July 25, 2023

HireSmart Filipino Scholarships: Cristina’s Story 

Cristina and her sisters love their parents and poured their finances into helping them through medical hardships last year, but this generosity strained the ability of Cristina and her husband to fund their son’s education. 

Thankfully, HireSmart Virtual Employees has stepped in to take that burden off Cristina’s back, providing an educational scholarship so her 7-year-old son, Myke, can attend private school this year. 

“I am forever grateful for this scholarship,” said Cristina, a five-year HireSmart employee. “Education here in the Philippines is pretty expensive, and my son is the most important person in my life, giving him a quality education and providing him with all his needs is what matters to me. I was able to provide it to him because of HireSmart. This scholarship is a really great help for my family. And thank you for helping us Filipino virtual assistants, and we hope this opportunity will continue.”  

Cristina said her son is smart, a “consistent honor student since nursery,” and loves karate. 

“I enrolled him in karate this summer to see if he likes it because he’s an active kid,” she said. “So, in order to divert his energy, I enrolled him, and now he’s very interested. He just got promoted. He’s very interested to get that black belt.”  

Cristina said Myke is especially proficient in math and has participated in Kumon, an educational network based in Japan.  

“They focus on mental math,” she said. “He started when he was 6 years old. Right now, he’s already multiplying fractions. He’s very interested in Kumon, so we continued it.” 

Cristina, who handles vacation rentals for a property management firm in the U.S., said her experience with HireSmart has allowed her to spend more time with her son and watch him grow up. Her husband is also a virtual employee. 

“That’s the reason why I preferred to work remotely, so we can watch our son grow,” she said, adding that she and her husband, John, must be careful what they say and do because Myke is observant and mimics whatever they say or do. “In our household, we have to be very careful with our language and our actions because he is a very curious kid and he copies whatever we do, our habits, our words, our expressions, so we need to be careful as parents, especially nowadays with social media.” 

HireSmart provides its virtual employees like Cristina with health and dental insurance, a work-from-home lifestyle, good pay, opportunities for leadership training, as well as an opportunity for educational scholarships for their children.  

“I can really say that it (HireSmart) is a stable company, and I’m really thankful for the support,” she said. “If you need any help regarding your work, they’re also willing to give tips to help you with the training to give you more feedback. They’re a really supportive company, so I’m really glad I found HireSmart.” 

Cristina also noted that if a client goes out of business or doesn’t work out, HireSmart will work with its virtual employees to get them placed with a new client.  

“If you ever lose a client, they will really find a way for you to get another one,” she said.  

Cristina said she didn’t want to compromise her son’s education because of medical bills, and she’s pleased she won’t have to because of HireSmart. 

“I’m really happy with what I have right now,” she said. “I’m really happy with the company. Compensation is good. Training is good. The management, Anne, Neal, they’re really helpful. They’re hands-on. Just really thankful right now.”  

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Article written by Anne Lackey