Since I was just involved in a small way with someone running afoul of Philippine Immigration regulations I though I ought to post some more clarification on this … there never seems to be any lack of self-styled information on this subject, but there is always a lot of information that is partially or totally incorrect.  Mine comes from official sources at the time of writing … updated 10 March 2010.

Do you need a visa to visit as a tourist?  Simple question, two different answers depending on your answer to this question … are you planning to stay longer than 21 days in the Philippines.  (you count this from the first full day you are in the Philippines, that is the calendar day after the calendar your plane arrives to the calendar day your outbound plane lifts off the ground.)   21 full days or less?  No visa required.  22 days or more, visa required.  Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it, yet more people seem to have a problem with this simple rule than anything else I can think of with traveling to the Philippines.

One reason I suppose this is often confused is that it is not always routinely applied.  The persons I mentioned at the beginning of the article arrive here on US passports for an actual 22 day stay.  They should have gotten a visa, both by law and for a very practical consideration …. cost … but 90% percent of the Americans I’ve dealt with on these issues just travel onward, expecting the lovely blue US passport to heal all wounds.

By law these ladies’ airline should have refused them boarding … the airlines use a database called Timatic which keeps track of all these immigration and documentation niceties) and it is very commonly for ‘name brand’ airline to deny boarding in these cases … since they can be heavily fined by the Philippine government for failing to comply with the law.

However, like many things I write about here, it didn’t happen the ‘book’ way … they both got on the airplane, landed at NAIA and met two separate Immigration Officers.  One stamped the first lady’s passport with a visa waiver that expired March 8. 2008.  I have no idea where he got that date from.  The second lady had her passport stamped with a visa waiver expiring(correctly, according to the law) on 30 January 2008, exactly 21 full days of presence allowed.

Again, why different?  Why are certain regulations followed while others don’t seem to be?  Why do different airlines seem to have different ways of applying the rules?  I can not answer these questions.  I can only report on what the law says and on what happens to people in particular situations.

Since both ladies were leaving together on the 31st of January … 22 days after arrival, they were concerned when this matter came up.  So I drove both of them to the closest Bureau of Immigration office for a ‘reading’ on their status.

Person one … with the strange expiration date in March?

“AOK, you need nothing, just leave on Jan 31st and enjoy your stay.”

Person two, with the correctly dated stamp expiring one day before her flight.

“You will be fined for overstaying if you wait until 31 Jan … better fill up this form and purchase a 30 day extension (the shortest one sold) for 3,800 pesos while you are here.”

So that’s what we did.  And all was well.  All would have been just as well, if not better, though, had they ladies done their home work.  If you are staying longer than 21 days … even ‘just one day’, then you need a visa.

If you are wanting to avoid getting a visa, easy, just select your arrival and departure dates that are 21 days or less apart … seems simple enough to me.

I want to stay longer, is it hard to get a tourist visa?

Nope, it is absolutely simple.  Where you get one depends upon where you live in the US>  See this page to tell you the embassy or consulate to use and download and fill up this tourist visa application form to apply.

You send the form, a 2×2 ID picture, your US passport and the fee of $30 USD and a USPS Express Mail envelope addresses back to you in a USPS (post office) Express mail envelope and in a few days you’ll have your passport complete with visa … nor visa waiver … stamped inside.

photo credit: Daquella manera

That gives you 59 days in the Philippines.  If you want to stay longer, you can renew for two months at a time for at least a year.  Do not by the more expensive multi-entry visas unless you are planning to come and go from the Philippines.  All the tourist visas grant 59 days per stay or until renewal … the cheapest single entry is the best.

Now, to wind this up I hear the question coming from many people already … why not come on the 21 day visa waiver program and then extend as your friend, person two, did. Dave?

Answer, there is no reason you can not do this … aside from the fact you are the person who will know that you are violating the laws of the Philippines by doing so, intentionally.  But in 8 years I have never heard of anyone having a problem in extending their 21 day Visa Waiver stamp.  I am not your lawyer nor your conscience.

I will note this, from the schedule of fees to get a tourist visa issued in advance:

FEES:
US $ 30.00 for single entry visa valid for three (3) months
US $ 60.00 for multiple entry visa valid for six (6) months
US $ 90.00 for multiple entry visa valid for twelve (12) months
(For each entry, a visa is usually good for an initial stay of 59 days)
PAYMENTS MUST BE MADE IN CASH, POSTAL MONEY ORDER, BANK DRAFT, OR CASHIER’S CHECK ONLY. PERSONAL CHECKS ARE NOT ACCEPTED.

And these fees from the schedule of fees for renewing tourist visa waivers and tourist visas:

TOURIST (NON-RESTRICTED) ADMITTED INITIALLY FOR 21 DAYS MAY BE EXTENDED FOR ANOTHER 38 DAYS

Visa Waiver Application Fee P1,000.00

Visa Waiver  P   500.00

LRF  P     30.00

Express lane fee P   500.00

Add it all up and it comes out to right at $50 USD at today’s exchange rate … so since even a 10 peso overcharge is a big thing to a lot of visitors, tell me why you think it’s smarter to ’skirt’ the law if not out an out breaking it, pay nearly twice as much and lose at least a day of your vacation wearing shoes and long pants (you know you can’t go in shorts and sandals, don’t you?) at the Bureau of Immigration.

