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[Ask A Headhunter]

Does it matter if u submit pdf or word documents? ive noticed recruitment agencies asking for WORD only which leaves me puzzled

Ive heard of agencies editing ur word resumes before they send them out...

Because when they send your CV to the client, your personal details are removed so client cannot contact you directly but thru the recruitment firm

Client will also possibly receive your cv from multiple agencies so they will determine which company is your representative

Thats why they reformat your cv

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[Ask A Headhunter]

How do we know if the recruiting firm is a hot desk? Have you heard of CA Search? What's your take on this firm?

Lets put it this way

In SG got over 100 agencies

But big MNC have this thing called a PSL

What it means is that agencies on the mnc PSL can recruit for them and those not on PSL cannot recruit for them even if they are good agencies

Usually each mnc PSL max is 10 agencies or less and it is common for big MNC agencies to be on psl for many big companies

A warm desk will have a lot of psl which means you are free to reach out to the MNC clients freely

Cold desk means few psl means recruiting for MNC is much much harder

I heard of CA search before but not much i know about them but most important question you have to ask any agency before joining is who are they on the psl with

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[Zabiyaki]

Because when they send your CV to the client, your personal details are removed so client cannot contact you directly but thru the recruitment firm

Client will also possibly receive your cv from multiple agencies so they will determine which company is your representative

Thats why they reformat your cv

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so pdfs will be ignored?
i noticed a few asking for word, a few nt listing anything

is there a way to see what they edit before they send out?
theres this edmw thread here which says some agencies add/remove stuff from their resume..(e.g skills they have or dunt have)

 

[shashimi]

No cannot request

In fact they would no longer even offer you the original pay you requested possibily

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why will the company not offer the original pay requested?

 

[Ask A Headhunter]

why will the company not offer the original pay requested?

Because few company will hire people who are solely in it for the money and nothing else

They already gave you your expected salary so by asking for more it seems to them that money is the main factor and nothing else

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[Ask A Headhunter]

so pdfs will be ignored?
i noticed a few asking for word, a few nt listing anything

is there a way to see what they edit before they send out?
theres this edmw thread here which says some agencies add/remove stuff from their resume..(e.g skills they have or dunt have)

Not ignored but not preferred

And they usually dont edit anything in your CV except removing personal details

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[wahkao3]

Lets put it this way

In SG got over 100 agencies

But big MNC have this thing called a PSL

What it means is that agencies on the mnc PSL can recruit for them and those not on PSL cannot recruit for them even if they are good agencies

Usually each mnc PSL max is 10 agencies or less and it is common for big MNC agencies to be on psl for many big companies

A warm desk will have a lot of psl which means you are free to reach out to the MNC clients freely

Cold desk means few psl means recruiting for MNC is much much harder

I heard of CA search before but not much i know about them but most important question you have to ask any agency before joining is who are they on the psl with

Sent from HUAWEI NXT-L29 using GAGT

what is "PSL" ??????

 

[shashimi]

Because few company will hire people who are solely in it for the money and nothing else

They already gave you your expected salary so by asking for more it seems to them that money is the main factor and nothing else

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so person A was a contract staff, the company decide to convert person A to perm. person A expect a higher salary than what he was getting when he was a contract staff after conversion. normally will HR accede to the request?

 

[desiresale]

I have been approached by a number of executive search agencies to join them. Really exploring this option. But have my reservation coz i have no HR or recruitment experience. I do not know what did they see in me. For the past 13 yrs i'm only in th FI doing risk management in Info Sec and BCM. But i'm getting pretty sick of risk management and exploring a change.

What are the criteria needed to be a good headhunter/ recruiter? (I.e. what kind of qualities will make a person suitable to be a headhunter)

What are the things to do when first into the recruiter job?

For no experience new joiner, how will the agencies train them up?

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[desiresale]

what is "PSL" ??????

Is it Preferred Supplier List?

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[Ask A Headhunter]

Is it Preferred Supplier List?

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Yes it means preferred supplier list

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[grapefruit01]

Oh I know what is a management associate program about, but what are the benefits and cons of it?

Do you know what would be the a typical career path if I am thinking to become a Financial Analyst? I am currently working in economics research (sourcing and manipulating economics data) but without a degree, should I stay and take part time studies, or should I take a full time studies in finance (unisim) and find a job after?

Management associate means you will be made to work in different departments to see which fit best

It also means these people will be fast tracked to management level

Better to do full time in my opinion especially if the job you currently work in is not relevant to your long term career aspirations

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Is my job as an economics researcher not relevant to my long term career aspiration as a financial analyst? Because I saw this investopedia article, and it seems that my job is one of the best entry level jobs to be in (if I want to work as a Financial Analyst) because I too work alot with economic data, spreadsheets and financial packages.

