Romania is employing 3,000 truck drivers from the Philippines, and steps are already being taken to bring them to the country once they have passed their test periods.
The agency mandated by the Philippine government to recruit about 3,000 truck drivers in the Philippines warns of the dangers for Romanian carriers taking untested foreign staff.
By far one of the most difficult processes of recruiting foreign labor, which in addition to specific documentation requires a well-developed set of skills, bringing 3,000 truck drivers from the Philippines to the country brings with it a huge responsibility.
,,In all my 15 years of experience in the field of foreign labor recruitment in Romania, I have never encountered such a difficult process of testing and vetting candidates as the one for truck drivers. To give you an idea of the difficulties encountered in the recruitment process, on our agency's most recent trip to the Philippines, out of 200 candidates, we recruited only 50 drivers"said Yosef Gavriel Peisakh, General Manager Work from Asia.
Apartment firms beware
If carriers in turn have a clear responsibility for the goods transported and for the welfare of their own means of transport, the responsibility for recruiting foreign staff qualified to provide these services in the safest possible conditions is transferred to the employment agency.
,,Of course, this news of the recruitment of some 3,000 TIR drivers from the Philippines is not being ignored by the flat agencies, which is why I am issuing this very serious warning to hauliers to bring into the country only TIR drivers who have been personally checked and tested in the country of origin by the recruitment agency, as we are doing, at huge cost, but in conditions of maximum safety for employers"added Yosef Gavriel Peisakh.
The apartment agencies referred to by the head of the recruiting company are firms that "Adevărul" has reported are bringing Asians eager to work in Romania, without testing them in advance, which then leave them in airports from Romania or leave them on the roads
Filipinos are professionals
However, of all the Asian countries that offer the possibility of importing foreign staff to Romania, FIlipine is the country that has so far delivered premium staff for all the areas of activity that are at a standstill in Romania due to lack of personnel.
,,Based on our experience in the field, we believe that Filipino drivers are the most suitable for the Romanian and European Union market, considering their knowledge of English, religion, attitude and reliability. Moreover, many of them have experience in Middle Eastern countries, where they drive trucks and semi-trailers similar to ours"added Yosef Gavriel Peisakh.
If the drivers brought to Romania have salaries starting from 850 euro, their incomes can reach in time even almost 1200 euro for domestic journeys and up to 2500 euro for the European Union community, as is the case of Mateo Jr. Vilar, a truck driver from the Philippines, who has been working for almost 2 years for one of the biggest transportation companies in the EU.
,,I send about €600 home every month out of my €1200 salary. When I started my job I started with a salary of €850 and I am glad that I had the opportunity to increase my income because I was always willing to learn and improve. I discovered here that Romanian TIR truck drivers are good people who, luckily for me, helped me a lot"said Mateo Jr. Vilar.
Given the massive shortage of TIR drivers in Romania, as more and more Romanian drivers are leaving for more developed countries, the solution for Romanian employers is still foreign labor, but in this case only the one carefully checked by recruitment agencies with a proven track record of best practices.
