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March 5, 1997

Written by request for the Office of Senator Gloria Macapagal Arroyo by Don A. Herrington, CEO Online Workers, Inc. NGO

Telework [known as outsourcing now] and the Emergence of the Internet from the Philippine Perspective.

TELEWORK

A. What is Telework and how does it relate to the Internet?

Telework is the biggest change to working practices to since the industrial revolution. It is a relatively new way of doing work by computer, telephone, fax, e-mail and other electronic data transfer equipment. It is the act of performing work at a site remote from the employee. The Internet is allowing this new “distance,” employment to flourish.

Labor and commercial rental costs, pollution concerns, traffic considerations, employee health and workers compensation and concern about family and culture are some of the major forces driving telework. Telework may be the only solution to these serious and growing challenges.

The Internet, the world’s the newest and most powerful communication system, is changing the way the world communicates. This economical and almost instant communications system allows anyone who has a telephone and a computer to connect with universities, libraries, governments, businesses, and private individuals anywhere in the world, fast and cheap. It is what makes telework now feasible. For the Philippines, an English speaking country with an educated population and serious unemployment, it is a blessing that can bring employment and foreign exchange to the doorsteps of millions of Filipinos.

The Future of Telework and the Internet in the Philippines

The Internet is big and growing. In the United States there are an estimated 50 million users and in the rest of the world approximately 10 million. New users are being added every day to the system at an estimated rate of one million per month. It is in every country of the world. Billions are being spent to improve and expand the Internet and the infrastructure that supports it. Teledesic and Iridium two major satellite communications efforts have just entered the field. Iridium already has five of its 51 satellites up and they will be operational in 1997. These two companies have combined budget is more than 20 billion dollars. Their satellites will bring the Internet at super speeds to the major metropolitan areas. And the access will also be available from the smallest, remotest nipa house in the Philippines, even without a telephone. Internet II is another major private development project presently under construction that will speed and spread the service.

C. The Ability of the Philippines to Compete

Telework is in its infancy. No nation has yet become positioned as “the” nation of teleworkers. It is possible, if not likely, that one of the economically developing English speaking countries like the Philippines, who can compete comfortably in the international markets, will become central sources for teleworkers. This paper addresses the opportunities and problems in achieving a world teleworking presence on the Internet for the Philippines.

The Irish Telework Plan under the section titled “Global Competition” cites as competition “Asian and Pacific Rim countries whose (sic) labor costs are a fraction of the Irish costs; however, they tend to be short on European language skills and their telecoms infrastructures range from excellent to erratic. The transfer of British Airways reservations call center to Delhi sounded a warning bell to many European call centers.” With the Philippines English language skills educational level and low labor rates, that same bell sounds loud for big opportunities for the Philippines.

Is often said that the Internet will level playing field for businesses. That the smallest company can now compete in the same level as the large companies. This applies as well to nations. Telework is the means by Filipinos can compete in the international labor market as they have done so successfully in the past, but now without leaving their country, friends, family and culture.

There are other major players in the international telecommuting arena. One is India, long active in software development and a partner with Microsoft. They too have a lower employee cost of living and telework prices will have to be competitive with the India’s. Pakistan a nation with known telecommuting accomplishment and high ambitions. With new translation software, China could be a competitive soon.

The oldest and perhaps most insightful Internet Joke is about two dogs talking. One says to the other “On the Internet, they don’t know we are dogs.” But on the Internet, people do know if you are educated and if you are comfortable with the English language, and they can tell if you do produce. That is the bottom line of Filipino competitiveness

D. What Kinds of Telework are there?

Telework is one of the many subdivisions of telecommuting. Some employees perform part of their jobs by telework and others perform all of their work from a site remote from their supervisors. Most often these later employees are independent contractors, freelancers and go from one job and one employer to another. They may never see their employer at all. But they may communicate with that employer by computer ten or twenty time or more in one day.

One can argue that teleworkers are not employees at all, but in the truest sense private contractors. They usually receive no benefits or tenure. They are usually professional employees hired only for the duration of a contract. Successful teleworkers, unlike permanent employees, are constantly searching for the next job(s) and always involved in the self promotion required to get the next job.

