At first glance, direct hiring a helper on your own may seem like a very cost-saving option. However, you bear the risks of misfit skillset, Helper feeling home sick upon arrival, failed on-arrival medical examination, gets off-loaded at source country’s airport, replacement difficulty, as well as unfamiliarity with employment paperwork, just to name a few.
Any misstep means repeating the hiring process and incur more time and money altogether. The only choice an employer has is sending the Helper back to her country (and start the hiring process again) when things go south. Hiring a Helper through a licensed agency not only is hassle-free, but saves you time and peace of mind with 6 months replacement guarantee + free counselling.
Here is an account from our customer who came to us after failing miserably direct hiring a helper via an online portal.
Customer was lured by the low cost to direct hire a Helper from a website. Customer first paid a small token to register and subscribe to 1 month of access to its database of Helper’s biodata that were uploaded by their own (Red flag 1: no one actually screen through the biodata and do a first level of filtering to determine how genuine the credentials are presented).
Customer then login to the portal and started self screening. Customer then spent almost a week, spending about an hour a day screening for ideal credential (Red flag 2: Agency does the 1st level of screening based on Employer’s requirement, so in turn employer saves time and effort).
After shortlisting potential ones, customer tried contacting but a few were already taken, a few did not respond, a few were rejected as the Helper’s expectations were insane (Red flag 3: Agency removes Helpers who place high expectations on Employers), and finally narrowed down to 1 candidate.
Customer went on to submit the application to MOM, purchase the necessities, arranged for the Helper to fly into Singapore. So far so good.
On the day of arrival, customer took a day off from work and went to pick up the Helper from the airport. After settling down with medical, thumbprint etc, on the 3rd day, the Helper felt that she is unable to cope with the workload and requested to transfer to another employer. The customer bought an air ticket and send the Helper back home.
In the above situation, all would have been the responsibility of the agency and the customer would have gotten a replacement without much hassle. So if you intend to direct hire your ideal Helper via online portals or some overseas sources, think again.
I had similar experience in direct hiring my Myanmar maid. She arrived pregnant and I cannot even transfer her to other employer. 😓