Myself, when the legal way is also the easiest and cheapest way, the choice seems clear.   YMMV.

There’s more on the subject of Philippine Visas and Philippine Visa Waivers here.

All information contained in this article and the entire website is personal opinion/experience only.  If you need legal advice, seek it from a competent practitioner.

As I recently posted, yet again, in spite of all the really important issues you need to decide upon for yourself, the number one questions on virtually everyone’s mind is “Cost of Living in the Philippines.”

I’ve lately seen many articles on this subject, in addition to noticing, last time I checked, that several more sites have stolen one or more of my more noteworthy articles on this subject …

(if you are ignorant and lazy then you might be relying on the saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery … but my take on the subject is thievery will get you rich quick, if it doesn’t get you a midnight visit from someone you don’t want to meet  …  steal if you wish, at your own risk … you know who you individual ass warts are)

…. anyway, the real question on so many minds these days seems to be, can you live in the Philippines for $88 USD per month, or for $770 USD per month, or for $500 USD per month, or pick a number, as low as you want to go.

My answer, without equivocation is YES.  Yes you can.  So that’s about it for this post, more news tomorrow.

Oh, did that answer seem a little short and not explanatory enough?

OK then, here are the truths behind that ‘yes’.

There are roughly 100,000,000 (that is 100 million) Filipinos in this country as I write this.  90,000,000 plus at the last official figure.  That’s a lot of Filipinos, dude, by anyone’s yardstick.  According to the last official figures from impartial agencies, the average Filipino lives on less than $300 per month.  So you can too.

The question you have to face, as Dirty Harry once put so eloquently is, “Do you feel lucky”?  Well, do ya?

I do not.  I don’t really know how I would live on $300 USD a month here in the Philippines … I’m pretty sure the short answer is “poorly”.  I also am pretty sure that after a month or so I would weigh a heck of al;ot less than I do know.  The heck with South Beach, poverty is the most assured diet we know of.

There are a number of articles on-line readily available if you search for something like ‘Live in the Philippines for $500′ or something similar.  Originally I was going to review several of them.  Then I decided that there were too many in the list, and the good ones wouldn’t benefit from my review while the bad ones didn’t deserve to learn their mistakes from me … so let’s build a budget from the ground up and dispel or explain a few ‘truisms’ that aren’t always true in the process.

Assumptions: First of all, who are we building this budget for?  In my case I say a single foreigner in reasonably good health, aged, 40 or 50 something.  Or sample budget subject does not have an exception expenses such as required daily maintenance drugs, and is not severely addicted to anything stronger than beer or cigarettes.  He or she does not know any language except English and does know basic cooking/housekeeping to the extent s/he can take care of him or herself with simple tasks like cooking meals, doing laundry and figuring out how to put a new roll of paper onto the bathroom tissue spool.

Basics: Given the single foreigner status there are only two common ways or sample person can stay in the Philippines.  Either by continually renewing a tourist visa or tourist visa waiver, (and also leaving the country once every 16 months or so), or if qualified by age and income, obtaining an SRRV (Special Resident Retirement Visa).  I’ve talked about both these programs many times in the past, so I am not going into detail here, except to say you need to budget about $50 a month to keep yourself current in either program.

This is a good place to mention the place you are going to live, also.  A great many articles and opinions circulate every day, many to the effect that “It costs a lot to live in Manila and it’s always cheaper to live in the Provinces.”

Based on personal experience I would say that statement is sometimes close to correct but it can also be very misleading.  here’s some thoughts before you rush to judgement.

photo credit: Trishhhh

One of the very first things you are going to have to consider … and one of the larger items in your monthly budget … is going to be your accommodations … the place you will call home.  We of course are going to be confining ourselves to rental property for the purposes of this study, I don’t know any way you are going to buy a house in the Philippines on a budget like we envision, so I’ll leave that task to someone with more imagination than I have.

In general rental property in Manila will cost you more than rental property in smaller major cities such as Cebu, Davao City, etc.  And property in those secondary cities is likely to cost more than in lesser cities, farther down in the size hierarchy.  That essentially only follows the law of common sense or supply and demand.

However, the supply of rental property is in an inverse ratio to the size of the city.  The Philippines is not at all like the US where you can go to a town of moderate size and find accommodations like apartment complexes or even trailer parks where rent is cheap.  The smaller the city, the lesser your chances of finding suitable accommodations.

Also, the farther you get from major cities, the tougher it is to find things you need.  While fresh produce and meat “off the farm” may be quite cheap, the costs for even local Filipino branded products is liable to cost as much or more as in the big city .. and if you want, say, a tetra pack of milk and there is only one store in town who sells it, you are going to pay the price.

Larger cities also have much better transport possibilities, especially on their suburbs.  Where I live, 5 miles or so from the actual political border of Metro Manila, I can walk outside my house and wave and a tricycle will swoop up and take me anywhere in town for 60 cents or so, I can walk 2 short blocks to the Jeep route and ride to the LRT station in Quezon City for 50 cents, 24-7, I can flag down a car service (FX) van passing and ride into the city with air conditioning for 90 cents, I can text on my phone for a radio cab and be taken to a Manila location for $5  or$8 bucks, etc., etc.

