SFI Group of Companies, a pioneer in providing total human resource services in the Philippines, and HireLabs, the leading innovator of pre-employment testing services, formally launched its partnership on April 15, 2010 at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City during a breakfast forum on career development and talent management.
The event was attended by clients of the subsidiaries of SFI Group—Servicio Filipino, Inc., BusinessTrends: A Kelly Services Company, Temps and Staffers and Comprehensive Business Services. The forum was designed to bring together HR managers and executives from different industries to address the increasing demand for talent management. It was also aimed at introducing participants to new ways in delivering innovative people management solutions. The guest speaker was Dr. Saleem Qureshi, HireLabs’ founder.
SFI Group’s executive vice president, Mr. Luis Alberto Anastacio, emphasized the group’s commitment to uplift the skills and knowledge of the Filipino workforce through SFI CareerCenter’s “skills for life” program and career development initiatives which will be implemented this year.
“We hope that we could encourage the applicants and candidates we recruit to embrace life-long learning, continuous skills development, and in setting a purpose and vision higher than themselves,” he said. “We would also want to encourage our clients to become our partners in supporting these noble initiatives as we all work diligently in building our Philippine nation,” he said.
A short video about SFI Group’s history and its evolution was shown during the forum. It also featured the company’s plans for the next 50 years. Another video about HireLabs’ talent profiling system was also shown.
During his talk with the participants, Dr. Qureshi, who is also president and chief operating officer of HireLabs, quoted former General Electric chief executive Jack Welch: “A company is only as good as the people that it hires.”
With this, he recalled his experience as a dishwasher in a cafeteria during his college days which completely changed his outlook in life: “Since I was a finance major, I was expecting that I would be assigned as a cashier. But to my utter disappointment I was assigned in the washing area.”
He described the job as “demeaning” and that it “killed his productivity.” With that experience, he said people should be “aligned” with the job that they love and enjoy doing it for them to be effective.
He highlighted the significance of accurate assessments and profiling which could help companies and individuals become more efficient and productive. He also mentioned the importance of “occupational DNA” in the hiring process.
“Each occupation has its own occupational DNA. Occupation DNA is what makes up the company: its culture, values, goals, etc. People that you hire should be aligned with your company’s occupational DNA. The company can lessen its cost by hiring the right people for the job,” said Qureshi.
Qureshi also pointed out the need for HR managers to understand the concept of return on investment in the hiring process and the effects of globalization on accessibility to cost effective labor. He said companies should not worry about benchmarking because each company has its own working environment.
SFI Group chairman, Mrs. Estrellita Anastacio, and vice chairman Rolando Antonio presented Dr. Qureshi with a certificate of appreciation for his talk on talent management. A memorandum of agreement was signed among officials of SFI Group and Dr. Quershi which formally sealed the partnership between SFI Group and HireLabs. SFI Group’s CareerCenter will offer HireLabs’ innovative HR services to a spectrum of companies and industries in the Philippines.