How to Tell Good From Bad!

Migrant Employees from Eastern Europe, Asia and South America will all have a good work ethic, however there will be major differences in their mentality and skill levels.

A good international recruiter should be able to advise you in the sort of details that you need to know, explaining what to expect and to help you to make the right decision based on their own previous experience and advice. However, this would happen only if your recruiter is able to source workers from several countries.

For example, East Europeans are well know to like to have alcohol in their time off, Indians don’t drink as much but they are slower workers, Filipinos speak good English but their international employment agencies are renowned for charging very high recruitment fees to the guest workers, which if you are an American employer, you might be forced to repay even though you didn’t take the money!

Not all Filipino agencies are like that, it also is a trait of agents from China, India, Bangladesh and Israel too and you need to be really sharp to spot whats happening. As controversial as that statement maybe, i think its is too important a point not to mention in an article about using international placement agencies, as it can cost your busuness a lot of money and damage your reputation irreparably.

You need to be aware of the risks in order to take steps to avoid things going wrong.

It is advisable to know the background and history of the international employment agent recruiting from overseas. Find out which countries and types of companies they have been supplying etc.

International recruiters can range from the sublime to the ridiculous. Going for the cheapest option can be a mistake, this does not mean that a good overseas recruiter will be the most expensive, but just watch out for those offering a deal that is free or very low cost.

What may be free and low cost to you now could be very expensive for the applicant and bring you unwanted publicity later. If you are a US employers then you really need to be aware of the new rules for the H-2B guest workers program, which clearly states that if these employees have been charged a fee, they will hold the employer accountable and make them repay it

Experience is very important in an International employment agencies ability to recruit, properly advise, guide and lead the employer painlessly through the guest worker program process. Employers should look for an International placement agency who has been working within the Overseas employment opportunities industry for several years, and is of good reputation.

Employers should ask for client testimonials and case studies, and only if they can provide these without delays. then you can be more comfortable of their ability to deliver, as well as checking and testing their background and knowledge to be able to give you the best advice and service.

They should also be aware of the laws of the countries they are recruiting from, as this can avoid delays in getting the workers to your country after the visa is issued.

The Philippines for example has the POEA which is set up to protect Philippine workers, and if their rules and documentation requirements are not correctly followed there will be problems getting the people out of the country to start their job in a new country.

Other countries may be easier to recruit from, and need less time consuming running about verifying and getting documents notarized as is required by the POEA.

But, if you understand that they are there to protect the workers and don’t mind to courier documents to the Philippines embassy in your country to 1. verify the jobs 2. verify you are a bona fide business 3. confirm your business address 4. send a notarized job offer with salary confirmation and an agency agreement document showing the terms of the agreement between you and the international placement agency, and then wait for a reply from them before sending this info off to the international recruitment agency by courier, then the Philippines might be the right choice for you.

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How to choose an international employment agency for your Foreign labor recruitment & guest workers Programs.

Choosing an international employment agency to help facilitate the recruitment of foreign labor or migrant workers for your business can tricky, especially if you are an American employer looking to hire workers under the sponsored US gust worker visa program for non immigrant H-2B visa staff.

With the new H-2B rules introduced in January 2009, if an agent abroad has charged the workers a fee, then you as an employer may have to repay the workers the full amount! Therefore the screening of international employment agencies is essential.

I have been involved in immigration services and international employment since 1997, so i have learned through mistakes over several years and i think it’s fair to say that i am well qualified to offer to you the tips that i am about to reveal to you, so stay with me for the next 2-3 minutes that it takes to read the rest of my article.

Here are some top tips in choosing the right International Recruiters. If you follow these tips you will go a long way to avoid a PR disaster beyond what your business may be able to recover from. Take a look at their website and read some info to see if they are articulate, informative and an authority in the industry.

International recruiters from countries like India, Israel, Sri Lanka, China and Philippines have a reputation for overcharging applicants, if you care about reputation management you better get a disclosure of how much if anything these international employment agencies are charging the workers. Make sure you are working with a reputable agency who has a long track history.

If the agency claims to have offices in more than one country, ask for…no, in fact DEMAND to see their business registration documents for that country. If they do not have the registration documents in their own business name then they will be using an associate agency…that spells BIG TROUBLE! Why?… Two main reasons..1. They have been dishonest in their initial claims, trying to mis-lead you into thinking that they are bigger than they are. 2. The Associate agency will also be charging the workers…that could cost you dearly. There is another reason too, that is that these agents are not in control of the recruitment process, they are not in control of screening the applicants for suitability.

If you really care about your business reputation and you do not want to be forced to repay whatever these agencies are charging the workers then you need to do your due diligence. If they fail any one of the first two steps then drop them immediately and find a more suitable partner for your recruitment of foreign labor. These are very easy steps for you to take, you do not have to do much so far right?

Check references for the international placement agencies that pass the first two tests. Now, what i am about to tell you maybe a little controversial, but hey…a good international recruitment agency would not complain, and there are good international employment agencies out there so i will say it anyway, as i see it and as it really is.

When you check the references watch out for them asking you to contact someone with a foreign sounding name, this is a common theme with many Indian and Israel (also run by mainly Indians, Chinese and Filipino agencies) based international employment and staffing service agency providers. You should INSIST on getting a reference from a previous employer or client in your country or in a similar country and who you can verify as a REAL BUSINESS ENTITY.

There are international employment agencies that will try to pass you over to some friends or relatives for business or client references, they may sound polite, articulate and feasible, but check their business really exists. The easiest way to do that is to type into google the name, location and service provided by that employer, they should appear in Google maps with a Google local business listing which is the listings with the big map beside it that appears when you search for a local service.

Please do not skip that last step.

If your prospective International placement agency is real and is not trying to con you into using his services in order that he can charge applicants thousands of dollars, which would cause serious damage to your reputation then he will be fully compliant to your requests and able to provide this information immediately. If there are delays then you really need to be looking elsewhere for foreign labour employment agency services. Don’t run the risk of damaging your business through the greed of these so called agents, even if they make themselves look real. They may even have a license to recruit workers for overseas and they may have several years doing so, but they have managed to stay under the radar with lack of proof of what they charged, allowing them to prowl the Internet, scraping emails of employers who they can approach with low cost or free recruitment services.

The truth is that if it is free to you then someone is paying, that could turn out be you later on should you fail to take heed of the new rules for non immigrant visas as issued in January 2009. However, if you follow the simple steps above, you will get a sense through speed of response, through the references provided and the registration documents that you should request. Look out for more tips in follow up articles in this series.

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