Snippets - Recruitment Agencies.

I’ve actually wanted to write this for a while but perhaps the mood is there tonight, but here i go. Over the years I’ve come across a lot of people that do not seem to know the difference between an Executive Search company and a recruitment AGENCY. There is a lot of difference one for sure is fees and the other for sure is quality. I’ll take you down whatever is in my head at the moment. Althought i find it odd but in different industries i find myself explaining to potential candidates what Executive Search is J. Although our profession has been spoilt by alot of recruitment agencies in the market but i find it rather odd that many still do not know what Executive Search is, usually, recruitment, headhunter or recruiter.

Let’s take recruitment agency. The typical recruitment agencies on the top of my mind are those like, Manpower, Kelly Services, Agensi Pekerjaan MatchLink, Jobslink, Jobs2u, JacRecruitment and JenJobs. These are companies at the top of my head at the moment. Alot of times, recruitment agencies are the companies which conduct database search. They will fish out CV’s in their database storage collected from their advertising, interviews, contact, referrals etc. Plentiful of candidates. They typically spend a lot of money in a recruitment management system that enables them to extract CV’s through keywords and certain criterion’s which a recruitment consultant would be looking for a vacancy. Most cases, the CV’s are not updated and candidates are not interviewed. More often also, the recruitment consultants are usually not industry driven or industry professionals. They work on a case basis, whereby they perform key searches on keywords they find throughout the Job Description. Usually no face to face interviews, no client fronting, no proper understanding of the job role and sometimes just lack of knowledge. This in turn could be a good thing and a bad thing, why?

The good thing is, the client would get fast response, although being swarmed by irrelevant CV’s for the job there is atleast 1 out of 10 candidates which is a potential hire. So, there would be volume for the time. Recruitment agencies are excellent companies for multiple industries low-level recruitment, mass recruitment and certain outsourcing functions i.e: payroll. There is a advantage and disadvantage dealing with a recruitment agency. Still i recommend using them but a reputable company. The bad thing is, well, you can figure it out on your own, base on your experiences. Because i can.

Where executive search is concerned – here is the link:
http://aheadhunter.blogspot.com/2009/04/working-with-headhunters.html

Hello 2010

Okay I am back. I’ve been slacking but I guess i still have some readers who do check out this turf of mine once in a while. I have to apologize to my loyal readers. I also thank those who have had submitted their CV’s in to me throughout the past two months and I do know I am late in replying, I guess the workload has increased. But, as it is a new year and I have lots to tell, do look out for new posts. I have been gathering lots of material over the past month also and I will begin to update.

Let’s just begin with the market. Yes it has picked up, well comparing to last year at least, it was dead last year. Looking back I am very happy that I made it past last year given the outlook and thankfully a lot of my clients have stood by and supported me with their new recruitment for FY2010.

As I have said many times before when employers start to look for new sales talents, it just shows that the aggressiveness for business is very much there and currently very much alive.
I will update with some interesting material. See you guys soon!

Happy 2010!

Market So far.

The job market has picked up. I think, one thing good which most companies have put in place is their decision to take their businesses, products and solutions overseas. Either that or they innovated on their sales strategies, worked harder and pressed on deals which were on the pipeline. A lot of companies which implemented operation cost cutting has somewhat bounced back and begun hiring and projects have now started. Maybe I only speak for a few hence the decision on hiring and acquiring new talent. Despite that, the demand for employee’s have been rather difficult as people are still although exploring yet choosy on career moves. It is still the employers market and talent war is very much still alive. Just a few months back there was an influx of SAP Consultants in the market and now, most of the consultants have been employed, in that area of IT the market is still moving fast, despite of the layoffs from a few SAP companies here.

There is much more emphasis on key technical areas, such as talents from project management, solutions architects from various backgrounds, low-level hardcore programming, Quality Assurance, infrastructure engineers, product and solution driven talents to consultants from the consulting industry.

I see the market picking up and this is the time to be aggressive. The hiring game will somehow come about alive again, perhaps not just yet but soon. Maybe during the first quarter. The market has been volatile so I am being skeptical but my fellow colleagues are rather confident.

I am getting more calls for sales talents and most companies have now proposed their resources budgets for FY2010. Usually when companies start hiring account managers or business developers, this is a good sign that business is picking up and there is a need for new and constant business development. A lesson that a few people in sales took from the downturn is this, the importance of client rapport and good client support, innovation on key selling skills and also most importantly relationships. This actually was the same for me because, most executive search firms just come and go, just like that, after an assignment or two. I leveraged on this because despite us not being able to fulfill certain positions and found it difficult to find other clients, I leveraged on rapport and relationships. I took this alternative because I would like them to know whether there was business or not, that I am always there for their executive search needs. Maybe not now, but some other time and this has paid off.

I also think that most people who have moved in 08 and in 09 as a basis to job hop might find it hard to secure something in 2010 because especially in these critical 2 years, companies would’ve prefer their employees to stick with them rather than take flight at the slightest fear of insecurity. Unfortunately but especially in sales. It also separates the real performers than the non-performers. But then again, in this day and age, loyalty is not a factor which is highly regarded right?

