Job search in Canada via agencies--POEA

By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: October 06, 2008

MANILA, Philippines -- The hiring and deployment of Filipino workers for the estimated 30,000 skilled jobs in Canada will be done through licensed recruitment agencies, and not the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, according to the POEA website.

The POEA also said the recruitment agencies would not be allowed to collect any placement fees from workers bound for Canada.

"Applicants may submit their applications to recruitment agencies with approved job orders from Canadian employers," it said.

For British Columbia, several Canadian officials are in the Philippines to finalize the guidelines for pilot recruitment for three Canadian companies needing of hotel workers, food counter attendants, and long haul drivers.

Other types of skilled workers will be needed for the succeeding recruitment by British Columbia companies and establishments, Labor
Secretary Marianito Roque said in a statement.

The Canadian officials who arrived in the Philippines included Assistant Deputy Minister Mike Carter of the Ministry of Technology, Trade, and Economic Development; Executive Director of Canada's Labor Market Development Mark Gillis; and other officials of British Columbia.

Roque said the Canadian team would work with POEA in interviewing this Tuesday applicants that have been pre-screened by Philippine-licensed recruitment agencies based on qualifications set by the employers at the Occupational Health and Safety Center.

"We aim to finalize the implementing guidelines to facilitate the recruitment and deployment of overseas Filipino workers to British Columbia in accordance with the memorandum of understanding between the Department of Labor and Employment and British Columbia. This is to ensure that OFWs bound for this Canadian province are accorded ample benefits and protection," he said.

The priority concerns for discussion include recruitment procedures, employment contracts, British Columbia-specific orientation package, identification of skills requirements, criteria for employers and sending agencies, and human resource development mechanisms.

The MOU was forged January 2008 to provide for cooperation in the fields of labor, employment, and human resource deployment and development between the Philippines and British Columbia.

The labor department has also signed labor agreements with the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta.