Looking for an alternative site to place job advertisements, or simply looking for a job through the Internet? Try trabaho.com online job hunting site launched by Web Philippines, Inc. (WPI) says Business Development Manager Ramon Contumacy.

While WPI is not the first local company to launch such a service, Contumacy, who with Roger Chula and other partners founded WPI in April of this year, stressed, "While we can't say we're original, the others did not push aggressively."

Contumacy pointed out that while competitors have placed their job hunting site "at the bottom of their home page," WPI put up a web site specifically for trbaho.com, spinning it off from the WPI home page at http://www.webphilippines.com

At present, Equitable Banking Corporation, Camellia& Palm era Homes, and Far East Bank and Trust Company have web pages on trabaho.com for free for a one-month trial period. "We expect that to increase by 20-30 companies by the end of October," Contumacy asserted.

Founded on the vision of "Web Para Sal Filipino, Filipino Para Sal Undo" ("Web for Filipinos, Filipinos for the World"), WPI is a local Internet presence provider (IPP) focusing on Web business solutions for the Philippine community.

Though the company also works with international clients, it primarily addresses the Internet needs of the Philippine community, as part of its commitment to help ensure that the Internet has a real impact on Filipinos. To this end, the company's home page features About the Philippines, with a whole gamut of important information on the Philippines, including a list of important telephone numbers; Sent, a central cataloging site containing a lists of all Philippine-related Web sites and Web pages; and Electronic Commerce, which introduces browsers to WPI's Electronic Commerce Service (ECS).

According to Contumacy, IPP better describes those companies engaged in content creation for the Internet, as the term Internet Service provider (ISP) is associated with Internet connectivity.

While Contumacy admitted that "realistically speaking," most of their target clients are information technology (IT)-related companies, this does not mean that WPI will only cater to such firms, citing market research  and finance companies as other possible clients. He revealed that among their local clients is the law firm Poblador Azada and Bucoy, which is already online, while one of WPI's ongoing projects with international clients is a Web page for A.C. Nielsen, a top market research firm in Australia.

One striking feature of both the WPI homepage and the trabaho.com Web sites is the used of both English and Filipino, underscoring the company's emphasis on tailoring the Internet to the needs of the local community.

As a wholly Filipino owned company with four full-time and four part-time employees, WPI operates on the belief that a local company must prioritize Filipino needs over international success, in the belief that service is the true measure of a company's success.

Relating how trabaho.com started, Canumay stated that he and his partners felt that there was a need to identify different services needed in the country, and recognized that employment is a main concern in the Philippines. Through trabaho.com, companies have the advantage of getting applicants who use the Internet and knowledgeable in computers, and are therefore best suited for middle management. He added that this Web site is also a good means, as many schools and universities are now hooked up to the Internet.

Canumay revealed that payment for trabaho.com is on a monthly basis and depends on the number of positions advertised, from 1-5 vacancies. According to him, rates would range from PhP4,000-PHP9,000 a month, with PhP9,000 as the corporate rate, with graphics of the company logo and product and design of at least five Web pages included in the package.

WPI only acts as a go-between for companies and job seekers, as applicants can directly contact the companies after browsing the Web site. Canumay added that Phase 2 of the service will see people sending their resumes, as WPI expands its services to include databases of prospective employees, including information on positions in which they are interested and in which part of the country they would wish to work.

As for WPI's future projects, Canumay stated that trabaho.com is actually just the first of the many services that the company will launch by early next year. While he gratefully explained that he could not divulge details on these upcoming projects, he asserted that these new services will also be centered on the different areas of concern of the Philippine community.

Canumay also explained that WPI is now looking to Java programming language for the creation of more graphics-based and interactive Web sites. He admitted that 'as of now, the site is still static. In the future, we will place the information on a database, and then present it in another format, customized to the user's needs." He stressed, however, that WPI will still try to keep the site "simple," because clients would be overwhelmed by too much graphics. This, according to him, is also why WPI is "holding back" on animation, as its focus is on corporate solutions.

WPI was one of the exhibitors of Internet World Philippines exhibition and conference held at Shangri-La's EDSA Plaza Hotel from September 23 to 26, 1996.