In provincial towns only a few miles farther out my choices are “shank’s mare” (Google is your friend), a few tricycles in the day time, Jeepneys at certain hours only, or standing by the side of the National Road waiting gor a Philippine Rabbit or Victory Liner bus to appear out of the haze.

There are a lot of reasons to live well outside Manila and a lot of reasons it may not be so wise … and for a foreigner, for at least your first few years of ‘teething time’ here in the Philippines, I recommend sticking closer to Manila rather than farther away.

More budgeting in my next post, I see I am already over 1,000 words and that’s a strain for many who are in a hurry to read at one sitting.

Time and time again I meet people, or get emails from people, with questions about living in the Philippines.  Without a doubt, the most frequent question I hear … the favorite by at least 10 to 1 odds … is “How much does it cost to live there”?

You’ll also see, if you look on-line, something like 4,870,000 other websites that mention “cost of living, Philippines.”

For a great many reasons, cost of living is one of the least important questions for you to consider.  Unless you are thinking about moving to the Philippines from the Sudan or from Biafra, they cost of living here is, overall less than where you live now.  Unquestionably.  But here’s an article with a great many issues aside from costs regarding moving to the Philippines that you might want to consider;

According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, approximately 172,000 Brits left their homeland in 2008, with only half leaving for work reasons. The rest were accompanying someone, looking for work or just travelling around, presumably in search of a better life. It’s more difficult to get US figures, as the government measures immigration but curiously, not emigration; a recent UN report* however, states that in 2009 three per cent of the world’s population (200 million) lived in a country other than the one in which they were born. In short, there are a lot of people relocating around the globe.

Be prepared – From the practical to the cerebral, there are lots of things you can anticipate to make your relocation smoother. Expat American Michele Oyen recalls “The biggest hassle of moving for me had to do with banking and credit cards; there are plenty of things I could have done that would have improved my life if I had set up international banking services before I left the US.”

(A note to Americans from the IRS, “If you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien, the rules for filing income, estate, and gift tax returns and paying estimated tax are generally the same whether you are in the United States or abroad. Your worldwide income is subject to U.S. income tax, regardless of where you reside.”)

It helps to read about the culture into which you are heading, even when you think it’s not going to be too different from where you are. Adds Oyen, “The irony is that it never occurred to me to look into advice for expats before I moved–no books, blogs, or any of the other resources available. I’d certainly advise someone to look.” Indeed, with the amount of information readily available on the Web, there’s no excuse these days.

I couldn’t agree more.  In addition, I think far too many people refuse to do enough research “on the ground”.  You can not learn everything you need from blogs or books, nor can you learn all you need to know from being a vacationer in a far off land.

Far too many US folks move here to the Philippines without an adequate cash cushion as well.  It’s going to take thousands and thousands (of dollars, not Pesos) to get yourself set up and functioning here.  if you can’t get that much together before you go, then I suggest you don’t go … this is a bad country to be poor in, I can guarantee you that.

Learn the language – Jo Parfitt, author, publisher, mentor and public speaker advises, “If I were moving to one country and staying there, learning to be fluent in the language would be my number one priority, from this everything else feeds.”

She adds, “I’ve been abroad 22 years and this is my 5th country. I like to work and running my business is where I spend my time. I simply do not have/make the time to learn the language where I live. After 5 countries it is just one thing too many to learn another one. Yet it is my unwillingness to learn the language that is the cause of most of my stress…running a business in another language is very tough. I can’t even read my VAT return. Sure, I can read a menu, understand a train timetable and use public transport. But I can’t read the long words in official documentation and it gets me down. I also do not understand the rules of taxation, allowances and so on and after several countries this is wearing.”…

The popular British blogger Potty Mummy, who has recently moved from London to Moscow, has also found language acquisition to be crucial, especially in a country where the people don’t automatically learn English. She has found that doing the weekly shop, and communicating with taxi drivers, plumbers and school staff is impossible unless you learn the language properly. As someone who relocated from one English-speaking country to another, I would advise making yourself as familiar as possible with the new “language” as confusion and communication failure can still be an everyday occurrence.

Recently my friend Bob posted an article about learning the language here in the Philippines where he used an interesting analogy.

He referred to one of the most frequently heard complaints regarding illegal aliens in the USA … “Those Mexicans coming up across the border don’t even learn English!”

Well what about, say, and American who comes to the Philippines and lives for years and doesn’t learn the language either?  Is he lazy, or even perhaps a bit bastos (rude) and overbearing, expecting the country to change around him, rather than he, himself to change to suit the country?  Don’t plan on living here permanently without factoring in language skills … or so Dave opines.

Visiting home – Australia is the top choice for relocation by Brits. That’s a long way from home and an expensive trip back. I have many friends who relocated there and although they loved the people and the lifestyle, more than a few have gone home because the separation from family was just too much. One friend used to make the 26 hour, multi-stop journey on her own with three sons ages 6, 4 and 18 months. Absolutely exhausting.

