Tag Archive for: Hiring Filipinos

Partner

The most successful recruitment agencies incorporate the principles in which the triple bottom line of People, Partner, and Principal work together hand in hand to achieve the maximum benefits on respective ends. The first blog emphasized the importance of “People.”  Here’s an in-depth look at how fairness and ethical practice benefits recruitment agencies themselves, which serves as “Partner,” both for the People and for the last corner of this pyramid- the Principal.

Partner or recruitment agencies play the crucial role of facilitating labor mobility by matching People to the Principal and vice versa. A good recruitment firm impacts the people and their communities (https://rensol.com/ethical-recruitment-agencies-people/) and their clients, but how does a recruitment firm win in an industry where zero placement fee is a minority in the competitive field?

Recruitment agencies have to generate profits yet the motive of having too much of it is the root of evil in the industry. Many resort to unethical practices of excessive fee charging – one month’s worth of the worker’s salary is acceptable as a placement fee under the Philippine law. Anything over that is considered illegal. Unfortunately, practices such as this where the partner has more initial gain are more patronized by a larger base of clients because of cheaper costs and impelled to be accepted as a norm.

Unethical practice can make a company gain big by deploying workers with a lesser incentive to a decent employer or deploying decent workers to an abusive employer.

Above the advocacy of protecting the rights of expatriates and client companies in every service agreement signed, recruitment agencies, being the powerful sector in the migration process, are expected to position themselves as ethical duty bearers for all the stakeholders involved. Ethical recruitment has many facets but the cornerstone of it, as it was broadly used, is the non-fee charging scheme to workers.

Approximately 9 out of 1,500 recruitment partners in the Philippines don’t charge placement fees from their workers. The advocacy of ethical business practices is in the works to level the competitive field fairly and to limit unethical companies from making billions of dollars out of illegal profits.

Even if the Philippine labor laws allow collecting of placement fee, few recruitment agencies took the initiative to apply the “employer pays model,” even if this might not be appealing to the Principal sector because of higher costs, believing that this is the ethical way of doing this business.

The Employer Pays Principle reflects the “Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity” that states that no worker should pay for a job. This principle has been widely adopted by many companies across varying range of industries in the world.

Here are the corresponding impacts of this ethical practice to Partner agencies:

Build and preserve company brand and reputation as an ethical company. Ethical business is a smart business while an unethical one is damaging to the industry’s image. By offering zero placement fee, consumers can be given a choice not to deal with unethical ones. Ensuring ethics in all the activities of the agency enforces a strong brand reputation. Recruitment processes essentially reflect brand communication and flaws in it may risk brand perception and may seriously impact customer satisfaction.

Gain trust and boost company’s market value. Global brands are very much keen with reputational concerns as this will surely affect the public opinion against them. This builds stronger client relationships and even increase the number of “repeat” customers. Coincidentally, these led to building lasting relationships with Principals.

Marketing Advantage. Zero placement fee is also a marketing advantage in talent attraction. Being ethical is attractive in all its sense. Being honest with all the processes builds trust and brand loyalty from your target market. Respect for the dignity of every worker and safeguarding their human rights give them security. Establishing a positive jobseeker morale brings higher efficiency in their respective job sites. Their successes significantly bounce back to recruitment agencies.

Ethical recruitment differentiates themselves in the market. This helps them gain a competitive advantage over their competitors in the industry. Zero placement fee is a compliance to the International Labor Organization (ILO) General Principles and Operation Guidelines for Fair Recruitment. Apart from being a CSR initiative, ethical recruitment is a human rights principle reflected in the international law. Abiding such is an indicator of a company’s competitiveness in the market as a global industry.

Ethical practice lessens the risk for recruitment firms from losing their business. In an industry where illegal recruitment and human trafficking have been a threat that ruins the image of the industry, ethical recruitment is the future in the works. This also entitles an agency for a distinct relationship with the government being a decent provider of jobs to the competitive workforce. This helps them avoid facing legal liabilities, civil, and criminal litigation, and prior administrative penalties.

The ethical practice has been a fueling agent for small-medium recruitment firms to be the fastest- growing in the industry. Good reputation and customer satisfaction are the ultimate “win-win” for a recruitment agency with ethical practices. Ethics maintains their high corporate standards and their commitment to social responsibility where real profits rebound to the partner agency.

