Trade testing in the Philippines: how construction skills are verified before you interview

What each trade builds

• Carpenters — set-out from a drawing, formwork panel or column form built and struck, joinery task to tolerance.
• Steel fixers — rebar cage fabricated from a bar-bending schedule; cover and spacing checked.
• Masons and tilers — blockwork and tiling laid to line, level and joint; plaster finish inspected.
• Scaffolders and riggers — structure erected and inspected to a drawing; lift executed to a plan with correct slinging and signalling.
• Welders and erectors — coupons to your process and position, bend-tested; bolted connection assembled and aligned.
• MEP — circuit fault-finding and motor control; pipework installation and pressure test; refrigerant handling.
• Painters and gypsum — surface preparation and finish to standard; partition built from a drawing.
• Plant operators — excavation to line and level, loading cycles, pre-start inspection, on the machine.
• Foremen — programme reading, crew allocation, a toolbox talk in English.

What the test does not replace

Trade tests verify skill; they do not replace the destination's own requirements. Australia's TRA skills assessment for Philippine passports, Germany's Handwerkskammer or the experience route's two-year qualification test, Austria's AMS assessment or the Pre-Check register, state licences for electrical and plumbing work — all are prepared from the test record and completed where the law requires. Everything here is subject to the permit, qualification and licensing requirements of the destination country.

The Philippine side

Recruitment runs through our own DMW-licensed agency, Prime Search Manpower Agency Inc. in Makati (licence DMW-027-LB-11182024): your company is accredited at the Migrant Workers Office for the destination, the job order is registered with the DMW, and every worker leaves Manila with a verified contract, medical clearance, pre-departure orientation and an Overseas Employment Certificate. The Philippine ban on direct hiring applies; the employer is always your company, directly.

Frequently asked questions

• Can we set the test ourselves?

  Yes — send the drawing, the specification or the checklist you use on site; we run exactly that.

• How many candidates per test day?

  Twenty to forty per trade, in rounds; results and recordings the same day.

• Are TESDA certificates enough?

  They are verified, not relied on: the practical test decides who is presented.