Even if you’re not on the other side of the world, trying to schedule meaningful visits home when you’re juggling work and/or school is a challenge, and the expense of flying back often means that people go years before seeing family.

Visiting “home” can often stir up deep feelings of homesickness. As Carla Young, a Chicagoan who lived in England for ten years said, she didn’t anticipate that “every year, when I would return for a month in the summer, I would realize how much I really missed my life here. It was always hard to go back…”. For many years I would return to the States after a summer in England and be completely restless and fed up for about a month.

Much better, in my view, to plan to visit ‘back home’ very infrequently.  I know of many a couple who plan to spend say half the year in the Philippines and half back in the US.  More power to them, if they can put up with this … but if you wanted me to go back to the USA every six months, might as well let me stay there permanently.

Returning home – after several years of living abroad, many expats begin to wonder if they can ever return to their country of origin (repatriation). Questions about whether they can settle back into the lifestyle are common but a surprising factor is whether or not they can afford to go back. Many Brits move abroad for a better (cheaper) lifestyle which may mean that they can’t afford to sell up and buy property in the UK should they want to go back. In addition, the costs of physically moving all your belongings around the world can be truly staggering.

I had a hint of this just recently.  My wife and I ran the numbers in pretty good detail re: buying a home in central Florida and the conclusion is … with my pensions alone we can swing it, but it means 30 more years of debt, my wife perhaps going back to work … worrying about how often we can fill the car each months and so on.  Not for us, we decided.   Remember that once you make the move you may well be in the same boat as well,

Being “on your own” – There will usually be people around you when you relocate, but that doesn’t always make things easy. As American Carla Young says, “For me, the psychological component of having my entire support system across the ocean was the hardest. I was sick over there for more than a year, and not having family around to support me or the kids was extremely stressful.” If you have children, this loneliness can often be compounded by cultural differences.

You will have to deal with this very, very often.  Even though you may have a great many helpful neighbors, none of their ideas and your ideas (especially if you have children) are going to match all the time.  You’ll likely have helpful family as well, but there are times you feel you just need a break from that.

Being the foreigner – for some this is a novelty that never wears off and for others it’s a sign that they’ll never really fit in. I am still often referred to as the Brit, the English woman or “the one with the accent” if they can’t quite figure out what brand of English I speak. One of the joys of being back in England during the summer is the complete anonymity I have. There’s no one peering round the dairy aisle in the supermarket to hear me talking (although three American children tend to draw attention).

Not a single move ou make here in the Philippines is likely to go un noticed.  You will be ‘watched’ all the time, even when you
photo credit: TheTruthAbout…

least expect it … and you will be listened to … especially when you carelessly make comments you would just as soon you didn’t make.  It’s a lot like writing emails or comments online … lose your temper some afternoon and complain about a neighbor and you’ll find you are quoted, verbatim, the next day to people in your neighborhood and even from far away.  If you frequently lose your temper, and if you ‘live’ for sarcasm and ‘putting down’ the other fellow … just in jest, of course … this may not be the place for you to live.

Making new friends – This will be very much up to you. Unless you’re rich and famous, Your arrival will cause little more than a ripple; everyone has their own life and may promise to have you over for dinner or get together for coffee, but you’ll have to make it happen. If you’ve moved from a situation where you had lots of people round you, suddenly only having a spouse and/or family members can be hard for everyone. It’s slightly easier if you go out to work or have small children at school, but it’s important even then to reach out to others to ease the transition.

There are expat social groups all over the globe so if, like me, you occasionally miss listening to British slang, you can usually find some comrades. However, as Brit in Bosnia discovered, “- expats can be really weird. I’m not sure if being a slightly more random country like Bosnia attracts stranger people, but the expats where we are are probably here because they don’t fit in anywhere else… “. (my emphasis) Gulp! Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Sadly, based on personal experience, you will find this is a problem in the Philippines.  There are  agreat many “misfits” here, and sadly, more than a few guys hiding our from child support or other legal issues.  In addition, although in theory I have thousands and thousands of “brothers in arms” from my years serving in the military, in point of fact a great many retired US military I have met here in the Philippines seem to come here only for the purpose of complaining, particularly bitching endlessly about the Filipino family and how the Philippines is ungrateful for the “massive investment” they make here.  Boring and boorish, both.  You will find you have to pick and chose your friends very carefully, and the field for you to choose from will likely not be large.

The familiar – You may find yourself missing silly things like foods, shops, and smells. American Kerry Roe-Ely has been in the UK for about twenty years and says, “For the first couple of years I missed all the junk food in America so my family would send me care packages. When I went home for visits I would make sure I ate all my favourite foods. I missed hearing American accents and would watch Oprah Winfrey just to hear people speak. Every ex-pat I’ve ever met has gone through the same process. At first you’re so excited by all the differences. That wears off after about three months. Then you’re annoyed by all the differences. Then depressed. I would cry every afternoon. Then, eventually, you accept all the differences.”