ABOUT THE COMPANY: Rensol Recruitment and Consulting, Inc. is the fastest growing recruitment agency in The Philippines. A career consultant that aims to go above and beyond the level of expectations of both the aspirations of the candidates and the dream team standards of employers through providing exceptional opportunities and unparalleled quality-driven recruitment services.

People in Retail Industry

A physical storage vs. the Cloud, paperback vs. e-book, manual vs. automatic – the battle between digital and traditional continues and has now reached even the low-profile walls of the retail industry.

The 21st-century retail, as always, runs on the art of persuading people to purchase products. However, in recent years, there’s been a gradual transition from the traditional brick and mortar stores to the modern e-tailing business. This has left many consumers, old and new, wondering whether to stick to the tried and tested path or jump on the bandwagon of the latest trends.

The rivalry between the two is growing in the recent years. The capacity of the physical stores to survive against the digital competition was questioned. This issue has risen because of the fast retail shifting; together with the positive sales growth forecasts in business studies for online stores.

On the other hand, there were a lot of researches which showed that most of the consumers still choose to go to supermarkets and other physical store outlets. These results might have given the traditional owners some good news, but still, it cannot change the fact that online stores have been perceived to be reigning in the retail industry because of its accessibility anytime, anywhere. Furthermore, people choose to buy in front of their monitors due to the convenience it offers – saving time and ease of shopping (less crowd, no long lines at the cashier’s deck), plus the impulse buying prevention, which the traditional stores cannot deliver.

Statista, an online statistic, market research and business intelligence portal stated in one of their reports, that there are an estimated 1.66 billion online consumers worldwide in the year 2017 alone, and these numbers have nowhere to go, but up. With billions of busy people opting to patronize online stores due to time constraints, who would not wonder how would the bricks go against the clicks?

Greatest Competitive Advantage of brick and mortar stores – Humanness

In this technological age, the traditional retail stores manage to exist and compete with the e-tailing through the “human feel” that it provides to its customers. This claim is supported by the scientific fact that people are more satisfied and encouraged to buy when they tend to touch and feel the product – helps them to make the purchasing decision. In addition, a survey conducted by Timetrade resulted in a positive 85% response – stating that consumers still prefer purchasing through physical stores over electronic retailing platforms. It further states that more customers prefer to buy at the stores itself with the state of humanness; that is when a storekeeper personally assists them to make a purchase. This serves as the advantage of the brick and mortar retailers against the e-tailers’.

Retail Industry

How can the traditional stores keep up?

There is no way to escape the fact – that sooner or later, the stores that do not have the capability to invest in different retail platforms will evaporate. The only option they have is to innovate, which means, they need to spend rational and financial resources to both physical and online stores. Thus, every brick and mortar retailer must start practicing the power of integration – the combined use of digital platforms and traditional retail methods. This integration will surely take time since the business owners have to learn how to capitalize on both retail channels. While the journey towards this integration is on the process, the ultimate asset of these businesses remains to be their people – people who have the social and intellectual skills, and people who know how to value customer experience.

xxx

The struggle is real in finding good candidates who can assist you with your promise to fulfilling customers satisfaction, while you’re doing the job on preparing to adopt the omnichannel strategy. Hence, manpower providers, like us, exist to help you solve that challenge.

Our years of experience built our expertise to provide businesses with the right workforce to deliver humanness to your customers. Let Rensol support your business!

ABOUT THE COMPANY: Rensol Recruitment and Consulting, Inc. is the fastest growing recruitment agency in The Philippines. A career consultant that aims to go above and beyond the level of expectations of both the aspirations of the candidates and the dream team standards of employers through providing exceptional opportunities and unparalleled quality-driven recruitment services.

Placement Fee

According to Asianjournal’s ‘2017 Philippine Recruitment Outlook’, the recruitment industry will be experiencing a stable growth of 4% in the next five years. For that matter, new and old agencies are expected to take part in the game. As competition intensifies, there will surely be more overseas professional opportunities available for Filipinos. The challenge for trusting job seekers is to properly identify a reliable recruitment firm providing the right recruitment service, to help them find that perfect job for their great pursuit of a better life.

