Quack labor agents

I have personally experienced not just once but on several times the frustration that comes when trying to obtain gainful employment within the private sector. And it was not due to lack of job skill, experience, education, or otherwise. More often than not, it was predicated on the reputation that local resident workers tend to often be absent from work, coupled with the reputation that we also tend to resign or become terminated as a result of abusive absenteeism or tardiness. And because of such reputation, some—not all—employers seem to conclude that resident workers tend to be more of a liability to their company rather than an asset if we were to be hired.

On the other side of this dilemma comes the notion that private sector employers prefer nonresident workers because of their longevity as employees within the workforce while a great majority of local residents tend to prefer to work for the local government because the pay and benefits are more promising.

This is why a local resident such as I can honestly relate to the rationale of why majority of local applicants cannot or rarely could obtain employment within the private sector. Not having the job skills, experience, or education in certain instances does play a role in the process; but it is not solely the main factor in and of itself.

The Department of Employment Services Division initiated a Referral Registry Program for our local residents who are seeking gainful employment in the private sector to come in and register on their referral list. The Workforce Investment Agency and the Office of Rehabilitation continue to offer their assistance to our local residents, including working with private sector employers to encourage them to hire local residents.

However, I notice that the source of the problem is really coming from a certain percentage—again, not all—of untrained and incompetent personnel/human resource managers, who often disseminate false information to local applicants that either the Job Vacancy Announcement being advertised is strictly for renewal, or that the vacancy is already filled, when in fact it isn’t.

Another statement usually disseminated by these deadwood human resource managers to our potential local applicants is that they do not qualify for the vacancy, when in fact they should be researching the U.S. Dictionary of Occupational Titles to ensure that such statements they make are true with respect to qualifying or not.

In particular, I am specifically referring to those agents who have been retained by certain employers to perform their company’s employment processing and recruitment. These fly-by-night, quack agents can’t even tie their shoestrings properly, let alone understand how to use the mechanisms of a U.S. Dictionary of Occupational Titles, which is mandated by local labor statutes to be used in the processes and procedures leading up to selection and recruitment of a potential applicant. Yet they have somehow been given a business license to perform consulting businesses in the Commonwealth, dealing with processing, selecting, interviewing, and recruitment of applicants for specific employers. As a result of this, both resident and nonresident applicants on-island often tend to be informed when seeking employment that either the vacancy is not available or that it is for renewal only. This type of statements is illegal and a direct violation of our local labor statutes.

So as not to be misunderstood by anyone, I am primarily focusing on those private consulting agencies who somehow convinced certain employers that they are highly knowledgeable in processing, interviewing and recruitments of potential employees. You can’t miss these quack consultants because they are always visible at the Department of Labor, wherein you can observe them frequently trying to sweet-talk their way into getting their submitted documents approved. Bottom line is this: our local applicants and nonresident on-island applicants alike deserve better answers when inquiring about job vacancies than what they are often or frequently being told by these quack Consulting Resource Managers. I make this statement with sincere feelings because there are many outstanding human resource managers in the Commonwealth, but there are a small percentage out there that overshadows the excellent work and achievements of the real human resource managers.

Jack T. Quitugua
Garapan, Saipan