implementation of the law, more than 300,000 have benefited, and an estimated P83 million in government fees have been waived