This is perhaps the biggest reason I made my recent trip back home to the USA.  I love that so many things are different here, but there will come times when you just have to say … enough already, I miss the way we do it at home …

The stress factor – Stress can be a surprising factor in your relocation experience. Anne Naylor,suffered eczema on her eyelids which her Australian doctor quickly described as stress-related and likened it to one’s body going into temporary mourning. A quick Internet search of “expat stress” pulls up many physical, emotional and mental examples of stress-related conditions. Even if you are thrilled at your new habitat, it is still a huge change and you may experience some of the symptoms. …

If you think life can’t be stressful in the Philippines, just as it can be back home, then I have some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you.

In point of fact it can be very much more stressful, especially given that many things (like the mail) just don’t work right.  You need to allow extra time, and you need to limit your expectations regarding what you are going to get done every day or even every week.

To make a long story short?  There are very few countries you can live in where the minimum monthly expense can be as low as you can make it here (if you choose to), but there is much more to think about before you start figuring costs.

Why do people spend 4-5 years at University, but they can’t get a job?

That’s what my friend Brendon say often on his website and in his great article on this subject (how to find a job) which I recommended to you a couple days ago.  You did read it, didn’t you?  If you didn’t, why are you supposedly looking for a job in the Philippines?  Are you willing to learn how to succeed, or are you just waiting for something to fall out of the sky for you?

A few days ago I published part one of this series:  About That Job in the Philippines You Want — Part 1

Here’s how to increase your chances 1000% for getting the job you want.  Follow the principles of marketing.  Marketing you say?  I don’t want a job in marketing, I’m a computer programmer or a diesel engine technician or a hotel manager, I;m no marketer.

Well, that would be your first mistake.  To get yourself a job … especially a job worth having, one that pays the bills, you need to market yourself … no one else will.  There are too many people searching for too few jobs in today’s world, so the difference in who finds a job for themselves and who doesn’t revolves, not around a person’s basic skills, or university degree, or licenses held .. it boils down to how hard that person markets him or herself.  Period.

photo credit: 1Happysnapper (photography)

So.  What is marketing all about?  Actually, for the principles of what we want to do here, it’s not all that difficult.  Here are the steps that will work if you choose to follow them.

Step One: Identify your target market: This should be much easier for you if you read part one of this article.  You are a specialist by now in some sort of business-reelated subject.  If you aren’t, go back and review and self-evaluate yourself until you are.  I would find out all the marketing firms in my area. I would start researching them. I would find out everything I could about them.  Everything.

How can you find firms in the Philippines who might want to make more money for themselves  using your skills?  Easy, you are staring at one of your primary tools.  Every day the newspapers here are full of stories about new companies, expansions to existing companies, even retrenchments and re-alignments of existing business.  All major papers are on-line.  Here’s one or two good places to start:

http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/philippi.htm

http://www.world-newspapers.com/philippines.html

http://www.philstar.com/

There are many more.

Too hard, you say?  “I have no time” (the number one excuse for anything not getting done).  Well time, my friend is what you have in abundance … it’s the only thing you own, that can’t be taken away from you, and it’s the only thing you own that you have an exactly equal share in with every one of us on the planet with you.

Now choosing how you spend that time … ha, as the Bard once said, “There’s the rub.”  Find the time it takes to do your research if you aren’t thinking this job business through as throughly as you might.

Here’s a good up to date review on work  overseas versus job finding in the Philippines … are you ready tp elbow up to the front of the line?

Step 2: Identify what my target market wants: I’ll use my own experience here.  What do I want for my business?  What I want in my business comes down to this: I want to make more money!

Everyone wants to make more money.  If you meet a businessperson who doesn’t want more money, I would shun them … they aren’t destined to stay in business very long.

Let me give you a recent example … one from a recent commenter who may be on a good track to find a job here in the Philippines.  The gentleman first wrote and basically said, “are there any jobs”?  Well, I think you pretty much know the answer to that.

But then, in further communication, the reader just happened to mention, almost in passing, that he was experienced in training people in special construction skills.

Now you are talking.  What can make a businessman more money?  Paying yet another guy to do manual labor … especially one who doesn’t even know the language … or setting up a resource to train his own folks to make them more competitive (and thus profitable)?  Oh, and by the way, the Philippines is just crazy about trade schools and technical colleges and various sorts of ‘hand on’ training programs … a company can even make money training other people aside from their own employees (for a fee, of course.

Show me how you can make me money, that’s the key.

Step 3:  Present yourself positively to your target market:

Read this quote from Brendon here … it says better than I can about the general run-of-the-mill resume I am forced to endure almost every time I talk to someone about a job.

The last time I advertised a position that was vacant, I received 140 replies. Not one of those 140 replies identified what I wanted. So none of them offered me a solution.

The case of the GIGANTIC folder

I’m sitting with with a gigantic folder beside me of our previous job applicants.

I’ll pick three- (3) at random:

• “My career objective is to continually build upon my I.T skills……..I wish to work in my fields of interest in Multimedia.”
• “…I have a degree in marketing and am keen to gain employment in a fast paced and innovative environment that is both challenging and rewarding.”
• “….I would be very pleased to obtain a position in an organisation that will enable me to learn new skills.”

