How Can I Recruit Staff in Manila or the Philippines?

If you are new to recruiting, or having a hard time finding the staff you need, make sure you understand the selection process of a professional recruiter before you follow this guide to recruiting on your own.

1. Search for resumes online

Most clients who have tried to recruit their own staff start by searching online for curricula vitae. Usually the first stop is a recruitment advertising and resume search website in the Philippines such as JobsDB, JobStreet, Monster, or Bestjobs. You might also look at freelance websites or business networking sites like LinkedIn. They promise a huge database of candidates, easy keyword search tools, and instant search results.

For the most part, these recruitment websites deliver what they promise. Of course, you will have to take time to register, complete a profile, learn the tools, and begin your search analysis. You will also need to be sure of the keywords and phrases to search for. On some sites it hardly matters; on others, the difference between "accountant" and "accounting" can be several hundred resumes. To access resumes or contact your selected candidates, you will usually need to subscribe to a service or purchase credits.

The upside

You can start your recruitment search immediately, and the searching is relatively affordable.

The downside

A keyword search is the easy part. Once you have results, and most results are formatted differently, you then have to make an informed selection. Remember that time is money too, so anyone you add to your final shortlist will require time later to screen.

One of the biggest downsides of resume searches is the time it takes to screen a candidate. Candidates rarely update their profiles once their resume nets them a job, and they won't immediately respond to emails, so expect a lot of waiting and chasing. Once you make contact with a candidate who is available, you'll want to at least vet the candidate against the claims made on their resume. We even like to ensure that the resume was written by the candidate and not by a CV-writing service.