News
Search for Philippines best and brightest
(Source: North Shore Times, Tuesday, 13 November 2007, By Jodeal Cadacio)
The North Shore Times is published by the Suburban Newspapers Auckland Publication 3x per week and circulated to up to 75,000 homes over the entire North Shore City Council, Auckland region.
A local immigration consultancy is trying to lure skilled Filipino professionals to fill shortages on the Shore.
The Milford-based PHIL-NZ Human Resources Limited is bankrolling a roadshow in the Philippines to promote New Zealand as a favoured destination for skilled workers, including nurses and other health professionals.
Cecille Charnley, who owns and manages the firm with her husband Eric, says the skills shortage on the Shore had prompted them to form a company catering to local employers’ labour needs.
She says her company is working to get Filipino nurses into New Zealand.
She notes that in the Waitemata District Health Board alone, about 100 nurses are urgently needed to fill vacancies in North Shore and Waitakere.
Ana Abarintos, a Filipina nurse who had been working at North Shore Hospital for more than 10 years, says the hospital employs over 200 Filipino health professionals, including doctors, nurses and phlebotomists.
Mrs Abarintos says New Zealand has been a favoured destination for Filipino nurses, who are poorly paid in the Philippines.
“The average annual income for nurses in the Philippines is around NZ$4,000. It’s not even at par with what a nurse in New Zealand gets in a month,” she says.
Mrs Charnley says there is also a big demand for skilled Filipinos in the telecommunications and information technology, finance, engineering and construction sectors.
“North Shore is in the midst of a shortage in skilled labour, and it is my company’s vision to fill that vacuum,” Mrs Charnley says.
Enterprise North Shore, the city’s economic development agency, says there is “consistent skills shortage” on the Shore based on an extensive research it has done on local businesses.
Mrs Charnley says her company specialises in bringing “the best and the brightest” from the Philippines to the Shore.
A Filipina migrant herself, Mrs Charnley says many New Zealand recruitment agencies she had dealt with prefer skilled Filipinos because they are honest, hardworking and proficient in English.
The Filipino population in New Zealand has grown to about 25,000 since the late 1980’s. Around 18,000 are in Auckland and about 60 percent of these live on the Shore.
Immigration Consultant Wishes to
Make a Difference
(Source: Pasa Pinoy, Volume 3, Issue #3, July 2008, by John Richard Alayon)
Pasa Pinoy is a quarterly newspaper magazine publication published by Pasa Pinoy Limited, Auckland and distributed nationwide in New Zealand.
Having been in New Zealand for 15 years makes Cecille Charnley understand the best of both worlds. She learned by heart the Kiwi way of life being married to a Kiwi-Englishman and having lived in the predominantly white suburb of Devonport and now a year in Milford in the North Shore City of Auckland. Thus, she is straightforward and honest in both her personal and professional dealings. But at the same time, she still maintains the Filipino values of strong faith in God, compassion to others, respect for elders and kindness and helpfulness to those who are in need.
Her husband, Eric, worked in the shipping industry for quite a number of years and during his time off from work, he loved to travel and the Philippines was one of the countries he visited. He loved to visit Manila and all the beauty of the island destinations of most tourists. He loved the friendliness of the people and their culture. But what he found and loved the most was a Filipina named Cecille. He tried to win her heart by courting her the Filipino way. To prove his true intentions, he married her 3 times: the 2 wedding ceremonies here in New Zealand and the church wedding in the Philippines. Their marriage was blessed with a lovely daughter, Helena, who can understand and speak Filipino despite being born and raised here in New Zealand.
Having witnessed and understood the Filipino way of life, Eric does not mind Cecille helping Filipinos in her own way. She would often help them in finding their way around Auckland, help them find accommodation that would suit their family, or sometimes just telling them where to best shop for their needs especially when those Filipino families have just arrived here. There were also occasions that she accompanied them to the Immigration Office in Auckland to become their spokesperson. She also drafted numerous Immigration letters and Curriculum Vitae for Filipinos without any charges. She did all these things because she believes in the saying “What goes around, comes around.” It is her philosophy in life to help others as long as she believes that this person is worth helping and most importantly, this person would be capable of helping others later on.
Having settled well in New Zealand with her extended family, with business and work in between, those who knew Cecille the best prodded her to start a business that is nearest to her heart and one that she knows the best – helping others. She had already been in a successful Bed & Breakfast Inn business with her husband and had worked in the NZ Human Resources industry among others, but she realized that yes, she’s earning the money and yet something else is missing. After a consultation with her husband, Eric, and sound professional business advice, she decided to embark on a career of an Immigration Consultant, not just to earn the money but most importantly, “To make a difference in the immigration consultancy services,” especially among fellow Filipinos who want to work, migrate and settle here in New Zealand permanently.
Cecille is the Managing Director of her own company called PHIL-NZ Human Resources Limited with a permanent office address at #3 Eric Price Avenue, Milford, Auckland. She has a satellite office in Makati, Philippines with facilities open to use for her clients who wishes to have a videoconferencing with her while she is here in New Zealand. She frequents the Philippines to conduct a 3-hour seminar about migrating to New Zealand and the reality of what they can expect about living and finding employment here in New Zealand. She specialises in the Work-To-Residence (WTR) policy, not only to help fellow Filipinos have a better life here but also to help alleviate the critical skill shortage New Zealand is now experiencing. She is now planning her next visit to the Philippines to update her clients personally about their prospects of coming here to New Zealand the soonest possible time.
Having heard a lot from Filipinos about bad practices of unscrupulous Immigration consultants promising them everything and yet delivering nothing, Cecille asked her Manila solicitor to draft her a contract stipulating things that is expected of the applicant and things that she must do as their consultant. It also clearly states in the contract how much her professional fees are and at what stage during the processing these fees are to be paid. This way the expectations are clear and no false hopes and promises are given by both parties. She also advocates “transparency” in every step of the application processing. That is why the motto of PHIL-NZ HUMAN RESOURCES LIMITED is “Walang lokohan para maganda ang samahan” (No monkey business so we will have an excellent relationship).
