How to Get On-the-Job Trainees “OJTs” for Your Business in the Philippines

Hiring regular employees in the Philippines can be costly, especially if you will hire fresh graduates without prior work experience. Aside from the cost of constant training to make sure they will contribute to your business in a more efficient, effective and profitable manner, you also have to compensate them with competitive salaries and employee benefits, such as insurance and employer’s contribution on SSS, Philhealth, and Pag-ibig Fund.

If your business is just a start-up company, you may find it too expensive to hire the number of regular employees your business needs to grow. But can you hire employees and pay them below the minimum wage? Can you hire them without remitting SSS, Philhealth and Pag-Ibig Fund to the government? For some eligible BMBEs or Barangay Micro Business Enterprises, they may be exempted with the minimum wage. However, SSS, Philhealth and Pag-ibig employer’s contributions are required to all kinds of employers, whether you’re a small or big business owner.

Is there a way to have some people to help your business without spending on regular employee salaries and benefits? The good news is you can hire apprentices or on-the-job trainees “OJTs” from schools and universities.

The on-the-job training program gives your business the opportunity to train undergraduates who can potentially be your future employees and at the same time assign them certain tasks to help your business run. It is designed to help undergraduates experience how a real world works.

They can contribute significantly to your business with their practical skills and knowledge gained through their training. Aside from that, you can also help demonstrate your commitment to supporting young people in the initial stage of their career.

Now, you’re probably thinking if on-the-job training is necessary for your business. For smaller companies/businesses or those just getting off the ground, it may seem as if trainees aren’t necessary. Most especially there are schools that require allowances for trainees, but if you can afford to have one then, that would be better, because traineeships are flexible and can be shaped to meet your needs as long as you know how to manage them.

Steps to Getting On-the-Job Trainees “OJTs” for Your Business in the Philippines

If you think you’re business needs apprentices or OJTs, here are some ways to find and get them.

1. Start with a good job description.
Recruiting the right candidate also means being clear to what you expect from your OJTs. Write a detailed description on what the job requires and identify the skills needed for your company.

2. Decide what you’re looking for.
Think about your business needs and why you are looking for an OJT. You may also ask yourself these questions:

– What skills do you need?
– What jobs will involve?
– What field of the traineeship will be in?

It is important to make sure that the trainees you hire are the right one, which is why you need to decide first what you are looking for. Having a team with the right skills allows businesses to meet the challenges of competition, growth, and innovation.

3. Find a school with courses related to your company.
There are a lot of ways in order to look for the right school which has the best courses that will fit to your business. You can advertise the position in a local paper or most effectively online, since people are now more exposed to internet. You can also contact local group training provider, or recruit schools that has been recommended to you.

4. Contact the head of the school.
Once you find the right school where you can hire OJTs, you may now contact the head, talk about the OJT opportunities at your company and the type of trainee candidates you seek. The school might give you requirements before they allow you to hire trainees, so you better pile up those requirements immediately.

5. Submit an application letter to the dean’s office.
Most schools will require you to submit first an application letter to the dean’s office. Just make sure to put all the benefits they’ll get once they allow you to hire trainees in your company/business. Like, what are the services offered in your company/business? How will you guide the trainees to ensure a successful outcome? Or what methods, resources, and materials will be in your training program?

6. Patiently wait for the approval.
After accomplishing all the requirements needed, patiently wait for the call or email regarding on the approval of your application to their school.

Implementing a training program is not difficult as long as you break it down into logical steps. Now that you finally know how to hire OJT’s for you business, it is also important to identify how you can successfully train your trainees.

One of the important components to successfully train your trainees is through assessment.

• What do you think your trainees need to know?
• What do your trainees already know?
• What do your trainees expect?
• What do you need from your trainees?
• How will your trainees learn best?
• What kind of training do they need?

Assessment also includes determining the specific needs of your trainees. Start by listing the skills and qualifications a specific job requires. You are trying to create a definition of what an ideal trainee in that specific job is able to do.

Next, what skills most trainees have when they arrive? You are simply trying to determine a baseline for a typical hire so you can better understand the starting point for most trainees.

And lastly, what most trainees historically have upon arrival? Think of the struggles they have had in a specific job in terms of productivity and overall understanding.

A traineeship program is not a job – it is much more. Your program should be designed to provide you with a structured practical education rather than just filling a labor need. Employing trainees can offer significant benefits to your business. Just remember that part of training is the challenging of learning new habits. Habits take time and maybe they only need some help figuring out how to create those habits in a sustainable way.