I couldn’t care less…

• I couldn’t care less about the applicant’s objectives (unless they are to make me money!)
• I couldn’t care less about the applicant’s qualifications (unless they can show me how those qualifications will make me money)
• I couldn’t care less that the applicant wants to learn new skills (unless those skills will make me money)

Keep that crap for the University career counselor.

Not quite as ineffective, but poor anyway, is listing skills and qualifications.

• Marketing degree
• Ability to use Macromedia
• Ability to write and present reports
• Highly developed verbal and written skills

Not interesting. And it’s not relevant.

….To get the job, you say this: Employ me because I will make you money.

Imagine you are an employer. You’re struggling along trying to make a buck. You get the usual job applications. All about me, me, me.

And then someone rocks on in, grabs hold of you and says, “Employ me because I will make you money!”

If you want to list your qualifications, that’s fine. But tell the employer why your qualifications are relevant ….

You gotta be smart about it.

With our last advertisement in the newspaper the copy included this:

“For more information about our exciting and fast-growing company, visit our web site at www.tailored.com.au.”

Applicants were invited to submit their applications to the Executive Director.

Out of the 140 applicants, two- (2) addressed the application to “Brendon Sinclair, Executive Director.” (my emphasis) The rest were to “Whom it may concern” and “Sir/Madam.”

Naturally those two- (2) applicants who addressed the letter personally got an interview. And it was because they showed initiative. Initiative enough to figure out who the Executive Director was. It was right there on the web site. It’s pretty basic stuff. …

Too hard, you say, to find out the person to whom you should direct your query.  nonsense, say I.  If you can’t find their name on-line or in the newspaper, pick up the phone and call the company and ask specifically.  No need to tell the receptionist or other ‘gate keeper; that you are trying to land a job …tell the truth, you need to send Mr. or Mrs. manager an offical, personal letter.  You do, don’t you? …

Just like marketing a product in an often over-crowded market, you have to stand out.

Be unique. Be different. Be noticed.

The regular contact has made you stand out. No question about that.

And if you think that the above approach is too strong, think of this:

You would tailor your approach to the business. You should know what would work with your prospective employer because of all the research you did earlier (the research can be done in about an hour).

This is real life. If you want that job, you have to go and get that job. Beat the competition. This could be the start of a big, big life.

So let’s go over it again.

• Find who you want to work with. There are plenty of companies out there – find the exact one you want to work with. It’s your life you are dealing with here. Don’t waste a minute!
• Tell the employer that you will make him money.
• Tell the employer how you will make him money.
• Build a relationship with potential employers.
• Keep in contact!

Do these things and you will succeed.  Watch “Friend’s” re-runs and surf the web aimlessly until long after bed time and you won’t.  It is just that simple.

It’s always nice to watch friends grow and succeed.  One of the first Filipinos who ever spoke with me as a friend … long before I came to live in the Philippines was a fellow with the curious name of “Yuga” who operated a little blog centered around tech issues and what we call “gimmicks” here in the Philippines.  See http://www.yugatech.com/blog/

Yuga’s real name is Abe Orlandres and I have mentioned him before, but felt another shout out might be in order because I have been following a very interesting series of posts he’s been running from Seoul, South Korea where he has recently been on a junket courtesy of LG Electronics to learn more about that company and their product line.

Unlike some Filipino bloggers, Yuga treats Filipino and foreigner readers alike, and he’s a guy a lot like me .. he doesn’t have a prominent family name .. not have to trade on one, as so many Filipinos feel necessary.  he doesn’t hail from some \high class’ background either … he’s a promdi like I am.

But he writes factual and down to earth analyses of the latest and greatest tech items, including letting us know when they are available in the Philippines, what they should cost here, if they operate well here, etc.  A very valuable service.

Cograts on the Korean trip, Abe, and here’s hoping many more like that are in your future.

And for those of you back in the USA who aren’t that familiar with LG … I noticed a distinct resemblance to LG’s top of the line washing machines while watching the latest Sears Kenmore commercials during my recent trip back in Florida.  Sears hasn’t sold US-made washers in years, but at least they sold US brand names .. now?

The times they are a changing.

I may not win a lot of friends with this post … because I perceive an awful lot of fellow Americans who get so angry at the thought of government regulation that they quite literally “throw out the baby with the bathwater”, but here’s a post from my blogging friend Don Brown that I recommend.

Do you ever wonder what the difference is between the airline business of today and the airline business back when Pan Am, Eastern, Southern, Republic and Western will all in business ? I mean, besides deregulation ?  I dare you to read this list, look at the dates and think.

Braniff International Airways (1928 – 1982)
Capitol Airways (1946 – 1982)
Eastern Air Lines (1926 – 1991)
Frontier Airlines (1950 – 1986)
National Airlines (1929 – 1980, to Pan American World Airways)
North Central Airlines (1939 – 1979, to Southern Airways)
Northwest Airlines (1927 – 2010, to Delta Air Lines)
Ozark Airlines (1943 – 1986, to Trans World Airlines)
Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) (1945 – 1987, to USAir)
Pan American World Airways (1927 – 1991)
Piedmont Airlines (1940 – 1989, to USAir)
Reeve Aleutian Airways (1932 – 2001)
Southern Airways (1943 – 1979, to Republic Airlines)
Texas International Airlines (1944 – 1986, to Continental Airlines)
Trans World Airlines (1930 – 2001, to American Airlines)
Western Airlines (1925 – 1987, to Delta Air Lines)

Airlines that were in business for 30, 40, 50 years or more were ruined. The list tells more than that single story. Look at how many airlines started after deregulation and didn’t survive. Every single one of them took a little piece of a healthy airline with them. It is madness. Yet we continue.

