John Jonas weighs hiring student VAs from the Philippines. College there demands 36 hours a week, leaving little room for work. He recommends avoiding full-time students entirely, but part-time students with no other job might work if they can study outside work hours. He stresses the cultural weight of finishing college and urges employers to support completion rather than pull someone out.
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Should you hire an OFS who is a student? So my son came home from college last weekend and he's having the time of his life. Like he skied four times last week, sends me this picture of him climbing this mountain on skis with, with the Grand Teton in the background. And he's just having a blast, right? And I had to ask him like, hey, are you going to class? Like, are you doing school? And he says he has all A's. Whether that's true or not remains to be seen. So in the Philippines, college is interesting. So it's often more demanding there than it is in the US So like one credit hour of college in the Philippines often equates to three hours. Like one credit hour would be one to two hours in class and then another hour of outside, that's going to be one required. So they're often required to take 12 hours or more. 12 credit hours or more. So that's like 36 hours per week of college, which is basically equivalent to a full time job. Which means you're not skiing four times a week with a full time job. Right. It's oftentimes more demanding or as demanding as a university based in the US So college in the Philippines is not like, it's not a joke, which oftentimes people think it is, it's legitimate. So should you hire someone who is still a student? Well, so here's, here's a couple thoughts. Number one, the minimum age requirement for onlinejobs ph is 18. We require people to be 18. We don't want high school people working. That's not our goal. So the base minimum is you're gonna find people who are out of high school. Next, if someone is still in school and they're in school full time, I would caution against you hiring, hiring that person. First, their education is going to come first. Like they're finishing school is going to come first to them. So you will be secondary. Second, when they are working for you, they're probably less likely to be able to focus than if they had, if they were able to work just full time for you. So I've done this a couple times. One specific time I remember is a designer that I hired. I recruited this guy because I knew he was really, really talented and like more than just doing design work, he was willing to think through processes and experiences and do designs based on that. And that was a big deal. But he was still in school at the time. And I thought, okay, that's okay, I can work with that. He can just work Less now. Right. Well, it turns out that, like, school was his first priority and he was not able to give the mental focus that I wanted out of him at the time. And then there came a point where he just said, hey, sir, sorry, I can't work for the next month and a half. I have big projects at school and then finals and. And it just doesn't work for me. Like, okay, I mean, that I can, I can let you do that. So he ends up graduating from school and is really, really good for me after that. So just so you know, if someone is still full time in school, be aware of the limitations that it's gonna, that it's gonna bring. If someone is part time in school, that's a different story. And then I would consider hiring them if they don't have another job, which is a big deal. So if they're in school and have a job, I'm out. And then if they can do their schoolwork outside of work hours. So like they have their school and they, and they have their school work hours. The last thing to consider in this is I've learned that having a college degree in the Philippines is a really big deal. Like, your family members will often look down on you if you just have a high school degree. If you don't go to college and finish, regardless of how you contribute to society or how much money you make or whatever, your family members are likely to look down on you. People often think, oh, you only have a high school degree. The only thing you're qualified to do is be a nanny. Then that's it. Now, whether or not that's true is a different story, but that's kind of the sentiment in the Philippines. So having a college degree is a big deal. Let them finish school. If you hired someone before they finish school, I would not encourage you to have them drop out to work for you. In fact, I would encourage you to go beyond and encourage them to finish school and potentially help them pay to finish school. Not the optimal situation, but if you find someone really good, then, you know, people in the US do it. Companies in the US do it all the time, help people pay for school because they become really, really good employees when they're done.