I really took a lesson from the 4th quarter of last year because I took the first quarter in 09 for granted. From a business perspective I did not prepare myself for the downturn despite a few signs showing in November/December 08. So a lesson learnt from that is, push harder despite the end of the year being slow business months and despite all the say on how good next year is going to be, I will take it as it is going to be as hard as it was this year.

I think you should too!

Cheers.

Train and Place

A friend of mine is currently involved in the Train and place program for unemployed graduates or diploma holder students and those with less than a years of working experience and the retrenched. This program is funded by the government and it kicks off with about, if I can remember correctly 80 to a 100 students per-program. Its fully funded by the Ministry of Human Resources and the award goes out to training companies who fit the criteria. More information here:

http://www.google.com/search?rls=com.microsoft%3A*%3AIE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7ADBF_en&hl=en&source=hp&q=train+and+place+program+&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

Anyway, there are more details out on the net, but where I come in is, he needed help from someone from the industry to conduct mock interviews in the real world for his unemployed candidates to prepare them for the interviews after they have completed the program. I think I did about 30-40 interviews with graduates and diploma holders from the Electrical and Electronics qualifications, Culinary, Physiotherapy, Human Resources and a few more, all either Degree and Diploma holders. It was a good session because it reminded me when I was a graduate out there looking for a job and also reminded me of the time when we had implemented a management trainee program for my previous company when I was working in HR, only that time we interviewed about 5-600 graduates.

To be honest, I expected more out of the graduates. The program was good, it does help and transform the graduates but I am worried. Out of the I think the 40 candidates I interviewed I felt that only about 10% were willing to help themselves secure a good job out there. Only 10% stood out. The 10% that stood out were from rural areas and had taken a lot of thought in getting themselves a good foundation for a career and had no luck. Of course, all of them had taken initiative by attending this program but I only I identified these few.

One problem was English. Most of the candidates were from rural areas and had trouble expressing themselves in English. Another problem was the lack of knowledge on the industry and confidence. Base on the issues above, you can understand why they have low confidence. It is upsetting because, what I get out of this interviews is; here are candidates who I know will do a good job because of their aspirations and persistence in wanting to do well but will likely get turned down by employers because of their lack of communication skills. I can see them trying very hard to address our questions and trying very hard to express themselves. Their lack of general knowledge and industry knowledge could also be a factor to this. I am also upset to know that the basis of their lack of either confidence, industry knowledge, passion is from their Education! There is no one to blame unless this changes. Also, industrial training was done for most companies which just needed additional manpower and not much emphasis on learning. This is what I gathered from the interviews.

Sources from this website:

http://educationmalaysia.blogspot.com/2006/07/70-public-university-graduates-jobless.html says there about 20, 000 unemployed graduates in 2006 I think we can add more to that now, what makes it worst is that they are from local universities. Most of the graduates from this programs were from local universities anyway.

My point is, these are graduates which will not be given a chance to be noticed and to work in the field that they are wanting to work in because one fine day after waiting on those applications, countless rejections and no hear from interviews, they will become frustrated and end up choosing just any jobs that come their way. They come to this program expected to be hired at the end of the program and given RM500 per month for the 3 month duration but all in all, this dare I say will not be a total guarantee of their futures, because after the train and place program the training companies are expected to find a job for these graduates or retrenched workers.

These came from those with the qualifications I stated above, but what about the rest I.e., IT, Bio-technology, Civil engineering, Accounting etc? The basis of this is perhaps if local Education Institutions puts in place a learning program to prepare their soon to be graduates for the real world such as making good CV’s, mock interviews, writing cover letters, real world industry knowledge and not theoretical but fundamental knowledge, this will possibly allow a higher chance for their graduates to be land a job after graduation. Also more emphasis on communications skills, please.

On the bright side these graduates took the initiative to enroll in this course because this prepares them and transform for their next phase of life, but in the first place, why did they have to resort to this program?

Sometimes I believe employers should give candidates a chance. Although it is easier said than done, but I have been in a situation before and from what I remember if you can identity a candidate who is wanting to learn, this candidate will achieve. Putting together a management trainee program could also help. Speaking of management trainee and this is disappointing, one of the graduates recently went for an interview with GE Malaysia for one of their management trainee programs and she was told off by one of the hiring managers that she is useless and not appropriate for the program. I mean seriously? Who gave any manager a right to tell off someone about being useless, particularly so if it is GE Malaysia? Damn disappointing.

Anyway my hopes rests on this program because it helps the unemployed graduates to get noticed and given a chance to be hired in their right field and a foundation for their career! One of the better moves by our government. Cheers!

How do you evaluate an opportunity?

I keep thinking about this and i can tell that no master is good at evaluating an opportunity. Accepting a new job or a career change is a big step to alot of people especially those in a senior level related position. It is always a risk.


I always advice my candidates, to think about what lies ahead and how you would be able to see yourself fitting in to an opportunity, adding value and most importantly understanding the companies need and to see if you would see yourself in such a position. An opportunity keeps you awake most of the time until atleast the resignation is over. So....

