Hiring a full time employee in your own country..

I have always used workers from other countries, unfortunately I often got what I paid for.

I have always outsourced in other countries because it is cheap, and some are very hardworking.

In the past I have outsourced to other countries, especially India and Mexico. After sifting through a few bad apples, you can get some very good work done (all things considered) from people who take pride in their work and will communicate with you whenever you like (even at 3:AM their time).


That being said, in recent years I have favored hiring Americans. I have nothing against other countries at all-- It's just a matter of helping people in my own country during hard economic times (and I would do the same thing if I lived somewhere else.)


Before you hire someone and call it "full time" however, I would strongly recommend that you do some research on local and state laws. You may even consider using, or at least consulting, a staffing agency.

I looked into a VA from one of the cheaper countries one time but just couldn't bring myself to pay someone freakin $2 an hour No more than I would think of paying someone minimum wage here.

You get what you pay for and Karma does have an itch

Hello andreaskam,

If you have the budget, then go for it.

Normally, for those individuals who are just starting to earn money online and want to expand their business, they hire people from India and Philippines.

Outsourcing is done, I believe, is to save some money and increase your profits. Try to do the math.

Cheers,
Geroge B.

I have so many great ideas that i don't have the skills, time or money to start at this point in time, but i'd love to have someone, not run, but help me run everything.

I personally have two employees here in Canada and 8 employees working in the Philippines. Having an employee in your own country is definitely more comforting, personal and, generally better; however, I would definitely recommend hiring from the Philippines as well because it is insanely profitable.

I personally started off hiring employees in Canada. Obviously it was pleasant physically seeing people working for my company and being able to easily communicate to my employees. But I soon found out that hiring employees in the Philippines was amazingly profitable. Due to the low wage they were paid (which is considered good in their country), it was profitable because of all the work they were able to do.

A few quick tips that I can share from my experience is to treat Filipinos nicely. Allow them to take vacation time off, give them raises and make them happy. This way, they won't be looking for a new employer and be completely happy with working for you making them very productive. My first Filipino that I hired was first paid $280 per month, and is now paid $380 per month, definitely a large sum for their country. Even though there was a $100 increase in price, he's been so productive and not only that - but he was happy and proud coming to work, and doing his work. Also, employees in Filipinos are pretty damn easy to train. You would think that they are tough to train, but what I usually do is let them take one day off per month and set them 5 hours of video training to do skills I want them to do. Believe it or not, most of them improved a lot using this training. Just don't forget to communicate daily with your VA - it's the most important part of hiring VA's in the Philippines (but do not underestimate the profitability!).

For me I have people here in the US who help me in the business. In addition, I have one full-time virtual employee in Kenya and two people from the Philippines.

I find that arrangement working well. I can reach them on skype any minute. The only challenge is synchronizing the working hours for us to work as a team.

Why don't you do a test?

Have two interns for 2 -3 months; one virtual and the other who reports to the office.
At the end of the period compare the output, cost, your input to each. It will give you a valuable experience.

I am a VA from the Philippines and I just want to say that I am happy reading the comments about Filipino VAs here. Although I am not claiming that there will be no bad apple, most Filipino VAs are indeed hard-working, articulate, sensible, and reliable. Treated fairly and well, we deliver what is expected from us by our employers and even give more. Thanks again for the positive reviews!

I outsource to the skill and person, the price and location are less relevant to me, but I've turned into a serious interrogator when starting a new outsource worker.

I work with a few people in the Philippines, a couple from Mexico and Colombia, and several from former Soviet countries. I've developed relationships with a small number of people in these countries, and when 'interviewing' a potential freelancer, I tend to be a bit demanding up front, but those who make the cut tend to perform very well for me.

It probably helps that I often bring one of my local contacts in on the Skype call, and in some cases have my local contact meet them directly. Somehow, when the freelancer in another country knows that there is a local point of contact, it changes many of their mindsets about working for the "American 6,000 miles away"

But these tend to develop into long term mutually beneficial arrangements, where I bring work back to the same people time and again, and they get treated very fairly. Knowing someone locally helps me to make sure I'm not under or over paying, because I have someone I can reliably ask questions about their opinion on my offers, requirements and even local costs.

There's a lot of great information in this thread. What tasksjobs do you guys usually outsource whether is local outsourcers or in another country?

andreaskam is there something in particular you're looking for the person you hire to do?

I've had good results and bad results from all over the world.

The things I look for are:

1) Good English skills.
2) Ability to be trained.
3) Ability to work without supervision.

In many cases, when things don't work out with an employee or outsourcer it's because YOU didn't do a good job training them and showing them exactly how you want things done. You can train people on almost everything (except English) so good English is my most important requirement.

Interestingly, I've found that people from the US (especially young people) are not always as good at English as I would expect them to be. Even the college graduates seem to have English issues (at least with written English). Too much texting I guess?