Is hiring top talent important in your organisation?

Post published:26/05/2016
Reading time:4 mins read

If recruiting talented people is one of your top priorities (and it should be if you want to stay a top manager), then spending an hour of your time with your HR Department or your preferred Headhunter is critical to the success of the hiring process.

I’m always puzzled when executives don’t take this briefing more serious because it leaves your hiring partner (whether HR or Headhunter) with a lot of guessing to do. When your hiring partner is left to fill out the blanks with their own ideas on what the job really is, you probably have a better chance of winning in the lottery than getting the best candidate for the job.

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Are you too having trouble finding HR talent?

Post published:24/11/2015
Reading time:6 mins read

What is going on in the world of HR? Clients are queuing up outside my door screaming for help to find real talented HR candidates. They are looking for people who combine the best of skills in HR management (HRM) with the latest HR development (HRD) and organisational development (OD).

For some, HRM and HRD are just buzzwords used to inflate the trivial to something of importance and prestige. It’s now used to brag and in its arrogance becomes insincere, superficial and inappropriate. These individuals have little understanding of its actual meaning and are more interested in impressing others by making their claims sound so technical and obscure that it could only be understood by a small number of people. Oh well. Did someone say lip service? (more…)

3 mistakes clients make when using contingency recruitment

Post published:21/10/2015
Reading time:5 mins read

If you are open to an argument about why it’s better to partner just one recruitment agency at a time, and not three or four, this article is for you and a must-read!

There are three good reasons why hiring companies multi-list their job orders and expect recruitment agencies to fight it out over the very same job vacancy. If the hiring managers just knew, this madness would end sooner rather than later. Here is why.

Mistake 1:

Do you believe you are increasing your chances of filling the position by 300 to 400 percent if you engage and work with several recruiters at the same time? You may think that the three to four recruiters have different databases with their own unique candidates, and the recruitment agencies each press a magic button to unveil never-ever-to-be-seen candidates. The truth of the matter? (more…)

Why one million LinkedIn users in Thailand is irrelevant

Post published:14/09/2015
Reading time:8 mins read

PUBLISHED IN SEPTEMBER 2015

Congratulations to LinkedIn for just recently passing one million members in Thailand. Out of context, you too would agree that this is a significant achievement. But here is the but, and it’s a big but!

A few years ago, I asked in my blog if LinkedIn was killing the recruitment industry. They say that Curiosity Killed the Cat; a reference to the dangers of unnecessary experimentation and speculation.

Herein lies a possible answer to the question of whether LinkedIn is in the process of pushing the executive search and recruitment profession over the cliff. Dear reader: hold your speculation.

LinkedIn reports that they now have 380 million members in over 200 countries and territories.

56% are male
87% are 35 years of age or older
The US has 107 million users, while the UK has 17 million
61 million users are registered in Asia
10 million users are located in China and 7 million are in Australia
Thailand has 1 million users

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3 things recruitment agencies do not tell clients

Post published:21/08/2015
Reading time:6 mins read

If you think all situations are black and white, it is obviously a simplification of what happens in the real world. There are always exceptions to the generally accepted rule of how agency recruiters make their money. On the other hand, famous author Tom Peters said: “Perception is reality”. You be the judge this time.

1. Don’t use a recruiter who will not meet you

Recruitment agencies typically charge a fee, which is based on the placed candidate’s compensation, somewhere around two to three months’ salary and allowances; but charged in full only after you have hired their candidate.

You can compare the recruitment agency’s work as playing a lottery. They are not paid if their client does not hire their candidate. The consultant does not receive any commission, if the client chooses a candidate from another agency. As a client has no obligation to the agency whatsoever, except to pay if they hire a candidate, the client will often engage several agencies at the same time for the same position. They do so because it’s free, nothing to lose and because they think each agency has their own pool of candidates (which in fact they don’t; most candidates register their resume with many recruiters, so the pool is pretty identical no matter where you go). (more…)

Candidates are getting lost

Post published:24/07/2015
Reading time:5 mins read

No sir, no madam, they are not getting lost because they cannot find your office. This is a lot more serious than that.