E. Work or Service Business

It is hard to distinguish a teleworker from a service business. Consider a graphic artist offering services by telework. This can be a company or individual. It can be one person alone or with many associates, employees or partners. The graphic artist can be considered as an employee or a shopkeeper, depending on the relation established with the employer. Since there is little of an employment relationship, no benefits, no long term agreement, no tenure, telework is more easily defined as a service business than employment.

II. WHO IS PROMOTING TELECOMMUTING

A. Employers

Telecommuting is usually instigated by a company who sees the advantages it can provide them. Certainly this is brought to the attention of the company by employees who convince the company that they, the employee, and do the work at home rather than come into the office. At the present time, very few if any companies are going out and looking for telecommuters. Those telecommuters they do have, usually come from inside the companies.

A recent quote from the Internet Newsgroup, European Telework shows that major companies do not necessarily advertise there telecommuting efforts.

“I have been responsible for the implementation of telework in IBM France and I can tell you that we never felt useful to create a web (page) telling what we were doing and how. It has just become business as usual once the internal issues were solved. We did share with our customers who were interested. Keep in mind that unless it is your business, a company will not spend time and energy writing web pages on what they do internally.”

Nicole Turbé-Suetens
DISTANCE EXPERT
BP 10 60680 Grand-Fresnoy (France)
4/5/97, European Telework Mailing List, etw-forum@iac.net

It is obvious from this posting that giant companies like IBM are quietly taking steps to implement telecommuting without broadcasting their efforts. If we want to know exactly who else is involved and to want extent, it will some very creative research. Information such as this, it seems, will not be publicized unless the companies decide it is in their interest.

B. Telecommunications Companies

Telephone companies overseas are promoting telecommuting since, for obvious reasons they have a stake in selling more phone service. Los Angeles has one of the largest telework programs in the United States sponsored by the local telephone companies.

C. Government

Anti pollution agencies are active in telecommuting promoting telework. The US Government has formally stated it embraces telework as a way to improve air quality. The San Diego Air Pollution Control District is just one of the many very active state agencies, in the US. US Government agencies concerned with child care for working mothers, employment discrimination, and life quality have either formally or informally endorsed telework.

D. Telecommuting Consultants

There are several telework consultants advertising on the Internet. They can be accessed with any search engine such as http://www.yahoo.com. These companies focus their efforts on helping companies establish telecommuting programs for their existing work. They do not seem to be geared to or interested in starting a program such as international telecommuting.

E. Employees

Employees are promoters when they ask their supervisors if they can do work at home. It the more economically developed countries the large majority of employees spend most of their time at work on the computer and also have computers at home and can access the office or the world by Internet with them.

There are people with computers and Internet Connections at home who stumble into employment. They start using the Internet for entertainment, cheap communications, out of curiosity or for other non employment reasons and discover work opportunities they find attractive.

III. THE LURE OF TELECOMMUTING FOR EMPLOYEES

A. Independence

Most people prefer to work under light supervision if they are competent in their field. They like to be their own boss and make their own decisions. Telecommuting gives them an opportunity to do so while still meeting the needs of the employer they contract with. Telework allows employees more freedom to set their own work hours. It gives them the opportunity to take care of their family and work at the same time. Studies are available that show most employees are happier and productive when they work at home.

Often there is some reluctance from first line Supervisors who feel they are losing control of their employees. Those in favor of telecommuting argue that the control is still there if you can measure the product and productivity of the employee. Second level supervisors and managers at all levels are overwhelmingly supportive of telecommuting.

B. Mobility

Telework opens jobs qualified individuals in remote cities and even other foreign countries that would were not accessible. A teleworker can jump from job to job, miles apart without leaving his/her home. In the morning the work can be in Australia and afternoon in the United States, all without leaving home.

C. Commuting/Avoiding Traffic Congestion

This is possibly the most universally attractive component of telecommuting. Long, hard, commutes are not required of the teleworker. Many employees spend an hour or more a day fighting traffic to get to their jobs. Unless you are living under a rock in the countryside, nobody has to tell you about the debilitating effects of the ever increasing traffic. By the time employees arrive at the work site, they are often worn out, ready not to work, but for a break. The stress of the daily commute also adds to company health insurance costs, employee downtime and reduced productivity.

