The other day I was in SM Department Store which is around the corner from my house. They are trying to hire more employees and I decided to look at the ad. They are hiring cashiers, checkers, stock clerks, and sales clerks. To be a cashier or checker, you must be a college graduate. Checkers sit with the cashier and check their work to make sure the checker doesn't steal any merchandise or money. All candidates must be between 18 and 25 years old, at least 5'2" for females and 5'6" for males. To apply for a job, they must take their resume and a photo.
There is a lot of discrimination here. Most jobs require that you are physically attractive. Most people don't look like supermodels but you don't see overweight, disabled, or older people working in most of the service-industry jobs. The family structure here is one where the younger folks really take care of the older folks. For the uneducated people here who are older than 30, there aren't many opportunities. Everyone is young: the cashiers in the grocery store, the maids in the hotel, the waitresses, the janitors. If you are older than around 25-30, you don't have the opportunity to go back to school for an education and this includes post-graduate degrees. You have missed your chance. The older women are maids, cooks, and nannies in private homes. Our nanny is 35 years old and she is always lamenting about the fact that she's so old and has no children to care for her. The older men are drivers, handymen, and yard workers (I don't know the PC term for that...maybe landscape artists).
The other crazy thing is the contracts here. The maids in our building are on a 5 month contract. This means that they are out of a job after 5 months and can not renew the current contract. They must go somewhere else for a job. The current job gives them a letter of recommendation, of course, so this ensures that the employees do a good job while here. Most jobs are the same way: cashiers, factory workers, gas station attendants, whatever you can think of. This benefits the companies in a few ways. They don't give raises because the employee is not there long enough to prove themselves worthy of a raise. They don't offer any real benefits. The country has laws that state an employee can join a union after being on a job for more than a year. Guess how many people don't belong to unions? Most companies are owned by foreigners, an overwhelming majority being Chinese. The unemployment rate is so high that the Filipinos are just happy to have a job.
Just another little something that makes me appreciate the good old USA.
There is a lot of discrimination here. Most jobs require that you are physically attractive. Most people don't look like supermodels but you don't see overweight, disabled, or older people working in most of the service-industry jobs. The family structure here is one where the younger folks really take care of the older folks. For the uneducated people here who are older than 30, there aren't many opportunities. Everyone is young: the cashiers in the grocery store, the maids in the hotel, the waitresses, the janitors. If you are older than around 25-30, you don't have the opportunity to go back to school for an education and this includes post-graduate degrees. You have missed your chance. The older women are maids, cooks, and nannies in private homes. Our nanny is 35 years old and she is always lamenting about the fact that she's so old and has no children to care for her. The older men are drivers, handymen, and yard workers (I don't know the PC term for that...maybe landscape artists).
The other crazy thing is the contracts here. The maids in our building are on a 5 month contract. This means that they are out of a job after 5 months and can not renew the current contract. They must go somewhere else for a job. The current job gives them a letter of recommendation, of course, so this ensures that the employees do a good job while here. Most jobs are the same way: cashiers, factory workers, gas station attendants, whatever you can think of. This benefits the companies in a few ways. They don't give raises because the employee is not there long enough to prove themselves worthy of a raise. They don't offer any real benefits. The country has laws that state an employee can join a union after being on a job for more than a year. Guess how many people don't belong to unions? Most companies are owned by foreigners, an overwhelming majority being Chinese. The unemployment rate is so high that the Filipinos are just happy to have a job.
Just another little something that makes me appreciate the good old USA.
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Keisha
Ayana
Ayana