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Hiring a helper without an agency?

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keating19
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Hiring a helper without an agency?

Post by keating19 » Sun, 21 Aug 2011 9:25 pm

The whole process of hiring a helper very confusing to us and we want to make sure we don't get ourselves into a messy situation. We have been in touch with an agency but things have been very slow moving and we haven't been overly impressed with the recommendations they have sent our way. All of the biodatas that were sent to us were for women currently in the Philippines. We chose someone somewhat blindly since we were only able to talk to her for a few minutes on the phone and paid a deposit towards the agency fees. A few days later, the agency notified us that in looking further into her employment record she had something crazy like 7 employers in 2 years... Definitely a red flag so we said we would like to keep looking. We appreciated the agency letting us know but we are a bit concerned they didn't figure that out before we had said we would hire her. At this point, we have requested information on transfer maids. We would like the opportunity to meet someone in person before hiring them. Things continue to be slow moving and the agency seems to keep offering bios of women overseas. Any thoughts on why they might want us to hire someone who is not currently here?
Today while we were out shopping we met a really nice woman who was great with our kids. She asked if we had a helper and would like to recommend a good friend of hers that is currently in the Philippines and hoping to get back to Singapore. With how great this woman was, I would think a good friend of hers might be a good match for us. Is that a potentially messy route to go? Is it better to only go through an agency? Could the agency we have been working with help us with the process of hiring someone "random" like that or are people committed to specific agencies or no agencies? This is such a confusing system to work through so any words of wisdom are greatly appreciated!

Sonar
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Post by Sonar » Mon, 22 Aug 2011 7:13 pm

You can definitely hire without using an agency. I did it. My situation was different, because I hired someone I already knew, and she didn't come direct from the Philippines.

So, I don't know about the Philippines end of things, but at the Singapore end, its actually quite easy, and you can probably do it online.

I suppose the other option is to give all the persons information to the agency and get them to do all the processing.

It may be easier, but it will cost your helper a lot of money in agency fees.

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ecureilx
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Post by ecureilx » Tue, 23 Aug 2011 3:12 pm

if she is filipina, and if she is here, on transfer maid status, then you can breeze through, but, when she goes home for holiday, she will be subject to a lot of pain, for POEA / OFW works. .

You can do the same on your own, but with the maid cartel ensuring that the Philippine end is tighter than .. whatever, it is tough.

Indonesian maids, on the other hand are less trouble, and so are the Myanmar maids ..

You can always negotiate with an agency to breeze the paperwork through, if you have identified the candidate ... then the agents charge you about 300$ for the paperwork, getting the proper approvals etc..

and for the 7 employer in 2 years, don't blame the maid .. I know a couple of employers who have been switching maids every three 3 months or so till MOM blocked them from no new maids .. and like those in employment, sometimes the employee is unlucky .. like if the employers tend to move out of Singapore ..

If she has been bad, she will not have a job here .. for a start .. one of the 7 would have blacklisted her out .. trust me ..

cheers

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