Ask senior career coach Cheng Hing Nan about the don’ts
of the job-search process, and chances are, he will advise you
against firing off resumes aimlessly, hoping an interview
lands.
Jobseekers run the risk of flooding the employer with
the same resume, funnelled through means such as recruitment
agencies and referrals from employees who are friends.
Human resources personnel would then have a problem
deciding whom to pay commission or an incentive to for the
referral, as has happened to one of his clients, who did not land
an interview as a result.
Another mistake? The expectation that lowering one’s
salary expectations would land one a job, said Mr Cheng, who joined
Workforce Singapore in 2015, and was commended ited in Manpower
Minister Lim Swee Say’s speech during the debate on his ministry’s
Budget yesterday, along with other career coaches, for helping
unemployed workers find work.
“I salute our career coaches at WSG, e2i (Employment
and Employability Institute) and our career centres for their
passion, their professionalism and their perseverance in serving
our jobseekers, one to one, one by one, day after day with their
heads and their hearts,” he said, noting that Mr Cheng had helped a
client who was jobless for a long stretch land a job half a year
after taking him on.
Sharing his experience in an interview, Mr Cheng said
another barrier facing senior professionals, managers, executives
and technicians (PMETs) is that hiring managers do not trust
jobseekers who are willing to settle for a great deal less than
what they had drawn previously. “What if a slightly-higher-paying
job comes along ... you resign and I’ve to go through the hiring
process again?”
Mr Cheng, 55, was laid off twice from high-paying jobs,
most recently about four years ago, when he was made redundant
because his Norwegian employer decided to shut its operations
here.
Bringing his experience to bear on his work now, the
former business development director said he could grasp the
mentality, urgency and stress facing unemployed workers. So far, he
has successfully helped 75 workers return to the workforce.
His advice for unemployed PMETs — particularly those
who have held senior positions — is not to step into an interview
as a “jobseeker” but as a “business consultant”.
Jobseekers’ behaviour should reflect their
capabilities, shifting attention away from their age.
“You understand the company’s problems, you’re here to
solve the problems, and you’re proposing a solution backed up by
your track record,” he said. KENNETH CHENG
todayonline