Things to consider in an opportunity:

Monetory (This we cannot run away from, no matter how people say tht monetary is only a small incentive, yea right!)

Organization (Once you have been in the industry long enough, you know who is who and most importantly, understand the organizations need of such a position)

Team/Boss (Are you managing or who is your superior)

Expectation (Set it right, in the interview, lay down the expectations and be clear of your strenghts and weaknesses that could be a threat to the job. Atleast, be clear of the interview and the job in the first place).

Growth ( Yes, you are here for a Consulting Manager position, but in two years?)

Position (Is this a new challenge to you? Learn up the job scope and understand it completely and this will make the interview an excellent discussion)

TimeFrame (Give yourself a timeframe on your decision to accept a job offer, its easier said than done, but alot of times the hardest decision. On a personal note, i speak to close friends and associates and usually give myself about 5 days for an answer, not from above but from myself :))

If you have been headhunted, try to get the most of the information out of your headhunter, although at times difficult as they could be a little sketchy on the information given by the client but take the extra initiative to do a google search. Research has always served me well, not only for a job but looking for information that could help my candidate.

I just took some of these thoughts out of my head, hope this helps!

Cheers.

Snippets.

It’s been slightly more than a month since I have updated this piece of internet turf of mine. I hope all three of my readers would still come back. A lot has happen over the past month. Other than being busy, I have been brainstorming on new possible business ventures in the HR industry which still has very much to do with headhunting. I’m thinking this will benefit most people and potentially might piss off some employers but, it’s still in its early stages, ‘the idea’. I would like to think of it as a reference tool for everyone.

Market has picked up although has slightly has slowed down due to the fasting month. I have recently closed one of my toughest assignments this year, which took both my client and I 3 months to fulfill, through other Exec Search companies and also their internal recruitment procedures. This was an easier said than done assignment. I had to find someone who has many years of experience, technical experience, in OO technologies, someone like a solution architect and to convince them to change their career path into Quality Assurance. Simple, my client was looking for a QA Analyst and wanted someone very experienced. As most QA positions and roles, most talents perform QA and testing on proprietary software’s ie. IBM rational or Tivoli suites, but what we were looking for, was someone with software development background, project management, team leading, IT strategy to someone who had many years of software implementation. So it was quite a challenging assignment, particularly when convincing someone who has many years of experience in trying out a new role. IT was tough, but we did it. Also, our client is a renowned company that specializes in Decision Analytics, I think by now we can already guess who this client is.

One of the interesting observations which I have made myself of myself during this period is this, I help brand companies. A few things which have happen this year is retrenchment. When companies retrench, people talk. Especially in the SAP industry; which is small. So retrenched staffs tend to get a little vocal and expressed their feelings in websites such as www.lowyat.net forum. Well it is normal, companies are not able to please everyone, so when this happens, a company’s image can be tainted because when people Google a company name they will stumble upon forums and they come across bad reviews from other people. It’s a free world; it is not filtered so it’s pretty up in the air, what is posted. So when this happens, recruitment becomes difficult because of word that is going around.

So at this point of time, I have been called into assist two companies in their recruitment for two particular positions. Once I have had known of their challenges and had a good meeting, we move forward, laid some possible strategies and went down to the market to perform our search. We had to brand a company, taking time in explaining management’s decision, company strategy as well as business strategies, the immediate challenges etc to potential candidates. It was a two way game, because we had to work very closely with decision makers of the company as well as work closely with the candidate. I had to gauge many of the decisions which the candidate was making as well as managing the overall expectation and the hiring process.

I was very happy to do this even though it was very hard work, but all in all it paid off. We build a very good relationship with the said client and we manage to find them a suitable candidate which was then hired. It was good, I had to brand a company also had to manage a difficult hiring process. Like how Dato’Idris Jala went in to a company which had a big loss but turned it around in a matter of time!

Interesting read on Gen-Y

If you have been following this blog, you might have known that i have a keen interest on the Gen-Y workforce. I was reading http://www.zdnetasia.com/ this morning and i came across this study:

"Singapore's Gen Y respondents, aged between 18 and 29, placed greater importance on achieving better balance between work and social life than older respondents. About 71 percent of Gen Ys viewed it extremely important to have a good work-life balance, compared to 64 percent of Gen X workers, aged 30 to 47, and 59 percent of Baby Boomers, aged 48 to 65.

Across the age groups, fewer Gen Y respondents were happy with their current work-life balance than their seniors. About 51 percent of Gen Y respondents were satisfied with the work-life balance in their current jobs, compared to 59 percent of Gen X and 60 percent of Baby Boomers.

It is advised employers keen to attract and retain Gen Y talent that it is important to note attitudes and perceptions of Gen Y employees toward work-life balance.

"The line between work and personal life is blurring as employees are integrating information technology into their lives at many levels," he said. "Employers who use technology to enhance working arrangements are also likely to reap productivity benefits and to be seen as employers of choice.".

(source - zdnetasia.com)

Incase this is a blur, this article was a study on how mobile communications have helped work life balance. Read the rest here: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/business/0,39044229,62056031,00.htm