An OFW pre-departure guide

Unlike most employers in my industry, I have encouraged my employees’ understandable aspirations to improve their standard of living by getting jobs abroad. Accordingly, I can fairly claim that I have in some way contributed to several thousand persons becoming successful OFWs or emigrants.

Here is some assorted advice I’ve given.

Choice of college degree. The most in-demand professionals are nurses and physical therapists. (Doctors, too, obviously, but that takes almost eight years more.) Engineering, maritime, accounting and computer science can be good, but cross-border outsourcing and Artificial Intelligence will affect future prospects. Pick a precise discipline which requires your physical presence to perform a job abroad. Apart from those prime choices, just get any degree, from the best school you can get into.

Practical work experience. Resist your Gen Z impulses. Find a prestigious company in the field you hope to work in, and stay there two to three years before trying to apply for an overseas job.

Cruise lines are perennial recruiters: On a Viking cruise in the Caribbean, the author unexpectedly encounters Keith, a Plantation Bay “alumnus.”

English. During those same two to three years, work on your English grammar and accent if needed. Totally stop watching Taglish TV and the usual popular local programs. Instead, watch films and shows in which the actors use correct English with neutral or educated accents — NCIS, not The Simpsons; Downton Abbey, not Doctor Who. As regards pronunciation and grammar, YouTube is suspect, TikTok worse.

Why? Your interview will be in English, and English communication skills will be valued regardless of the job or location.

Licensed, reputable recruiters only. Visit https://dmw.gov.ph/licensed-recruitment-agencies, which lists the status of every firm active in recruitment.

Even this swanky country club in a wealthy suburb of New York City recruited in the Philippines. One of the author’s ex-staff, Wayne, proudly reported that he had to teach his white supervisor some of the finer points of high-class service (“unhurried, not jarring, barely noticeable”).

Studies and work permits. Some countries permit you to take classes and work while studying, or after finishing. Try to make contacts with people who already did it and who can help explain the process or recommend schools. Don’t use a “fixer.”

Read the job offer/contract. Don’t jump at the first offer. Consider the location and the reliability of the employer, especially if it is for domestic service or unskilled labor. Find out how your salary will be paid. Determine how to open a bank account to receive your salary.

Be paranoid. Don’t send your money to ANYONE — spouse, child, friend, ex-boss. Too many sad stories. An alternative might be to buy a property on credit from a reputable development company, and send monthly payments directly to them or the bank that holds the mortgage. Save your money in US dollars or other international currency.

The Australian Government offers study-work programs to qualified applicants.

Do schedule regular video time with your family.

Make a valid will before you leave. Prepare it in front of witnesses with a lawyer recording same on video. If you were to die abroad intestate (or lacking a valid will), your heirs would be greatly inconvenienced.

Do more than your job calls for: longer, ahead of schedule, without complaint. “Work to rule” and “Quiet quitting” might be justified in some cases of abusive employers, but deliberate under-performance easily becomes a bad habit that will harm your lifetime prospects.

Be paranoid some more. Identify two friends (not relatives) you trust most (but to reiterate, trust no one over money), and agree with them on an emergency message that you will use if it turns out your foreign job is a scam. For example, you could agree to send them an email every month saying “(name of employer) is treating me well” to mean you are okay; but if you put “very well” or don’t write, that means you’re in trouble and can signal your friend to report the matter to our Bureau of Migrant Workers (get the name and personal cell number of a responsible person there before leaving).

Study the culture, customs, and perhaps the language of where you’re going, so that you’ll fit in more easily.

Learn how to do one Filipino dish well. No, you don’t know how to cook adobo; any recipe that calls for less than 1.5 hours at very low fire is wrong.

Try not to hang out exclusively with Filipinos.

Do not lend, borrow, invest, gamble even for “play money,” or engage in business with any individuals, or accept any paid odd jobs like bringing a bag anywhere, however innocent its contents seem.

Don’t drink anything with people you don’t know. Do not gossip, backbite, criticize, or have unprotected sex.

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Are you reading this from the Middle East, or are you hoping to go there to work? Then the Palestine crisis should be of concern to you. Here’s a YouTube video which provides a simplified history and introduces a surprising solution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfFd6VI05wg. If you agree, please Like and Share.