As we have said here many times before … jobs in the Philippines is a very important subject that this site gets found for by search engines …people, rally, people who (at least say they are) desperate for a job in the Philippines so they can live out their dreams.
I get inquires from these people sometimes every day, and virtually every inquiry is sad and depressing to me. “Dear sir, please help me find a job.” is not only a sad way to try to get yourself employed, it’s actually pretty stupid.
Thinking that jobs are something like plums laid out on a plate on someone’s table and all you have to do is ask that one be passed to you tells me basically one thing about you … as we used to say in my circle back in the ‘day’ .. you ain’t got no speed.
Even worse are these sort of examples, which my friend Daniel just reminded me of:
You probably have already seen a bio like this one on Twitter, LinkedIn or on some other social networking site:
John Doe is a web designer, programmer, SEO consultant, web entrepreneur, author, speaker, business coach, journalist and tech enthusiast.
Not sure about you, but when I come across bios like the one above I immediately conclude two things: 1) the person is not really sure about what she wants to do professionally and 2) she is not going to achieve outstanding results on any of the mentioned fields. Read more about why you should not be a “jack of all trades” here.
Telling me you just want a job and you don’t care what that job is, because you can do them all, reminds me of this definition:
Jack of All Trades: One competent in many endeavors, especially one who excels in none of them. (my emphasis) en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jack_of_all_trades
In case some of you have been living on another planet, the world is going through a severe recession/depression/jobless cycle right now. What company in its right mind would hire a person who did not consider him or her self as one who excels in their field?
Don’t feel you excel? Then take the time to get the experience, training and/or self-confidence to be able to excel at something, because the world of opportunities for mediocre performers si shrinking every day.
photo credit: r000pert (I want that job, for those of you Google -illiterate)
Now if any of you are reading this still, and if you want to actually get yourself a job in the Philippines … or anywhere else … then here’s how you can get yourself one. But before you bother to get started, this is work.
Are you really looking for a job, or are you just going through the motions to pass the time at your present job … or to keep your parents off your back because they can’t figure out why you are working on your third degree and you still haven’t found a job yet?
If you are ready to find a job and are willing to do what it takes, here’s how you do it:
Just go read my friend Brendon’s article on finding a job. Brendon lives and works on Australia’s Gold Coast … but it matters not where Brendon happens to live … what he says to do will get you a job anywhere.
In case you won’t take the time to read his article (it amazes me every day how many people ask me for help, but are unwilling to do any research or study on their own …), here’s the major “take away” from Brendon’s how to get a job article.
… So let’s go over it again.
- Find who you want to work with. There are plenty of companies out there – find the exact one you want to work with. It’s your life you are dealing with here. Don’t waste a minute!
- Tell the employer that you will make him money.
- Tell the employer how you will make him money.
- Build a relationship with potential employers.
- Keep in contact!
Do those things and you will get a job. Simple.
Next installment I will cover some thoughts on how to apply these tips specifically to the foreigner in the Philippines environment. Stay tuned … and if you like these sort of articles, please subscribe (links art the top of the page) and/or eave me a comment about what you like or don’t like … I hate writing in a vacuum.
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Hi Dave,
This article is of interest to me for a number of reasons. The “John Doe” resume listed describes me in many ways, except for the “programmer” part. I have never considered myself a Jack of all trades, though. Funny thing is that in the past few days, I have been thinking to myself that I might need to focus more on one thing, rather than spreading myself over many different things. But, my personal problem that I am fighting with is that I deeply believe in having multiple small streams of money coming in, and earning it from vastly different methods. I feel that this protects yourself in many ways – if one stream dries up, you have other, unrelated streams that you can still rely on. I do deeply believe that. But, I also see the danger of being a Jack of all trades and a master of none. I suppose that part of the solution would be to master multiple areas, as many as you can, if that is even possible.
This is certainly something to think about. I am feeling that the answer is in finding a balance somewhere between what you wrote about, and where I currently am.
Agree Bob, but if you wanted to switch from a self-earned income to a job, I still feel you would be miles ahead of the game by picking one talent (let’s say managing production line workers, and pursuing that. I wrote this article and the ones I am going to follow up with out of frustration over guys asking me for help in finding a job … I can do anything … sorts of self-evaluations. Truth is, very few people want to hire someone just to hang around and do ‘anything’ … to find a job in today’s environment (as opposed to starting various entrepreneurial efforts) I think people have to focus.
You well know I am pretty much anti-job … but some people will not take the entreprenuerail ‘hint’ and absolutley have to find a conventional J*O*B.
With the Internet, even here in the PI. There are many ways to earn money. Create your own JOB!!!
Some hints, ebay, Amazon, Yahoo Store
Absolutely, Fred. Especially with the rate of pay that many jobs in the Philippines pay …when a person does get one … it just doesn’t make sense to spend 40 to60 hours a week working to make someone else wealthy … create your own job/success and bank the profit.
On one of the articles, it had to do with low water pressure. I saw a mention about there was need for accounting services.
If you have a computer with internet, and are running a flavor of Linux OS, there is an app called Gnu Cash, it is a professional level accounting app. The cost is FREE the same as Linux
Good point out, Fred. Add accounting services to the long lists of jobs one can do in the Philippines, even if not actually having a Philippine “J-O-B”. Example, I was just recently reading a horror story about an American on-line entrepreneur who was selling a lot of product and paid alot of people as his affiliates … essentially commissioned sales people. he was paying them through the on-line service called PayPal and figured, becuase he had records of his payments in that way he was home free.
The US IRS audited him and ruled since he hadn’t kept “contemporaneous” records of each and every payment … that is noting it in a ledger the day it was paid, they disallowed years of his commission payouts, slapping him with a huge tax liability.
How many people went to school to be a bookeeper or accountant and can’t find and “office-based” accounting job?
There are thousand of entrepreneurs out there who are not keeping any sort of books … just present yourself and sign up monthly clients … get as few as 5 or six clients out of potentially millions, charge them a couple hundred a month for your services, use free professional level accounting software and ‘bam’, you are in business, making more than most any accountant in the Philippines makes … and you can work in your chinnelas