Employment

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) allows licensed recruitment agencies to collect placement fees from their candidates as payment for successfully securing them a position abroad. As per Workabroad.ph’s compiled data on recruitment fees, placements are commonly calculated to be at 1 months’ worth of the candidate’s salary. Some Manila recruitment agencies use a 50-50 payment system to lessen the burden on both the candidate and principal. While this method may seem to be the most cost-effective approach for everyone, there are still some unseen factors that need to be considered.

World-PSI states that placement fees, regardless of the job grade, can deteriorate the quality of a worker’s disposition before he even starts working for the employer. Due to the pressure brought by raising the needed amount to get the job, as well as straightaway providing for his family back home, he is immediately impacted mentally and emotionally. Another good example of an adverse effect of placement fees is the “debt trap”. From an article written by Ana P. Santos and Sofia Tomacruz of Rappler, debt trap is the usual situation OFW’s get into when they deal with placement fees. Poor Filipinos wanting to get a shot at working abroad will go to a bank or a lending company to get a loan. When their initial earnings are not enough to pay their debts on time, high-interest payments are factored in; it becomes difficult or impossible for them to repay what they borrowed. This results in the loss of employee morale leading to a subpar service for the employer; after which they’d come to a realization that they have a growing mountain of debt that even their job abroad won’t be able to compensate for. Thus, having to prematurely leave their employer.

Although taking placement fees is a common practice in the industry, there are a few that implements the reverse. Selected recruitment firms administer a more humanitarian approach in conducting their business processes by employing a “no placement fee” policy resulting in a more positive impact not only for candidates but also for the employer. A no placement fee agency forwards the would-be expenditures of the candidate to the hiring company. Although this seems to be less attractive to employers as they will shoulder all fees, it is, in fact, the opposite. If Filipino candidates can pursue their careers without paying any fees and they will not encounter any of the negative points raised above, everyone can ensure the candidate’s longevity with their employer. Retaining talented and loyal employees is an absolute win for any company.

employers

“The International Labor Organization (ILO) has named the Philippines as one of the pilot countries for its global program for promoting migrant workers’ protection, citing the country’s improving policies on ensuring safe and fair recruitment.” – Tomoko Nishimoto, ILO Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific

There have been arguments from the ILO Organization regarding ethical recruitment and the motion to scrap placement fees completely. There are also many indicators that suggest the recruitment industry should shift completely towards this policy. When that happens, it will most definitely reduce, if not completely wipe out recruitment scams in the Philippines and it will impose the goal of ethical recruitment to prioritize helping less fortunate Filipinos get better chances in life.

***

Rensol Recruitment and Consulting, a POEA licensed agency, has been advocating a no placement fee policy, since its inception in 1999. Focusing on opportunities that incorporates the same vision and values and upholds ethical recruitment practices beneficial for all parties of People, Partner Agency and Principal.

For more information on how to conduct an above and beyond recruitment campaign in the Philippines, please connect with our Business Development Team at solutions@rensol.com. We will be ready to sit down with you and understand your concerns and configure a recruitment plan to ensure better success.

ABOUT THE COMPANY: Rensol Recruitment and Consulting, Inc. is the fastest growing recruitment agency in The Philippines. A career consultant that aims to go above and beyond the level of expectations of both the aspirations of the candidates and the dream team standards of employers through providing exceptional opportunities and unparalleled quality-driven recruitment services.

The demand for hospitality services has grown bigger as millennials, the wanderlust generation, conquered one-third of the world’s hotel guests and may reach 50 percent by 2020. Meanwhile, this increase in the global consumer trend hasn’t corresponded with the level of competency of the hospitality workforce. In a report by the Food Service Consultants Society International (FCSI), hospitality, despite being a people industry, unfortunately, lacks the right people for the right skill set.

 

Crisis on Human Capital

Talent imbalance is the lack of candidates, lack of experience, or the lack of skills or technical capabilities among candidates. Tagged as a crisis on human capital, it has become one of the biggest challenges facing the recruitment of hospitality talents.

This problem was associated with recruitment professionals to the relatively low career attractiveness of this industry. This roots from the usual remote geographical locations of travel hotspots, the stereotyping for being an industry for low skilled workers with low compensation, demanding working hours, gender-biased vacancies, and zero career growth.

With this, the escalation on hard-to-fill vacancies lead to poor customer service, increase costs in hospitality service, and worse, decreasing profits. This acute impact impelled many companies to employ candidates with little experience to no qualifications at all.

