Abu Dhabi: Filipinos in the UAE debated about their initiative to demonstrate their skills and capabilities at the work place in response to a recent Gulf News report quoting two experts on the traits of Filipino workers in the UAE.
The report published on Monday said Filipinos, especially women, end up in low-paying jobs because of their low expectations and lack of initiative to demonstrate their skills and capabilities in the work place, despite having education and excellent professional skills, quoting a Filipina resource person.
"They will do everything when they are told to do [by the superiors or employers]. Instead, they have to observe the situation and take the initiative to display their skills and capabilities for improving the overall performance of their organisation," Marietta P. Morada said.
She had also mentioned about the strength of Filipino community, especially the qualities of the women who take risks to go abroad.
The report also quoted a recruitment consultant who narrated the story of two Filipinas who climbed the career ladder, tripling their salaries by overcoming the low expectation.
Many Filipinos said they do not lack the initiative to demonstrate the skills and capabilities at work place.
"Initiative" is definitely not the right word — courage is — as I noticed many Filipinos are well-equipped with knowledge and skills and are very capable to exceed expectations but they lack the courage to show off thinking that to show off what they know and what they have is just a way of bragging," Celeste from Dubai commented on the Gulf News website.
"It's not lack of initiatives...we can say lack of opportunities," said Ron also from Dubai.
"Filipinos set aside their own dreams and aspirations and grab the first opportunity that they thought will provide a better quality of life to them and their families back home," said Vader J.
"About 10 million Filipinos have that initiative to work outside the Philippines as doctors and nurses, seafarers, engineers, teachers, helpers, among others," Manny of Dubai said.
"The remittances sent by Filipinos rank fourth after China, India, and Mexico. Overseas Filipinos have that initiative. Don't tell us otherwise," he added.
Aversion
The expert explained that what she pointed out was the aversion of Filipinos to talking about themselves and what they can do during job interviews. She emphasised that this is a cultural trait.
"In the Philippines, we let our accomplishments talk for us. This is the culture that we have been trying to get our countrymen here out off. We want to get them into talking more about themselves to be competitive," Morada said.