Regulation wasn’t perfect. But at least people could make a living in the industry (my emphasis). And the industry could survive.  Full text of Don’s post illustrating how deregulation has killed America’s airline industry.

So what has this to do with living in the Philippines, or retiring in the Philippines, or working in the Philippines as a foreigner or a Filipino?

photo credit: Ack OokA lot.  Because of its geographic location, the Philippines is unusually dependent upon air travel.  And the way the US is heading now )and how the US heads, so does the rest of the world), we are rapidly closing in on the apparent goal of only one airline, nationalized by the government as an “essential pubic service”, run by the lowest paid (and thus lowest common denominator management) equipped with the cheapest airplanes and manned by the most poorly paid (and thus also lowest common denominator pilots).

Think deregulation id the be all and end all of solving business issues?  read the list, and think also of my comments about the stifled murmur of the passing of the giant Northwest a few days ago, and then think again.

You want the US to be number one in the world?  Then let’s start by putting some number one corporate and government management back in place.

As we have said here many times before … jobs in the Philippines is a very important subject that this site gets found for by search engines …people, rally, people who (at least say they are) desperate for a job in the Philippines so they can live out their dreams.

I get inquires from these people sometimes every day, and virtually every inquiry is sad and depressing to me.   “Dear sir, please help me find a job.” is not only a sad way to try to get yourself employed, it’s actually pretty stupid.

Thinking that jobs are something like plums laid out on a plate on someone’s table and all you have to do is ask that one be passed to you tells me basically one thing about you … as we used to say in my circle back in the ‘day’ .. you ain’t got no speed.

Even worse are these sort of examples, which my friend Daniel just reminded me of:

You probably have already seen a bio like this one on Twitter, LinkedIn or on some other social networking site:

John Doe is a web designer, programmer, SEO consultant, web entrepreneur, author, speaker, business coach, journalist and tech enthusiast.

Not sure about you, but when I come across bios like the one above I immediately conclude two things: 1) the person is not really sure about what she wants to do professionally and 2) she is not going to achieve outstanding results on any of the mentioned fields. Read more about why you should not be a “jack of all trades” here.

Telling me you just want a job and you don’t care what that job is, because you can do them all, reminds me of this definition:

Jack of All Trades:  One competent in many endeavors, especially one who excels in none of them. (my emphasis) en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jack_of_all_trades

In case some of you have been living on another planet, the world is going through a severe recession/depression/jobless cycle right now.  What company in its right mind would hire a person who did not consider him or her self as one who excels in their field?

Don’t feel you excel?  Then take the time to get the experience, training and/or self-confidence to be able to excel at something, because the world of opportunities for mediocre performers si shrinking every day.

photo credit: r000pert  (I want that job, for those of you Google -illiterate)

Now if any of you are reading this still, and if you want to actually get yourself a job in the Philippines … or anywhere else … then here’s how you can get yourself one.  But before you bother to get started, this is work.

Are you really looking for a job, or are you just going through the motions to pass the time at your present job … or to keep your parents off your back because they can’t figure out why you are working on your third degree and you still haven’t found a job yet?

If you are ready to find a job and are willing to do what it takes, here’s how you do it:

Just go read my friend Brendon’s article on finding a job.  Brendon lives and works on Australia’s Gold Coast … but it matters not where Brendon happens to live … what he says to do will get you a job anywhere.

In case you won’t take the time to read his article (it amazes me every day how many people ask me for help, but are unwilling to do any research or study on their own …), here’s the major “take away” from Brendon’s how to get a job article.

… So let’s go over it again.

• Find who you want to work with. There are plenty of companies out there – find the exact one you want to work with. It’s your life you are dealing with here. Don’t waste a minute!
• Tell the employer that you will make him money.
• Tell the employer how you will make him money.
• Build a relationship with potential employers.
• Keep in contact!

Do those things and you will get a job. Simple.

Next installment I will cover some thoughts on how to apply these tips specifically to the foreigner in the Philippines environment.  Stay tuned … and if you like these sort of articles, please subscribe (links art the top of the page) and/or eave me a comment about what you like or don’t like … I hate writing in a vacuum.

Well on Wednesday am my dear wife and I arrived back in the Philippines after three weeks in Florida.  Broke, happy and COLD.  I’ve been to Florida in the winter before, I don’t know what could have possessed me to go there again in February … momentary insanity perhaps.

It was my first trip back to the USA since I left to move here to the Philippines in October 2006.  One really good thing about the trip is,it helped me cement my decision to live here in the Philippines.  Those of you who say you want to move here and would do so in a minute given the chance should remember something … the tug of your home country is strong … and kind of like a reformed smoker who still gets the urge at times, the USA is going to tug at your heart strings.  To think otherwise is to kid yourself … or to be running from the law.

