Category Archives: Work Abroad Tips

A lot of people still become victims to illegal recruiters. Illegal recruiters mostly, like to exploit applicants who are in a real hurry or who are in great need to work abroad.  It is a sad fact but it is true. The reason for this maybe because when you are in a hurry, you would no longer check the background of the recruiter.

People who are not in a hurry can also become victims of illegal recruiters. When the recruiter has been recommended to you by a friend or a relative, you would no longer check the facts because you trust your friend or your relative.  Sadly, a lot of illegal recruitment cases that made it in the news, the applicants were victimized because it was their relative who recommended the recruiter.

As a rule, always perform background checks on your recruiters especially if you are meeting them for the first time.

How to Avoid Illegal Recruiters

1. Check if the recruiter is licensed by  POEA

Go to http://www.poea.gov.ph/cgi-bin/agSearch.asp. Type the name of the agency. If they appear in the search then they are a licensed recruitment agency. If they did not appear then you are probably dealing with an illegal recruiter. If you type RRJM in the search box, you will see the name of our company plus our addressed and our main contact person. We’ve been licensed since 2002. We will be ten years in the business this coming June.

This is probably the only check you need to make.  If the recruiter has no license from the POEA then they have no business trying to recruit workers from the Philippines.

2. Avoid recruiters who transact with you outside their offices or visits you directly at your home

All transactions must always be in the recruitment office and they must give you a receipt. If a recruitment agency representative insist in transacting with you outside their office, then you must perform background check.

a.  Again go to POEA website and check if they are a licensed agency.

b. If they are licensed, check the representative. Call their main office and check if they really work there (Of course, don’t get the address and telephone from the representative. They will probably give you a fake address if they are an illegal recruiter. Instead get it from the POEA or a phone directory).

I’m pretty sure that you will find out that they are not really an employee. But even if they are it is not a standard for recruitment agencies to transact at home or outside the office. So you better find yourself another agency.

3. Avoid direct hiring

I have a lot of friends who got employed abroad through direct hiring. But still this route is risky and this is often the scheme that Illegal recruiters use. The current POEA  rule is that foreign companies can only get Filipino workers if they place their job orders through a POEA Licensed recruitment agency. This rule is imposed to protect Filipino Overseas Workers from becoming a victim of human trafficking and illegal recruiters.

There a lot more legal recruitment companies than illegal ones. But it is those unscrupulous few that gives the whole industry a bad name.  We hope you follow the advises we have given here so that you can be more secure as you search for your perfect Job Abroad.

Goodluck!

If you want a better salary than what your job  offer – one of the most effective way is to develop your leadership skills.

If you notice already leaders are always paid higher than ordinary employees. You must have wondered why when all they do is just sit on their desk and boss you around the whole day.

In reality, they are perceived to be of higher value because they offer much more than their technical skills. They are also being paid for their sound judgements (that can help a company reach its goals).

While we ordinary employees are concentrating on our assigned task to earn our salary, leaders are making sure that the company is going in the correct direction. When the company is in the right direction it will grow. As the company grows, it can hire more people and provide better compensation and benefits.

That is the value of leaders.

How to Start Becoming a Leader

1. Find out the reason why a task needs to be done. When you are assigned to do a task, don’t just do it. Ask yourself or do a little bit research why the task needs to be done. What is your boss trying to achieve?

2. Come up with a more efficient and effective way to achieve the assigned tasks. After you have found out the reason for a task, you can also come up with a faster way or more effective way to do it. Or you can suggest an alternative task that will help you and your superior meet the goal better.

If you become good at this two skills, your superior will get the impression that you really know what you are doing. And they will trust you more.

Soon they will not only assign you a task but they will be asking your opinion. And that is the start of you becoming a leader.

As you develop this they will entrust you with goals instead of simple tasks. And they will assign to you people that can help you reach those goals. And in their eyes your value has also increased.

Good luck!

Sometimes you are looking for a job and it does not turn out well. And you take this personally. Some ask themselves, what do I lack? What is wrong with me? It really hurts their ego.

Well, If you think you are properly skilled in your profession and you have a good attitude, sometimes there is really nothing wrong with you.

The issue may simply be your skills does not match what the employer is looking for. And this has got nothing to do with you. It is simply, you and the employer do not match.

What you can only do in this case is to just look for those employers who are looking for what you can offer. Or try again when they have an opening that exactly matches your skills or profession.

Everyone has their favorite method of finding a job. The most common is looking through the newspaper ads or vising Internet job websites. These two are effective as they are the standard way that people use to find jobs. But since a lot of people are using them you will also be up against a lot of competition.

Fortunately, there are other job finding alternatives that may give you some advantages.

1. Ask your friends and acquaintances for information

Before companies publish an advertisement they normally ask their existing employees if they can recommend someone who could possibly fill a vacancy or who matches a job requirement. This gives some advantages to the would be applicant because companies normally trust their existing employees to recommend a good person.

How would you go about this? You can try posting using your Facebook or Twitter that you are looking for a job. You can also email or call your friends.

2. Just Walk-in and Apply

As I have said earlier, companies first ask around before they even publish an ad in the newspapers or job websites. If you walk-in and apply, you might just get lucky and find a job opening that has not been advertised yet. If you pass the qualifications, you will certainly get first consideration or you might get hired on the spot.

3. Randomly Resume to Companies

You can just randomly submit your resume to companies. And again, you might get lucky enough to stumble upon a job opening that has not been published yet.

4. Look in Government Boards and School Boards

If the job you are looking for is not in the newspapers or job websites, you can try DOLE or POEA job boards and apply to their recommended agencies.

You can also try your school’s job board.

If the children of an Overseas Filipino Worker is going to visit the OFW’s host country, what are the travel requirements?

They would need the regular travel documents required by the Bureau of Immigrations.

1. Valid Passport 2. Valid Original Visa for port of entry 3. Return tickets for tourist

If they are minors, they will need to get a clearance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

For minors under a custody dispute, there must be a court order that allows the children to travel to one of their parents.

Reference: The Bureau of Immigration Travel Requirements