Parking is expensive and often hard to find. Automobile accidents are frequent, costly and disabling. Insurance costs for vehicles are in an upward spiral in most countries. So is automotive maintenance and repair. Of course, the purchase of a car is a major recurring expense too. There is little need for an employee to spend money for gas and oil when teleworking. Public transportation, busses and jeeps are so crowded they are undesirable. Pollution is so bad that many will suffer lung problems from riding the jeeps. Electricity cost for running a computer is negligible and it is clean.

D. Home and Family

Since Filipinos are family oriented, and want to stay at home where their family and friends are, there is no problem in motivating a Filipino to pursue telework. This is especially true of those who have sacrificed to work overseas to support their families while suffering homesickness and often unbearably cold weather. The though of an overseas job for Filipinos and staying home at the same time is so attractive to most Filipinos, it is almost unbelievable.

IV. THE LURE OF TELECOMMUTING FOR EMPLOYERS

A. Lower Rent Cost

Commercial rental space continues to get more expensive each day. When companies want to start up or expand, real estate is one of the first considerations. With most or all employees telecommuting, real estate expenses, a major expense for most companies, can be reduced or kept at a minimum.

B. Lower Benefits Costs

Since it is possible and even usual, most contract workers are employed as independent contractors, responsible for establishing their own benefits plant. They can subscribe to group health and life insurance plans and construct their own retirement plan. This takes a tremendous load off of the employer. Employee relocation allowances born presently by the employer are eliminated in telework. Office parties and other non-work activity no longer have to be an expense borne even partially by the employer. There are no workers compensation claims associated with contract teleworkers.

C. Administrative Expenses and Employee Relations

Expensive record keeping required by all too numerous government agencies is greatly reduced, telecommuting. Not only does and employer not have to pay for benefits, but do they have to pay the cost to administer them. The personnel and other support services offices can be reduced in size and scope.

D. Discrimination and Sexual Harassment

Illegal employment discrimination becomes less of an employer’s concern. The chance of discrimination because of race, color, creed, sex, age, physical disability or national origin is certainly minimized when no on can determine those non merit factors when dealing with an employee. Of course, sexual harassment will diminish with employees working remotely from other employees and supervisors.

Employers will benefit substantially from the independent contractor status of their workforce in reductions if force. Independent contractors will not be entitled to unemployment insurance and contracts can be terminated at the will of the employer, without the necessity to provide the contractor a reason. This is of great appeal to the employer. As a former professional personnel manager, I know that most employers in the U.S. are afraid to terminate an employee. They know of the possible lawsuits and grievances that will more than likely result, even in cases where there is little doubt that the employee should be terminated. Although telework looks like safe haven if not a paradise for the employer, it provides many incentives to the employee too. And the haven may not be bullet proof. The Labor Party of Great Britain website indicates possible legislation to protect the teleworker. The website is http://www.labour.org.uk says:

With the increase in teleworking and out-of-the-office communication, a new code of employment practice for teleworkers will need to be developed.

C. Increased Employee Productivity

Numerous studies prove that employees produce more when working at home. It is important that the employers structure the work so it can be measured and only pay for what they get. Self motivated employees succeed. Others will fail.

V. TELEWORK IN THE PHILIPPINES SETTING

A. Reducing Unemployment

The chronic employment of the masses is and has been the most consuming problem of the Philippines for years. The Country has been sending labor out to foreign countries for decades, often losing its most valuable citizens to other nations. Now the opportunity exist, through the auspices of the Internet to keep these valuable resources at home, and only export a part of their labor.

B. Increased Tax Collection

The Philippine Government can set up a system of deposits for teleworkers. Foreign companies don’t like international bank transfers. They would prefer to pay into a US Bank account. The Philippine Government can make those available and impose necessary withholding taxes. The Government too, will benefit directly from telecommuting from better tax collection and more income.

B. English, the Lingua Franca of the Internet and the Filipino’s Edge

Since the Filipino usually speaks English, the language of the Internet and international business, he/she is uniquely situated to take advantage of telework opportunities. There are many educated English speaking, industrious potential employees who are either under employed or unemployed. Strong emphasis should be placed on English skills, because without them Filipinos are doomed to failure in the international market.

