Access pre-vetted professionals from the Philippines at 40-60% less than Australian rates. Fill critical roles in weeks, maintain quality standards, and scale capability as the business grows. Complete control, predictable costs, no recruitment headaches.
The Australian and New Zealand IT talent market forces impossible trade-offs: pay premium rates, compromise on skills, or wait months to fill roles.
Offshore hiring eliminates these constraints. Since 2016, First Focus has helped businesses access skilled Manila-based professionals who deliver high quality work at affordable rates.
Free up 40-60% of hiring budgets for strategic initiatives without compromising on talent quality
Move from requisition to productive team member in as little as 6 weeks instead of the usual 3-4 months
Every candidate pre-screened for technical ability, communication skills, and cultural fit
Established Manila operations, rigorous candidate vetting, and comprehensive onboarding support turn offshore hiring from a gamble into a reliable strategy.
These are the roles Australian businesses most successfully place offshore. Each comes with pre-vetted candidates, clear salary benchmarks, and proven onboarding frameworks.
Don’t see your specific requirement? We source talent across technical, administrative, and specialist functions.
Ten years building what offshore hiring should be.
Most offshore experiments fail because of poor vetting, weak infrastructure, or inadequate support.
First Focus has spent a decade in Manila eliminating these failure points, building the frameworks that turn offshore hiring into a reliable talent strategy.
Get candidates worth interviewing, every time
Every candidate presented has passed technical assessments, communication evaluations, and background verification before introduction. Present 3-5 qualified candidates per role instead of 20-30 unfiltered resumes, resulting in 2-3 interviews to hire instead of 8-10+.
Know exactly what offshore talent costs, with no hidden fees
Fixed monthly rates with no placement fees, surprise charges, or percentage markups. Choose direct hire, managed service, or hybrid engagement. All recruitment and onboarding costs included, with optional ongoing management at transparent rates.
Build the team needed, managed the way needed
Interview and select specific individuals, set work schedules, integrate them into existing tools, and direct their daily activities. Team members work for the business full-time. Performance management handled internally or with optional First Focus support.
Team members productive in weeks, not months
New hires arrive with equipment configured, access provisioned, and initial training completed. Established frameworks handle technical setup while business-specific knowledge transfer takes priority. Structured 90-day support addresses issues early.
Contingency plans for common failure points
Eight years of Philippines operations means infrastructure redundancy, legal frameworks, performance management processes, and knowledge retention systems are already established. Most problems have been encountered and solved.
Add 1 team member or 20 without reinventing the process
The same recruitment, onboarding, and support structure scales linearly. Start with a single hire to test the model or build an entire department. Flexible contracts allow quarterly team size adjustments.
The result: Offshore hiring that actually works
Start with one hire to test the model, or build an entire department. Either way, access the same proven frameworks that have helped 200+ Australian businesses successfully integrate offshore talent.
Having boots on the ground in the Philippines isn’t just about proximity. It’s about having the right person in place.
Mae is our Philippines Branch Manager, overseeing operations across two Manila offices. With over 20 years of leadership experience and certification as an HR Manager, she serves as the critical link between Australian clients and their offshore teams.
Mae handles the complexities of cross-border employment: staff support, local regulatory compliance, onboarding, and performance management. When you work with First Focus, you’re not managing offshore staff remotely. You have an experienced partner in Manila who understands both Australian business expectations and Filipino workplace culture.
We have had an excellent experience partnering with First Focus for over 3 years now, most especially with a recent switch of our service desk to the Manila team. Which we have found to provide outstanding service and a fantastic customer experience, whilst also lowering our IT spend.
Annelise Price, Associate Director, Bellwether
Building your offshore team is straightforward when you have the right partner.
Here’s our proven process for finding, hiring, and onboarding skilled professionals in Manila.
Start with a brief consultation where we’ll discuss your business needs and explain how offshore staffing can support your goals.
We work with you to define the role in detail: key skills, communication expectations, cultural fit, and how they’ll integrate with your workflows.
Your role is advertised and we source pre-vetted professionals from our talent pool, screening candidates for ability and fit.
You’ll meet shortlisted candidates to assess cultural and capability match, ensuring they’re right for your team.
Once you’ve selected your candidate, we prepare and send the employment offer and contract on your behalf.
Your new team member starts work, fully integrated into your systems and ready to contribute from day one.
We schedule regular meetings with Mae and your account manager to ensure smooth operations and address any needs as they arise.
Success with offshore teams requires more than hiring in lower-cost locations. You need to understand local employment laws, cultural differences, and how to build genuine collaboration across locations.
Managing an offshore team? Our guide shares practical lessons from building and managing our Manila operations:
Whether you’re experienced in offshoring staff or just starting to explore the possibilities, tune into this episode with First Focus CEO Ross Sardi to discover the highs, the lows, and the priceless lessons Ross has learned during his 8-year long offshoring journey.
This can happen for any number of reasons, but the most common are:
Schedule a call to discuss your requirements, get a specific cost estimate, and understand the timeline. We’ll help you determine if offshore hiring is the right solution.
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