MANILA, Philippines - Politicians are now on the lookout for bloggers, writers, designers, and even professional "tweeters" to help them in their respective campaigns, which officially start next month.

Jayjay Viray, country manager of online job search engine JobsDB, said electoral candidates now prefer hiring employees instead of recruiting volunteers. Although these will cost them more, he said politicians find hired workers more efficient and reliable.

To make the most of the election fever, Viray said jobseekers can make the most of the following employment opportunities:

• bloggers or writers for press releases about electoral candidates, since most politicians now have their own websites
• managers of Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking accounts of electoral candidates
• generators of campaign infocasts through text messages
• event organizers
• designers of tarpaulins and other campaign visuals
• image stylists for electoral candidates

Viray warned that campaign-related jobs are only temporary since these will no longer be needed once the election season is over. Still, he said jobseekers can look for opportunities in the business process outsourcing, health, and information technology sectors.

Last year, University of the Philippines economics professor Benjamin Diokno warned that Filipinos will have a hard time looking for more permanent jobs in 2010, saying that businessmen will opt to be in a wait-and-see mode until the results of the national elections come out.

Given this, economists urged the next administration to carefully map out its strategies to ensure a sustained recovery for the Philippines in the years to come. Report from Zen Hernandez, ABS-CBN News