B. OCW Abuses

Another issue that has been a concern of the Government and the people of the Philippines is abuse of overseas contract workers. The problem would virtually cease should a telework program be successful.

C. Vehicular Traffic, Accidents, Pollution and Oil Consumption

The Philippines has one of the most congested traffic situations in Asia. As it copes with the even more rapid development it needs to become another “Asian Tiger”, it will get worse, not better. Telework can help less not only the pollution but dependence on the mostly imported oil that causes it. Should telework be fully implemented if could reduce the need for more expensive highways and fly-over. The money from not having to construct one fly-over because of traffic reduction due to teleworking employees, would pay for a lot of computers and Internet access too.

VI. Marketing the Filipino as a Teleworker

A. Availability of Jobs

A recent post on an European Telework group said:

Telecottages will have to drive a wedge into the employment market.

Most employers are not searching for employees to telework. Teleworkers are not presently in great demand. Telework is the work of the future, however, and those who position themselves now, will be the ones to benefit from this new employment opportunity.

Should a program be implemented it is incumbent on the Filipino worker and the Philippine Government to drive that wedge. Presently in the United States there are 11 million teleworkers and by the year 2000 it is estimated there will be 55 million. Even it this estimate is far off, the future opportunities are enormous.

Of course, since telework is performed by only 11 million people in the US out of about 80 million employees, telecommuting is not the first thing to come to and employers mind. Employers have to be sold on telecommuting still. Strategies can and must be developed to do this. The product, telecommuting, has so many fine sales points that this will not be hard to do. But it must be done and applied in an organized fashion by a central source and applied at all level of the employment search process.

VII. How to get Jobs for Filipinos as TelEworkers

A. Resume Posting

There are 11,000 job sites on the Internet. Most of these jobs allow the posting of resumes. With the magic of Internet mail programs one can a resume in these 11,000 sites in seconds. But, it is not enough to post resumes. Since most employers are not actively seeking teleworkers, more a more agressive job search is needed. It is, however, important to use these sites. When a Filipino posts a resume, it says to the world, “Look at the Philippines. They have an employment presence on the Net. The are competing for jobs internationally. We want employers to think “Philippines” when thinking of teleworking employees. As telework is a just emerging as an employment option, Filipinos must be visible from the start to position themselves as net ready and available for telecommuting jobs. Posting resumes is just one of the many ways to position the Philippines in the mind of international employees as a source of teleworkers. Unfortunately most will have no success from a posted application. A majority of jobs are filled by word of mouth not by posting resumes. There are several more important ways Filipinos can involve themselves in word of mouth efforts internationally.

B. Pinoys on the Web

Fortunately, because of the pioneering work of many early Filipino netizens, there is an existing database that contains hundreds of Filipinos working overseas as well as here in the Philippines. This database is called Pinoys on the Web, and contains data including the e-mail address of hundreds of Filipinos who have Net access. This is a fast growing list with new listings added daily. A marketing strategy needs to be developed to encourage those on the list to promote the Filipino as a teleworking employee to overseas employers. This can be a fertile source of employment opportunities for local Filipinos through their kababayan’s working in other countries.

C.Networking through Mailing Lists and Newsgroups (Accessing the hidden job market)

Internet Mailing lists provide networking opportunities. It is another way to access the hidden job market. Close long term friends can be made fast because when you discover someone on a mailing list of special interest to you. You and they already have at least one substantial interest in common by virtue of belonging to the same list. More often that not, there you find that you hold other interests in common.

These lists are not unlike private clubs, and some are, in fact, closed to the general public, reserved for members of a certain profession. Or, membership may be cut off after a certain number join.

A quote from The Natural Life Cycle of Mailing Lists says that in the initial stage of a list “People introduce themselves, and gush a lot about how wonderful it is to find kindred souls.” People are happy to find people with like interest and quickly bring them into their circle of close friends. This happens even though they have never met in person, and may they may be living thousands of miles apart, as they are only seconds away by e-mail. The degree of empathy, understanding and closeness that can develop on these mailing lists and in off list exchanges is astounding. Emotions on mailing lists can run as high as in close families. Marriages have been made and small wars have been fought. Participation on these lists can make a job seeker known to key people all over the world in a very short period of time. The “good old boys” network has been replaced by these mailing list. The only ones who are excluded now are those who do not have access the Lists or those who do, but chose not to participate in the list. Establishing rapport with others on these lists that are in a position to help access employment opportunities is essential to success for teleworkers. Mailing list is an excellent place to show and sell a teleworkers skills. Since there are 25,000 of these lists concerned with every imaginable interest; there is something for everyone.