Furthermore, I am working in a financial govt body now with some of my supervisors previously working for investment banks, maybe I can touch on this connection to get myself into an investment bank in the future as well? Won't these 2 points serve as strong reasons for me to stay working?

But I'm not exactly sure if my thinking is correct, if you think otherwise, could you share what would be more suitable for an entry level job for a career to be a Financial Analyst. The asociate program?

 

[apriliasiao]

Hi, I got called up by a HH and manage to secure an interview.

This HH mention that if the interviewer is to ask for my expected salary, i should told them to direct this question back to the HH instead of telling them. Why huh?

Also, how is the usual calculation for the pay increment? Let say if i ask for a 15-20% P.A, do they use 12mth or include 13mth AWS?

 

[peterblack]

Hi HH, I applied for job A but a recruiter sent me a rejection email for job B. Can reply asking if they made a mistake? Tks.

 

[Ask A Headhunter]

so person A was a contract staff, the company decide to convert person A to perm. person A expect a higher salary than what he was getting when he was a contract staff after conversion. normally will HR accede to the request?

depends on whether they have the budget to increase the salary

I have been approached by a number of executive search agencies to join them. Really exploring this option. But have my reservation coz i have no HR or recruitment experience. I do not know what did they see in me. For the past 13 yrs i'm only in th FI doing risk management in Info Sec and BCM. But i'm getting pretty sick of risk management and exploring a change.

What are the criteria needed to be a good headhunter/ recruiter? (I.e. what kind of qualities will make a person suitable to be a headhunter)

What are the things to do when first into the recruiter job?

For no experience new joiner, how will the agencies train them up?

Sent from Samsung SM-A510F using GAGT

1) Need to like to speak to people (a lot)
2) Need to know product knowledge (to a certain extent)
3) Need to be able to handle rejections well

Like mentioned earlier, people with no or limited experience, best is to join companies with a hot desk (eg: they already have clients for you to work on and all you need to do is find the candidates)

Is my job as an economics researcher not relevant to my long term career aspiration as a financial analyst? Because I saw this investopedia article, and it seems that my job is one of the best entry level jobs to be in (if I want to work as a Financial Analyst) because I too work alot with economic data, spreadsheets and financial packages.

Furthermore, I am working in a financial govt body now with some of my supervisors previously working for investment banks, maybe I can touch on this connection to get myself into an investment bank in the future as well? Won't these 2 points serve as strong reasons for me to stay working?

But I'm not exactly sure if my thinking is correct, if you think otherwise, could you share what would be more suitable for an entry level job for a career to be a Financial Analyst. The asociate program?

In my own personal opinion, investment banking is not doing well in Singapore and will continue not to do well

Look at the recent places that have been retrenching people (RBS, Barclays, etc), they are more or less pure investment banks

Then look at the places which are part of a bigger place that is retrenching (like say SCB), they are retrenching in their IB arm.

The easiest way is, not to target the top tier organizations (which will probably have much higher standards), and to go for either boutique places or those not in the top tier to gain experience or to touch on your network

You must also remember the often not mentioned (but equally as important) areas, such as, not being a job hopper, and don't ask for the sky for salary.

But IMO, if you can make it to the buy side, it will be a better long term career choice, because working in an IB is extremely volatile (and now is not a good time to join IB anyway even though they are the sexier option)

Another thing you must remember is that the industry is changing.

Just because you are good in terms of technical skills does not mean you will go far.

For example

http://news.efinancialcareers.com/sg-en/242505/what-young-bankers-need/

Hi, I got called up by a HH and manage to secure an interview.

This HH mention that if the interviewer is to ask for my expected salary, i should told them to direct this question back to the HH instead of telling them. Why huh?

Also, how is the usual calculation for the pay increment? Let say if i ask for a 15-20% P.A, do they use 12mth or include 13mth AWS?

Because their ultimate job is to get you the offer, depending on how the interview goes

If it goes well, they can ask for higher than your expected (potentially), but if it is bad, but the company is still ok to hire you, then they will ask for lower (but you still get the offer)

They use whatever is guaranteed. So if your pay is with 13 month aws they will take that into account, but if it is 12 months plus variable bonus then they will take 12 months into account.

Hi HH, I applied for job A but a recruiter sent me a rejection email for job B. Can reply asking if they made a mistake? Tks.

Yes they made a mistake

 

[grapefruit01]

In my own personal opinion, investment banking is not doing well in Singapore and will continue not to do well

Look at the recent places that have been retrenching people (RBS, Barclays, etc), they are more or less pure investment banks

Then look at the places which are part of a bigger place that is retrenching (like say SCB), they are retrenching in their IB arm.

The easiest way is, not to target the top tier organizations (which will probably have much higher standards), and to go for either boutique places or those not in the top tier to gain experience or to touch on your network

You must also remember the often not mentioned (but equally as important) areas, such as, not being a job hopper, and don't ask for the sky for salary.

