Recession-Proof yourself A day doesn’t go by in Singapore without reading about the doom and gloom, the economic uncertainty, the Eurozone crisis, china’s inflation and the US government empty coffers. Even our PM is prepping everyone to be ready for what is to come and expect only a 1% - 3% growth in 2012. This is a forecast before any actual bad news materialized. During the 2009 recession, forecast was adjusted to a 6% to 9% contraction. ... Read More »

  Many employers take the lead from the public service over many HR initiatives in Singapore. One of the most significant would be the 13th month bonus, otherwise known as the Annual Wage Supplement (AWS). It is given out to employees towards the end of December and amount to a month of salary. Because of that, recruitment activities across organizations normally drop to a low as potential candidates are clinging on to receiving that AWS. The world doesn’t have to ... Read More »

During one of my career counseling sessions to a group of MBA students, almost every one of them would like to become a manager straight after their graduation. Knowing better that people management skills is something you pick up through years of working experience, i put it back that it may not be that realistic. Most of them weren’t very pleased with my reply and some even became clearly agitated. It wasn’t pretty. I started managing my first ... Read More »

  Most should know that no one is allowed to bring a camera phone to a Singapore Army camp. It just happen that I am in the midst of my reservist, and without my time sapping iPhone by my side, we did the next best thing. We talked. I’ve learned so much about everyone of my section mates, what they do, what they intend to buy, etc. And in the midst of all these information, we also get ... Read More »

The same period two years ago Singapore was on the cliff edge of a technical recession. By Sep 2009, it became a reality. Companies were cutting staffs and budgets. One cannot pass by a day without hearing of some retrenchment or downsizing. The buildup to that deja vu appears to have resurfaced. Even the labour minister is out reassuring the citizens. That to me is just reaffirmation of what is going to hit us. For those that were unfortunately affected ... Read More »

  The latest Singapore stats is showing a 2.1% unemployment rate in June. According to a global comparison on Trading Economics, we are number 3 in term of least number of unemployment, only Thailand and Qatar is ahead of us with 0.5%. Our neighbor in the north is looking at 3% and our fiercest financial competitor (Hong Kong) is standing at 3.5%. With a population of 5 million, we are looking at about 105,000 unemployed. In our heated economy, you ... Read More »

  As the war for talents continue to heat up, many organizations are becoming more creative in their approach to fill up their vacancies. It is no longer just about the job. It became everything else. Things have escalated to an employee courtship. Creating employer branding, making applicant feel special, allocating expensive floor space for swanky chill-out areas in the office are just the tip of the iceberg. As a job seeker, you need to peel away ... Read More »

Recently my entire office were put through DISC assessment test. DISC is a quadrant behavioral model based on the work of Dr. William Moulton Marston (1893–1947) to examine the behavior of individuals in their environment or within a specific situation (otherwise known as environment). It therefore focuses on the styles and preferences of such behavior. It breaks down the human behavior into 4 distinct quadrant: D – Dominance I – Influence S – Steadfast C – Compliance The results you would get ... Read More »