Many lists are devoted to occupations. They can be invaluable as employment opportunities. For example, I belong to a mailing list of biofeedback professionals, mostly psychologists, nurses, and sports medicine practitioners and a few lurkers. (Lurkers are those who “listen in” but don’t openly participate in discussions.) I post frequently on the mailing list, asking for information, sharing what I have, and I am careful to thank those who provide information to me. From this list, members have sent to me free biofeedback equipment worth hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars. But more importantly, they have provided me with an extensive education in biofeedback and contacts all over the world. I exchange greeting cards with many of the list members and I consider some as close friends, though we have never met. While I am not seeking a job as a biofeedback professional, I know that I would be offered one if I sought it. Sitting here in the Philippines and entering the list as a comparative novice, I have established myself as a player in the area of biofeedback. And any one could have done the same thing in any occupational area where they have interest and just a little skill.

True, biofeedback does not lend itself to telecommuting any more than carpentry. I only use this as an example. Had I been interested in desktop publishing, computer programming, graphic art, journalism, sales or any another type of work that could be performed by telecommuting, I feel quite sure I would already have had job offers by now, in those fields.

Just recently, I saw a posting on a list called International Trade. A U.S. company introduced itself as one who helps students get in to U.S. universities. After some discussion with one of the owners of the company, I was offered a “partnership.” This company is providing me with business cards and stationary, a web page with maintenance by their web page designer, providing mailing materials and other marketing support and guidance to me in marketing their services in the Philippines. I was not looking for a job. I only have a friend who’s daughter is having problems getting into a university in the US she wants to attend. My commission is substantial as are the prices of their services. I hope to quickly turn the job over to someone else here, who will have more interest in it than I do. And this job came about not as a result of a resume posting, but because of conversations with another list member.

It is important for Filipino teleworkers to become involved in these lists/newsgroups. Besides being educational and fun, they are the employment network of the Internet. Aggressive teleworkers will use these lists wisely to succeed in their employment search. Finally, the hidden job market is open up to all with Internet access. Others are denied. It is important that Filipinos seeking telework join and participate.

The Newsgroup, alt.soc.filippino is also another way of enlisting support from Filipinos overseas to assist in telework search efforts. Everything said about Mailing Lists applies equally to Newsgroups. There are 25,000 of them.

D. Signatures

Every time someone writes an e-mail message they have the opportunity to include a signature block. The signature block can include a message that sells your teleworking services. This is a common practice and should be used at every opportunity by every teleworker.

E. Spam

“Spam” is intrusive advertising and is a very controversial way selling. People hate spam but it works. It consists of “off topic” advertisements to a mailing list or news group or sending unsolicited advertisements. It is easy to get millions of exposures for very little money, and advertisers dream. But you incur the wrath of those who are not interested in getting your advertisements right in the middle of their conversations about something else. Spam is rude. If spam is used, it must be carefully thought out, and use very sparingly so as to disrupt as few as possible. Spam cannot be allowed to injure the reputation of the Filipino teleworker. A firm policy on spam must be made and enforced.

F. Temporary Employment Agencies

A rather aggressive strategy for marketing Filipino telecommuters is to contract with a large established international employment agency like Kelly Services, to take on this task. Kelly or others might be interested, after seeing a list of Filipinos available and their qualifications, in marketing their telework services. If international agencies are not interested to the extent they will not even do a pilot program, it will be incumbent on the Philippine Government to initiate the marketing program. But, a strong presentation to a major temporary employment company might relieve the Government of much of this task, and kick start the project.

G. Job Search Procedures

When a telecommuting candidate is selected there needs to be a procedure for him/her to follow to advertise him/herself. The occupation having determined, postings to certain Internet areas will be basically the same for every candidate in an occupational group. Some planning and pilot work needs to be done to determine the best places to post for each occupation.