I met a lot of nice people in Florida … my son flew in from Colorado for a week of his vacation and we had some quality time together, then we stayed two weeks with one of Mita’s sisters, (a critical care nurse (now US citizen) who has lived in the USA many years already) graciously put us up at her lovely home.  All in all, a good time was had by all, but I’ll tell you what … the terminal at NAIA looked mighty good to me as we were taxing in to park last Wednesday.

A few sort of ’stream of consciousness’ updates … things I don’t feel like writing separate posts about….

ECC/Exit Clearances:  A year ago on my last trip out of the Philippines I was told by a person in a BI office that _everyone_ regardless of status must apply for and receive an ECC before leaving the Philippines once they have been here more than 60 days.  So far as I know this is still true, however, once again, the Balikbayan program seems to sneak through a loophole.  After I wrote last year’s article, I was questioned several times regarding ECC’s for balikbayan foreigners, because it seemed that contrary to what my BI contact told me, ECC’s are not required for those leaving the country while in their one year BB privilege period.  Once again, I report my experiences here, others experiences may be different and in all things reported here, YMMV.

Travel Tax: A lot of foreigners run afoul of a legal issue regarding the Philippine travel tax.  Up to one year of stay, foreigners are mostly exempt, while Filipinos pay tax upon departure.  However, at and beyond the one year “in country” point, everyone pays.  Since my wife and I had each stayed less than a year (she using her US passport) neither of us had to pay travel tax … sounded good to me.

Delta/Northwest/Online Reservations and Check-in: During the time of our trip, another proud US air carrier”flag” has fallen … Northwest Airlines … very much the face of the US to a lot of Asian countries … has now ceased to exist … folded into their purchaser, Delta Airlines.  To the flyer this is somewhat transparent, if you forget to go to delta.com, nwa.com will redirect you there.

I bought our tickets online as the price was good and time was short.  A few years ago you couldn’t even buy tickets originating in Manila online, now, at least with my US credit card, it’s easy.

Not only easy, but a fantastic service.  You can pick your seats, and you can check in and print your boarding pass online.  OK, so maybe doing Delta’s job of printing the boarding passes may not seem like a big advantage, but here’s what happened when we arrived at NAIA terminal one in the o-dark-hundred hours of 2 February, home-printed boarding passes in hand.
Once we passed the entrance to the terminal x-ray checkpoint (hint, wy don’t US airports protect the thousands of people on the ‘grounsd side of the terminal?) … anyway, once safely inside the terminal a Northwest/Delta employ went up and down the typical hundreds os people long ’snake’ line going to the checkout counter, asking for Internet check-in folks.  When he saw my boarding passes, he whisked us past all the lines to a lonely fellow at a window with no line, marked “Internet Check-in”.  Tags for the bags (remember you only get 50 pounds each bag now, not 70 like in the old days), and a quick send off to Immigration …faster even than First Class check-in … hooray for the Internet

Exactly the same on our return from MCO (Orlando).  Because I checked-in on line and printed our boarding passes, I was able to check our bags in curbside … less than 20 feet from where our sis-in-law dropped us.  Then no stops at all (except for the standard TSA security check point) until we got on the airplane.

No hassles about onward travel tickets, no physical inspection of passports (already entered into the system during check-in … convenient and better than frequent flier service just because we checked in online … hooray for you, Delta.

photo credit: markhillary

Another BB Stamp: Upon return to NAIA, we went to the shortest Immigration line, approached the officer together and my Dual Citizen wife told the officer, “I request Balikbayan privilege for my husband and I.

I also handed the officer my passport and our Philippine Consulate-certified marriage certificate.  The officer stamped my passport with the notation BB and the date I need to leave the Philippines NLT (23 Feb 2011).  He also stamped my wife’s US passport (she no longer has a current Philippine passport) with an entry stamp and a reference number to her reacquired Philippine Citizenship papers, which she also showed the officer.  3 minutes at the immigration booth, tops … gotta love the BB privilege Program, thanks PGMA, hope your successor keeps it working this well.

OK, that’s enough rambling for now.  Talk to you next time I get a bout of “walk about” fever.

My wife just pointed out this article from the Inquirer this morning: Read about the PRA and the SBMA joining forces on promoting retirement:

Regular readers might get the idea that I am pro-Chinese and anti-American when I point out things like the tremendous economic advantage we, the US, have given China by becoming their financial serfs for the next hundred years or so.

I am not pro-Chinese, but I feel I am reading the writing on the wall better than many are these days.

A few years ago I t a businessman who had spent a large percentage of his life developing a technologically advanced product … much of it with US government grant money … a product sorely needed by US railroads.

No one would buy.  My friend felt for a year or so that he had just wasted 20 years of education and then lab work, and doomed himself to economic failure.

Then, from out of the woodwork came a customer.  A cash customer.  A customer who wanted all the product he could produce for the next several decades at least.

Who, you might be asking?  Simple.  The national railroad agency of China.  In China, instead of “moaning” about global warming, and complaining about the price of oil, they are doing something … economic stimulus package ahead … building national infrastructure instead of national debt …

photo credit: zieak