| One of the most fulfilling
aspects of this job is seeing people get work. Especially
people who deserve to because they’ve worked hard,
persevered, and never lost faith throughout the most difficult
moments.
A couple of weeks ago, an email popped into my inbox –
all the way from Malaysia. Ardel Lagat thanked us for being
the instrument by which he got work in another country.
If memory serves, he landed a supervising position. He has
just signed his contract and was just warming his feet,
so to speak. (See
Ardel's testimonial.)
Previous to that, about a month ago, some of our client
companies that were based in other countries in Asia, like
Indonesia, had specified that they were looking for Filipino
executives who could manage the top departments in their
companies and see to it that goals are met.
Just last week, I received word from a colleague in Australia
that he was opening a branch in Sydney – and yes,
he wanted some of its staff to be Filipinos.
See a pattern here? It sure beats the well-worn
stereotype of downtrodden Pinoys whose passports are getting
second-class treatments in various international airports.
If you recall, several months ago, we did mention
in this column that the Philippines and Malaysia count among
the top countries for sourcing of possible immigrants in
New Zealand.
It’s nice to be wanted. Especially when it’s
not just your caregiving and domestic skills that are being
sought after, but your brains, your creativity, your intellectual
and management input – and, as in the case of some
Indonesian companies, the employers are willing to pay you
top money in recognition of your abilities and effort.
Yes, there are still a lot of things that we Filipinos
can improve on as far as certain aspects of our professionalism
is concerned, such as our manana habit and our reluctance
to keep track of time. But we have a lot of good –
and marketable qualities, too – and it’s high
time we look at them for a good dose of Christmas cheer.
According to a few expatriate colleagues, two of
our main strengths are our flexibility or our ability to
make “pakikisama” and our capacity to think
out-of-the-box in a way that sometimes defies the well-structured
parameters that run the efficient infrastructures in the
well-developed countries.
The Pinoy penchant for blending in and adapting
to his immediate environment, and making new friends in
a short span of time, is already legendary. Why
is this important in a multi-cultural environment or in
an overseas company? Simple. Management will not
have to spend a lot of time training his Pinoy employee
to adapt to his country and his people’s culture,
values, and professional work ethic. Flexibility also shows
that the Pinoy employee is willing to learn the ropes and
respect the point of view of his foreign bosses and colleagues.
He does not come with guns blazing. This attitude is particularly
important to Asian employers who value respect of tradition,
harmony, and a sense of order.
Next, we Pinoys tend to think out of the box.
For better or worse, left to ourselves without a firm hand
to guide us, we seem to have a hard time conforming to set
standards and established conventions. It’s
as if we’re always testing the envelope. Presented
a problem, we can think up of a hundred and one ways to
deal with this – especially if the previously presented
solution does not come up to speed. We’d make do with
the most meager resources to come up with something wonderful.
In my own experience, I’ve seen Filipinos create marketing
campaigns that bring in the desired results, yet they only
cost half of their actual price.
JobsDB.com has 12 countries in the region (including
the Philippines) and you are most welcome to take a look
at the jobs posted there via www.jobsdb.com.
Just a precaution: we function simply as a bulletin board
or an online classified ads that help the jobseeker connect
with the employer. Once contact has been established and
the recruitment process initiated, it falls upon the jobseeker
to seek the counsel of the Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration and process his papers via its proper channels.
[This column by JobsDB Phils, Inc. General Manager was
published in the Dec 18 2005 edition of The Career Section
of The Manila Times.]
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