H. Special Tactics

One interesting special tactic for finding telecommuting jobs posted on the European Telecommuting Marketing List was:

Ben Fairweather wrote:

>>>My thought is that newspapers like to run advertising specials from time-to-time. If a newspaper can be persuaded to run such a special for teleworking opportunities, then they will also have an incentive to contact potential employers of teleworkers to solicit ads. European Telework Week looks like a decent 'hook' on which to hang such an advertising feature

<<< Also, the following post from a seasoned teleworker graphically illustrates the need for a teleworker or teleworker’s agent to aggressively pursue work.

From Kari Burns, European Telework List says:

Show companies how much they can save by contracting out. Even in America only a handful of employers, allow a few employees telework, the number is increasing but the opportunities are few and far between. They primarily exist for employees that have already been with companies for a long time.

Contracting out can be so much better any way. You can charge a much higher hourly rate and the employer is still saving. Contract and subcontract with small companies other and other teleworkers. Support cottage industry. You are saving on overhead and your clients ultimately benefit.

Put together impressive looking portfolios, make your talents work for you and sell yourself.

Initially, I spent years waiting for the government agency I worked for to give me teleworking options. They promised them for 7 years but they never came through. I tried desperately to find other companies that would hire me as a teleworker with no luck. I was quite amazed at how easy it was getting contracts and business once I finally hung out my cybershingle.

I guess I should clarify "easy". I probably spend 60 hours a week tracking leads and 40 hours a week working for which I
probably bill for 10-20 of them to clients (with luck). My billed hours I bill $50.00 but as you can see by the above I really do give more time than I bill for.

We spent years looking for better job opportunities,sending out hundreds of resumes/cv, applications etc every week. Relatively speaking, finding contracts was much easier than inding jobs.

I. Search Programs

In addition to the 11,000 job sites on the Internet, there are two interesting search programs that can help find jobs. Reference.Com and the Vigilant Information Filter both allow one to search news groups for keywords. By using “telecommuting” + “desktop-publishing” you can search for jobs in desktop publishing that might not otherwise be posted. Creative utilization of these programs will bring results in the form of job postings from newsgroups.

J. Marketing Agents

A group of people can be trained in the most sophisticated of the Internet research skill. They can act as agents for those who don’t have the time or expertise to search for jobs themselves. Since job search for teleworkers is continuous, because their jobs tend to be temporary, this option deserves strong consideration.

VIII. The Value of a Filipino in the Telework Market

A. Wage Rates

To compete successfully in the international job market, Filipinos must be price competitive. One of the most important incentives for employers to contract out by telework is getting employees at bargain rates. Because of the lower cost of living here in the Philippines it is possible for a teleworker here to offer lower rates than those from countries where the cost of living is much higher. Certainly the Filipino worker should exploit this obvious advantage by offering services at a lower rate, at least in the development stages of the telework relationship. Should the employer be satisfied with the performance of the contract, it would may be appropriate to negotiate contracts at a higher fee/wages, as long as the work remains internationally competitive.

And internationally competitive means there is a lot of money to be made. I asked a 16 teleworkers how much the were billing per hour. Prices varied from a low of $35 for one desktop publisher a marketing consultant who charged $1,500 per consultation. Average per hour billing was $78.85. It would not be hard for the residents of the Philippines to come in with bids below that hourly wage. When one looks at the fees they teleworkers are charging, understanding that in their countries it is not really too high, it can be understood if they have to search a bit for work. Even if the results of this small survey is skewed, it is an indication of the kind of money that can be made in telework.

B. Cultural Adaptability

Not only have many Filipinos been to other countries, they have worked in them. There is no more well traveled worker in the world and the Filipino’s adaptability will help make his/her teleworking skills more marketable.

C. English Abilities

Without the ability to speak English telework would not be an option. Continued emphasis on English a strong second language is required for success in the Country’s teleworking efforts.

D. Educational Level

The Philippines is a nation of highly educated people. Telework is a way to put that education to use, while the local job market develops. And, with the availability of this new world market, telework can be an end in itself, bringing in income to the individual ant to the Country.

