Posted by
MayC
16 yrs ago
This is my first time hiring a fresh helper from the Phillipines.
Any advice?
I shall be grateful to anyone who's willing to share his/her experience with a "fresh" hire.
Thanks.
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I don't think much changes whether she is fresh or not.
- Have a plan.
- Be clear about schedule and responsibilities.
- Give her enough rope. If she hangs herself, so be it. In other words don't micromanage.
- Have regular meetings giving feedback and allowing her to give you feedback.
- Be generous.
- Respect your helper.
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My understanding is that the main advantage of a 'fresh' helper is that you can train her up to do things the way you like them to be done, instead of hiring someone more experienced but possibly resistent to doing things in a new way. To enjoy this advantage I suppose it would be better to hire someone who actually has no DH experience at all, i.e. they've never been to HK before and have not worked in other countries either. (Of course theoretically all FDH from the Phils are supposed to have 2 yrs' exp. in their own country but most of them accept that when they come to HK they will be required to do things differently).
I have employed 2 direct hires (in 5 years). One of them was the sister of my DH (when I needed 2 helpers). I think local hires and direct hires are equally likely to work out. A lot of it depends on things you can't check before they start, like whether they are basically a good person, will stick to the schedule & any agreements made, won't steal etc etc. In my opinion whether it all works out or not is 50% whether the employer is a good, reasonable & capable boss, and 50% luck. If you do everything right regarding hiring and managing your DH then I say you've a 50 -50 chance that you'll get satisfactory service for 2 years.
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we hired our DH directly from the Phili. her best friend works for my best friend here an in hkg and she had told me from b4 whenever i was ready to hire a FT that she wanted to introduce her friend to me. so anyways for me it ws more important to hire someone trustworthy and who came recommended rather than some random through an agency. after all this person would be living in our home!
but then thats just me! anyways so we phone interviewed this girl who had NO experience but was ready to learn and we thought we would give her a chance.
she turned out to be the most wonderful helper ever! she works hard, my kids love her and shes an honest person. she always finds stuff to do around the house even without me telling her to, she is interested to learn how to cook although i do the cooking but she always comes and watches. i think if i had to hire again i wud go the direct hire way again. not to mention i hope she NEVER leaves us! :-) fat chance i know!
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cd
16 yrs ago
We've hired 3 (out of 5) direct from the Phillippines. Don't think it makes much difference.
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mchew
16 yrs ago
The advantages have been listed with the people who had contributed to this discussion thread. One thing to keep in mind is the time required to train a "fresh" helper. If you work, it may be very challenging since you need to show (multiple times) how to do the things that you may consider to be very basic. There are certianly different challenges when hiring an experienced helper versus a "fresh" helper. The most challenging, for me, was finding the time to train a "fresh" helper the basics.
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Yes, it is better to consider whether you actually like & are good at training before hiring a 'fresh' helper. As well as whether you've time. Usually each task has to be taught 2-3 times, sometimes more, and it can be frustrating to have to repeatedly explain very basic concepts. However, if you choose a DH who is intelligent one would hope that she would be a fast learner.
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makes huge difference, cd. The local hires have experience while direct from Phil not so much. We have one local and one (her sister in law) direct. had to teach her EVERYTHING - i kid you not, absolutely everything! Her idea of hygene and how things should be done were COMPLETELY not in line with ours - so from that point of view it is much harder work than hiring local... in my experience anyway.
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I know a good helper that will be available in Nov if you need a recomendation.
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