But IMO, if you can make it to the buy side, it will be a better long term career choice, because working in an IB is extremely volatile (and now is not a good time to join IB anyway even though they are the sexier option)

Another thing you must remember is that the industry is changing.

Just because you are good in terms of technical skills does not mean you will go far.

For example

http://news.efinancialcareers.com/sg-en/242505/what-young-bankers-need/

So from what you have said, are you implying that I should stay and build up my relationships with these people around me? Rather than taking a degree which is just the technical aspects of things?

 

[outernet]

I went for an interview for position A with the HR, dept HOD and CEO. Just before the interview ended, the HOD said actually they're looking for ppl to fill position B as position A has just been taken up by an internal staff transfer. But he can think of creating another position A if he thinks I fit the bill.

The following week, HR called me for a 2nd interview with the CFO and a dept mgr as they are really thinking of creating another position A.

The 2nd interview went well IMO. I hope i have impressed the interviewers.

Now, 2 weeks have passed. I've been following up by email every week but there's no reply. Last Thursday i called the HR and she assured me that the post has not yet been filled by anyone. And the CFO has not yet made a decision.

I told her she could just be upfront with me should i not be chosen and she said she would let me know the outcome.

The next day she emailed me saying they're still reviewing the application.

I wonder if she's trying to say that there's no hope for me, or is it that they are really still reviewing. afterall, it's supposed to be a new position they are creating. So maybe they take more time to see what jobscope to assign to the new position?

 

[lecterc]

Hi HH.. Is age discrimination rampant in the job market? I have seen friends (late 40s to 50s) who held managerial positions struggled to find jobs after retrenchment even when they ask for half their previous salary and these guys do have real technical background (IT industry btw). I was told recruiters wouldn't even want to speak to them when they learned of their age.

May I know why is that so? What could the normal folks do to prevent this from happening to us next time. Thank you sir.

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[Ask A Headhunter]

So from what you have said, are you implying that I should stay and build up my relationships with these people around me? Rather than taking a degree which is just the technical aspects of things?

No what it means is in order to do well in your long term career, you must balance between all aspects between

1) Having the right technical certifications
2) Having some form of relevant work experience (if you are not a fresh grad)
3) Always keeping in touch with the right people so that they know that you are still around and know what you are doing (ala networking)
4) Looking at right timings to leave organizations (if you are not a fresh grad) so as you will not be branded a job hopper

Do note on point no 3, the networking does not only mean work related, for example if you take a course, the person sitting next to you might be your colleague or manager in the future for example

 

[Ask A Headhunter]

Hi HH.. Is age discrimination rampant in the job market? I have seen friends (late 40s to 50s) who held managerial positions struggled to find jobs after retrenchment even when they ask for half their previous salary and these guys do have real technical background (IT industry btw). I was told recruiters wouldn't even want to speak to them when they learned of their age.

May I know why is that so? What could the normal folks do to prevent this from happening to us next time. Thank you sir.

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I have not covered IT for a long time, so a bit hard but thru my years of general recruitment experience, if the candidate has covered his bases well, moved from organization to organization at the right timings, take the right certificates (and not what is popular) age discrimination is not an issue. (unless the candidate is almost at the age of 65 soon, then the companies will potentially be reluctant to hire cos the person will be hitting retirement age soon)

Although i heard a lot of stories about this from others, like i said i don't cover IT enough to know the full story

For example, you seldom see CCIE candidates get retrenched much even if they hit the age which you mentioned.

I went for an interview for position A with the HR, dept HOD and CEO. Just before the interview ended, the HOD said actually they're looking for ppl to fill position B as position A has just been taken up by an internal staff transfer. But he can think of creating another position A if he thinks I fit the bill.

The following week, HR called me for a 2nd interview with the CFO and a dept mgr as they are really thinking of creating another position A.

The 2nd interview went well IMO. I hope i have impressed the interviewers.

Now, 2 weeks have passed. I've been following up by email every week but there's no reply. Last Thursday i called the HR and she assured me that the post has not yet been filled by anyone. And the CFO has not yet made a decision.

I told her she could just be upfront with me should i not be chosen and she said she would let me know the outcome.

The next day she emailed me saying they're still reviewing the application.

I wonder if she's trying to say that there's no hope for me, or is it that they are really still reviewing. afterall, it's supposed to be a new position they are creating. So maybe they take more time to see what jobscope to assign to the new position?

The thing is, with any "new" position, usually there is no urgency to hire most of the time, so it might be true that they are still interviewing others to find the best fit

Whereas if the position is a replacement, and especially if the person who was doing the job has left the company, it means the department is shorthanded and there is an urgency to hire.