IX. Kinds of Jobs Available

A. Computer Jobs

The first kind of jobs that come to mind are computer jobs. They are hard to fill and can many can be done by telecommuting. They must be the initial focus, at least until the supply of existing candidates is near exhaustion. The Philippines has already made some inroads in the area of software development, but India has been positioned as the leader in that lucrative area. Efforts must be directed to the Philippines becoming the leader in software development and web page creation. Filipinos have already shown that they excel in web page design. Maybe this is because of Filipino’s understanding of western marketing strategies, and the availability of so many quality artists and writers. As chat and conferencing are added to web pages, Filipino sales people can fill those jobs as representatives of international companies right from their barangays.

B. Sales Jobs

Sales jobs are so important that it deserves to be addressed in a special way. Salary surveys consistently show that sales jobs pay more than any other profession in the United States and probably in other countries too, including the Philippines. Many of these jobs can be performed by telecommuting. When I was a commissioned stockbroker in the United States I never saw a customer though I dealt in sales of hundreds of thousand dollars. I, as most other stockbrokers, sold exclusively by telephone. It was all telework from the employers office, because we did not have computer terminals with stock quotations at home then.

As Internet service providers move into telephone services, it will be very inexpensive for a Filipino to sell stock or other products and services to folks all over the world.

Below is a response from a “self improvement counselor” who uses Internet Phone in his business to talk to customers:

Well, Don,

It's a system I devised to rapidly zero in on the ways people
lower or raise their reality-based self-esteem. They phone me and, quite often (not always), they receive a degree of serious help they never enjoyed before. For example, one businessman had seen 5 separate psychologists and was in danger of losing his volunteer job when he tried me out. After a few months of work, his ability to be productive increased, his passive hostility seemed under control (with regularmonitoring), and he converted his volunteer job with an entrepreneurial startup into one paying him $12,000/month!

Because my system does not always work, I screen out people during the first coaching session (which is free). If we both want to work together, they pay nothing for this work until a full 30 days has gone by. Then, if they are satisfied with what has happened, we talk money. If not, we part as friends.

If you use an ISP with asynchronous transfer mode, then it
becomes possible to use Internet Phone 4.0 for good transmission of voice over the Internet. (bold and italics, author)

best regards,
Mike Rael, MS, instructional technology

All over the world Filipinos have excelled in marketing, as all it takes is hard work, determination and persistence. In my opinion, Filipinos have more opportunity in the area of selling on the Internet, in the long run, than they do in any other area of employment.

Recently, the massive multilevel marketer Amway started operations in the Philippines. Postings came in my personnel mail and on mailing lists and news groups I was reading. US Amway multilevel marketers were using the Internet to recruit. I understand they have done very will. If Filipinos had been Internet ready and marketing conditioned, they would have had the market all to themselves. In this new world economy with tariff reductions that allow the free flow of goods and services, it is best to be prepared for the many similar future opportunities that are bound to present themselves.

Research shows that hundreds of thousands have been recruited as multilevel marketers, probably the most active group on the Internet, in sales.

Here are a couple of recent postings that are becoming more and more frequent.

From the “International Business” mailing list: We're currently conducting a market research project on some specific markets in Asia, and we'd like to contract some of this work out to individuals in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.

This project would include phone interviews with industry representatives. If any market researchers in these countries are interested, please contact me directly. Also, if anybody knows of some individuals who might be interested, please email their names and fax numbers and I'll contact them if appropriate. (I don’t know why the Philippines is not included here; Author)

From the “BizOpps” list:
From: "Easycom" <easycom@aha.ru>

Subject: Wanted: Telecom Sales Agents Worldwide

We offer high quality International Phone Services, including Virtual Offices.

Easycom International, Inc.
Phone/fax: 1(801)434-0141
--------------------------------------

C. New Jobs Created by Internet

At least two new occupations have been created as a result of the Internet and many of these can be performed by teleworkers. These jobs are Web Page Designers and Help Desk Operators. These two jobs presently employ many teleworkers and should be target jobs for Filipinos. There are also web site information servers, “knowbots”, others that must be accessed as telework opportunities.

D. Consultants, Tutors and Schools.

Of course anyone who know a little more than anyone else can be a consultant. Maybe an auto mechanic cannot fix someone car on the Internet, but he/she can advise someone how to do it themselves. In many developing countries, do it your self projects are very popular. The price of labor makes repairs to and up keep of anything very expensive. Also, many get a feeling of accomplishment when they do it themselves. On line advice in anything from gardening to marriage counseling has a place as employment opportunities for Filipinos who are qualified to assist.