 

Traditional Hospitality at its Best

The international hospitality industry has been long suffering from an under-skilled labor force based on FCSI’s Taste of Society 2020 Report. The struggle of matching talent’s competitiveness to the necessity of the current market has been a crisis being ignored.

Many companies, including the government, invested most of their resources to infrastructure to enrich tourism, however, they have downplayed the need for human capital that will arise from such upgrades. Some resorted to automation and other technological advancements to cover up lack of manpower, but at the end of the day, traditional hospitality is still unsurpassed.

A people industry highly-depends on quality people to efficiently provide a quality service. This industry should realize that manpower is not an additional cost but an investment to improve your package. Your company should not just be a tourist destination, but a talent destination, as well.

 

Strategic Hospitality Recruitment

Talent imbalances were anticipated to elevate the need for global talents. Various developments in tourism had generated millions of jobs and the challenge of filling it with the most qualified talents has been competitive, too. Hospitality recruitment agencies should be strategic in employing approaches geared towards talent attraction.

The Philippines, specifically, is one of the World’s top source of globally-competitive workers. Hospitality is an innate value among Filipinos and the industry dedicated to it is something these people are already passionate about. That is why Fortune 500 companies have Filipinos in their top choices for skilled professionals. Their brand of hospitality is innate and world-famous.

Rensol believes that world-class recruitment practices and innovative approaches in talent acquisition will significantly help your company to address talent imbalances in your workplace and to essentially attract the best candidate for your vacancies.

Seasoned recruiters will always have an eye for star performers. Learn more of our best practices in talent acquisition and let us collaborate to achieve your business goals.

ABOUT THE COMPANY: Rensol Recruitment and Consulting, Inc. is the fastest growing recruitment agency in The Philippines. A career consultant that aims to go above and beyond the level of expectations of both the aspirations of the candidates and the dream team standards of employers through providing exceptional opportunities and unparalleled quality-driven recruitment services.

If a candidate wants to get hired, he primarily needs high Intelligence Quotient (IQ), but if he covets to get promoted, he must have a high Emotional Intelligence (EQ). In the same correlation, if an executive desire to be successful, he should have a team with high IQ, but if he aims for an excellent one, he must have a team who values EQ.

It was a proven fact that an executive can only achieve the ascendance from the monotony of success to the full culmination of excellence if he has a team who works together in harmony and in maximum effectiveness. The competition in talent acquisition has really been tough these days. It is on how human resource strategies get along with the rapid changes to explicitly respond to the demands of the competition without compromising the quality of hired employees as their company’s invaluable assets. The job has been tedious but there is a key for every executive and their recruiters to conclude a talent decision the company will never regret. Apart from satisfying clients’ expectations, the company can also attain a work ambiance healthy for everyone. Apparently, a recruiter could never go wrong with a candidate who possesses high levels of EQ. Regardless of job type, EQ has been a reliable predictor of a guaranteed positive performance in the workplace.

Long before, IQ has been the only gauge recruiters have to foresee a candidate’s viable success in the industry. But with decades of research, a missing link yet a critical factor that was long disregarded in the crucial process of talent acquisition has been found. This critical factor doesn’t just make the job of recruiters easier but just ascertained that they may have been losing potential top performers in the process. It was just in 1995 when this new kind of smart has been determined and coined. And in 2020, the World Economic Forum predicts this to emerge as one of the top 20 skills among human resources, even surpassing technical abilities.

 

Emotion Matters

Emotional intelligence or EQ surprisingly comprises that critical portion to 90% of star performers in every company. But by being intangible, it may be difficult to figure how much we have or how much we actually lack. Emotions are intrinsic to our humanness and are vital in controlling how will we behave within our premise. Inherently, candidates with high levels of EQ can manage their own feelings, can perceive and express themselves, can form and maintain social relationships, can cope with stressful challenges and can come up with personal decisions which guarantee favorable result. Such qualities may have been commendatory for many executives who envisions to have a healthy work environment and an excellent workspace. It so happens that people with high EQ are usually successful in most things they do. Every team wants to have them. Their attitude essentially brings good karma back to them.