According to a recent report from ERE Media on subjects of recruiting intelligence, employers are losing more candidates than ever before as time to fill vacant positions grows. If you are in the business of hiring people, either as a company hiring manager, HR Manager or a third party recruiter and headhunter, it should be no surprise that applicants and candidates are not exactly queueing up in front of your office. Well, perhaps except in Greece or Spain, or if you are lucky to work for Apple or Google.

The simple reason is that the unemployment rate in Thailand is almost non-existent and will likely stay so for a long time. A contracting labour market is something I have talked about for years. It will not go away. Deny or refuse to acknowledge that fact, which is blatantly obvious, is like putting your head in the sand like an ostrich. (more…)

Are you breathing your own exhaust?

Post published:29/06/2015
Reading time:4 mins read

Can I ask you: Are you one of the many executives who do not spend enough time on networking in your local business community? I’m asking, because in my more than 10 years in recruitment and search, I have received calls from many executives who have lost their job. Perhaps been told to return to head office in Europe or elsewhere – but don’t want to. In any case, a sudden overpowering feeling of fear and state of anxiety feel like kicks in the gut. Ever been there?

So why is it that too few prioritise this activity?

Breathing your own exhaust is dangerous. No, this has nothing to do with your car and exhaust pipe. It’s everything to do with an isolated mind that starts believing you can walk on water; meaning a self-perception that you can break through personal limitations and achieve dramatic success all by yourself. It leads to arrogance, a closed mind, a restriction on your perception, and a kind of know-it-all person. It takes special effort to see the world from any perspective other than through our own eyes. (more…)

The real truth about working with headhunters

Post published:28/05/2015
Reading time:8 mins read

So let’s start by addressing the biggest myth in recruitment; that of recruiters finding jobs for people. I’m sorry to tell you, and to be blunt about this, but it’s not only a myth – it’s totally nonsense. Recruiters and headhunters do not find jobs for people; they find people for jobs!

Finding people for jobs
Finding jobs for people

When you think about it, these two models are very different concepts. They are so far from each other that I wouldn’t even use the popular Thai expression, “same same but different”. In this particular case, they’re very different concepts and not the same at all.

If you have ever been approached by a recruiter or headhunter about a new job opportunity, you know that recruiters are not paid by the candidates but by their client companies. Clients pay recruiters to identify and present suitable candidates for very specific positions, with very specific and hard-to-find requirements. Yes, we help clients find candidates they cannot. (more…)

Lazy narcissists or energized optimists?

Post published:12/03/2015
Reading time:4 mins read

But my generation is not different!

There are three uncomfortable truths about Generation Y, or the Millennials or Me Me Me Generation, as they are also called – that is if we are to believe a newly released report from IBM called: “Myths, exaggerations and uncomfortable truths – The real story behind millennials in the workplace”.

The author is Carolyn Heller Baird, a global research leader in the IBM Institute for Business Value, and she writes that various reports have for years been predicting how Millennials (aged 21–34) would revolutionise the workplace. The reports all conclude that Millennials are somehow different from their predecessors.

Time magazine published an article in 2013 by Joel Stein, in which he admitted that he, just like what old people have done for centuries, calls those younger than him: lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow. (more…)

What’s the problem with your resume?

Post published:25/02/2015
Reading time:5 mins read

8 hot tips for your resume that can get you an interview

Let me make one thing very, very clear: There is only one purpose of a resume:

To get you an interview with a prospective employer

No, no and no – it’s purpose is not to get you the job, that’s what the interview is for! The resume is meant to be your extended business card, your personal sales and marketing pitch, which will get the recruiter to grab the phone and call you in for a meeting.

Use a standard Microsoft Word document and please do not use Excel or PowerPoint. On the top or at the very bottom, use the header or footer function in Word, write your name and address, and remember to include your mobile telephone number and email address. Use a business like email address, which means that happygolucky@gmail.com does not give the right impression. There is no need to write the words Resume or CV, as that should already be easily recognisable. Last but not least, save your Microsoft Word document using your name; do not call it “my_resume.doc”.

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