Tutors are paid from $12 to $40 per hour in the more economically developed countries. Math and language tutors are always in demand. Spanish is a language of particular interest and there are Spanish teachers here in the Philippines whose Internet rates could be very attractive. English tutors are presently advertising on the e-mail list to help list members, many of whom are from non English speaking countries, with their e-mail and other business communications. With the advent of Internet Telephony that can provide cheap group and pair conferencing, the possibility of telephonic language lessons is now wide open.

Math, science and tutors in other “hard” subjects are in great demand and if qualified Filipinos had the required hard/software and ISP connection they could be working today in these fields and high pay rates.

New universities and schools are being established on the Internet daily. A recent mailing list addressing these schools posted:

Welcome to EDU-ONLINE:

If you are currently involved in delivering distance education via the Internet, or plan to do so within the coming year, we invite you to participate in EDU-ONLINE, a discussion group dedicated to issues pertaining to Distance Education via the Internet.

Education is much more expensive in most overseas countries than here in the Philippines. There is no reason the Philippines should not be establishing on-line Internet, degree granting schools, now. Here is easy to hire teachers and compete in this new market. There is no country in the world better positioned to do so because of the high quality teachers that are available and their competitive rates. Existing schools are already in an excellent position to compete on a globally.

F. Other Jobs
The web page at http://www.tjobs.com has a reasonably good listing of the kinds of telework occupations that businesses are recruiting for now. Additionally, a through search of employing government’s labor departments needs to be made to determine what jobs can be done by telecommuting and also fall in the hard to fill category.

X The Next Step

There is not doubt that the opportunities for employment using the Internet will provide a huge source of employment for countries that are competitive in the labor market in both quality and price. Countries who position themselves as “teleworking countries” will get the most jobs and the best paying jobs.

Jobs exist now that can be performed by qualified, unemployed Filipinos as teleworkers. Internet access is limited here in the Philippines. But access is sufficient to start a program putting at least some of the most highly qualified employees who are unemployed to work after a short training period. Teleworking “agents” can train in job search techniques, and self promotion of the worker. They can initially be the primary job searchers too.

A program needs to be designed and implemented to accomplish this as soon as possible. The importance to being first to position yourself or your business can not be overstated. Just because employers are not actively recruiting teleworkers from outside their companies at the moment, does not mean they are not buying services akin to telework now, from the Internet. And there is no doubt that should an employer find a highly qualified Filipino who can accomplish the work by telecommuting, that the employer would avail him/herself of the opportunity to employ/contract.

Now is the time to position the Philippines as an IT nation and an important player in not just software development, but all jobs that can be performed by telework. There is no need to wait for better infrastructure. The infrastructure presently in existence is not being utilized to accomplish the massive amounts of telework of which the nation is already capable.

To achieve success in this with this emerging technology it is necessary to be proactive. Today there is an opportunity to act rather only react. It will not last forever. Teleworking job opportunities and the money made by Filipino teleworkers can be the most important measure of progress for Net21. And Net21 will be a measure of the progress of the Philippines.

Outsourcing boom creates worker shortage

India`s outsourcing boom has created a chronic shortage of skilled workers, threatening to send future jobs to competitors like China and the Philippines.

ABC reports call centers and outsourcing firms are growing fast, but their HR departments say because of the shortage, many young Indians they interview are unemployable mainly because of their poor English.

A Bombay-based call center manager showed a letter written by an employee that said: 'I am in well here and hope you are also in the same well.'

The report said India`s outsourcing industry employs about 350,000 people but will face a shortfall of 500,000 workers in the next few years, a study by by McKinsey & Co. says.

'If the industry has to go on paying higher and higher salaries to retain the staff it has, costs will rise and India will lose its biggest advantage -- cheap labor,' said Saurabh Wig, a former call center sales manager.

The problem with the skilled worker shortage in the second-most populous nation in the world is not quantity but quality, the report said. Many of the 3.6 million graduates churned out every year by Indian universities are considered mediocre, the report said.