Meanwhile, if you have an employee who get stressed easily, who could not stand tension and endure anxiety, who couldn’t manage their moods responsibly, who couldn’t handle conflict, who are quick to make assumptions and argues vehemently, who easily succumbed to pessimistic emotions, who always blames other people, who are easily offended by negative remarks, or those who are just being toxic in your workplace are indications you have overlooked the candidate’s level of EQ before absorbing them in your company. Along with an increasingly demanding professional climate various industry requires, higher stress levels, increased workloads and hours, and the pressure of the fast-paced environment make it more crucial. Executives should try to hire the most emotionally- intelligent individuals who could handle this or at the very least, dedicate premium for their manpower’s emotional needs.

While cognitive intelligence is as significant to determine whether a candidate could perform the job as prescribed, knowing whether he will succeed in doing such is where emotional intelligence plays a great role.  This will foretell a candidate’s motivation, creativity, drive, commitment, passion, and energy to carry out his function more than we expect.

IQ alone could not fill in your vacancies with ideal employees you ever wished to have.  A man with high EQ but low IQ may have intellectual discrepancies while having someone with high IQ, but low EQ may lead to poor performance. An ideal candidate is a seamless fusion of both.

Executives must acknowledge this strategy as their own competitive edge in their respective market and for such assets are keys which will never be duplicated by competitors.

 

The Filipino Psychology

There has been a lot of misconceptions about how western countries view the psychology of the Filipino people. Dr. Virgilio Enriquez, the Father of Philippine Psychology himself, pinpointed the emotional values of Filipinos that many western ideologies had subjected into bad light.

Enriquez highlighted in his contributions to the study regarding the emotional intelligence of the Filipino people the three core values that have been uniquely shared in its culture.

First is the concept of “Kapwa” or shared identity which emphasizes how Filipino communities have been established.  Everyone in the community is generally inclined with a people-centered orientation, that they are morally-obliged to connect and to build relationship with others.

Second is the shared inner nobility or the spirit of “Bayanihan” where people are willing to offer a helping hand for a common cause.

Lastly, intuition or in the western psychology, specifically known as emotional intelligence. This has been an innate quality among Filipinos where they can naturally read body languages, tone of voice, and hidden emotions by mere gut- feeling.

For Westerners, the ‘as- God- wills’ attitude among Filipinos is a sign of fatalism but in actuality, it is an expression of determination and preparedness to face whatever challenge is ahead. Some foreign countries also regard the concept of “debt of gratitude” as a return of favor with interest but on the contrary, it is not a debt obliged to be paid but only a regard to kindness being offered. The natural expression of shame among locals was also misunderstood by westerners as on how awkward we are to become socially acceptable but in fact, it is just our innate sense of propriety to whatever circumstances we get involved with. Even the way Filipinos aim for companionship was a misconception to debunk as it was regarded to avoid arguments or conflicts but in reality, it is just natural for many Filipinos to long for camaraderie, build relationships, and form harmonious community, and as a norm, Filipinos give the best treatment they think every human deserves. Lastly, Filipinos were seen as being too emotional. Studies have shown that the Philippines topped as the home of the World’s most emotional people, while Singapore, being the least. But to be more precise, being emotional is an understatement.

Psychologist regarded this behavior distinctively as emotional expressiveness, a relevant indicator of emotional intelligence. Expressiveness comes along with awareness in recognizing the entirety of emotionality.

After all, EQ is not being emotional alone, it is an umbrella term for skills such as: self- awareness, interpersonal communication, flexibility, stress management, and optimism.

Singapore has actually pioneered emotional intelligence education because of their alarming status on EQ while the United States, which doesn’t appear at the forefront in the statistic, has still to work on their level of self- awareness, a skill innate for 60% of Filipino people.

This nature has been considered by psychologists from Spaniards which had an occupancy of three centuries in the archipelago.  

While emotional intelligence is a set of core skills and competencies that we could learn and develop as we grow, Filipinos, in general, are innate to be intelligent emotionally.

Seasoned recruiters will always have an eye for star performers. Learn more of our best practices in talent acquisition and let us collaborate to achieve your business goals.

ABOUT THE COMPANY: Rensol Recruitment and Consulting, Inc. is the fastest growing recruitment agency in The Philippines. A career consultant that aims to go above and beyond the level of expectations of both the aspirations of the candidates and the dream team standards of employers through providing exceptional opportunities and unparalleled quality-driven recruitment services.