Lilypie

Friday, July 29, 2005

Of Job Hunting And Recruitment Agencies

So here I am, job hunting again. I have no qualms on job hunting, except the uncertainty of when to get a job, and a real permanent job for that matter, and also how to budget properly. I am eating into my savings, and at this rate, I may have to cancel my cards, and I do not wish to resort to that. I cannot live without my cards! Paying by card is so convenient; I do not have to endure long queues at ATMs.

Based on my job hunting experiences, I must say that recruitment agencies are the best to go for if you want to look for a job. Of course, most of the time I will send in my resume personally to whichever company that is hiring, but a recruitment agent will really take care of you, assess you, match you to the best job suitable and match the employer to the best jobseeker suitable. Of course, it may not be successful everytime (judging from my most recent experience), but still, they are professionals and really go all out to take care of you.

Of all the employment agencies I have gone to (not that many actually, only about 6), I will highly recommend two of them. The first one is Hudson Global Resources (my dream workplace), and the second is Kelly Services.

Hudson is actually part of a worldwide conglomerate with the headquarters in USA. It caters to a more high-class clientele. Their clients are mostly big organisations and MNCs, thus the prospective employees who apply are normally picked from the creme de la creme of the respective industries, ie very good credentials, experiences and testimonials. Even for their own recruitment consultants, they must have very good qualifications before they can even apply for the job. That is why I can never work there, and they never found me a job for any of their clients. My qualifications are just not good enough. :-(

One thing I like about the firm is their corporate culture and professionalism. Their office is located at one of the Suntec Towers. At the entrance is a professional-looking glass door. Even the receptionist is very professional, and you can actually feel warmth and care while she is serving you. The recruitment consultant I spoke to is also very warm and friendly. They actually gave me a pre-paid envelope with a letter of survey asking me to mail them my feedback after the session. I am really impressed! They really take care of all angles. And Hudson has won an award for "Best Employer of the Year 2003". The plaque itself speaks a lot on their culture - it shows that the company really takes care of the employees and the employees are happy and satisfied there. There is really a difference working for a small local firm and for a big international firm.

Kelly Services used to be known as Business Trends. It originated as a recruitment agency in Australia (I may be wrong though). What I like about this agency are the value-added services. Once you confirm a job with them, you will receive a card known as "myKelly", which entitles you to discounts at eating places, spas, shopping malls and places of interests in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. No other recruitment agency has ever come up with this concept. Rather fresh and appealing. If the agency gets you a job, you have to sign a time sheet during the probation period, and the agency will pay you, not the employer. So you are considered as an employee of the agency during probation, only after confirmation then you can truly belong to the company.

For all those current jobseekers / potential jobseekers / thinking-of-leaving-your-job-and-looking-for-a-new-job seekers, do try out these two agencies I recommended. And no, I am not giving them free advertisement and they are not paying me commssion for this. I am promoting them because I am really impressed with them and the way they take care of whoever steps into their doors.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...