The Snitch

Job applicants get thrown off track most of the time during an interview when they are asked, “What is your greatest weakness?”

Christopher Morrow, senior vice president of Calabasas in California says candidates tend to divert the question and respond with something that is not a weakness. “It is a deal breaker,” says Morrow. Believe it or not, giving the wrong kind of answer will weaken one’s chances of gaining employment in today’s tight job market.

While one cannot possibly identify weaknesses that are most obvious – like, say for instance; “I really hate coming back to work on Saturdays and would prefer not to, regardless of how much work I have to do!” Such statements would only leave you deservingly unemployed. So how do you handle such questions professionally?

Morrow suggests that a careful game plan can help you cope with the shortcoming query in a way that highlights your strength for a desired position. “Job seekers who field the question well demonstrate that they can take initiative and improve themselves,” he added.

Another way is to take conscious note of your weaknesses, focusing especially on job-related ones that will not impede your credibility to perform your tasks. Never choose a personal flaw as your reply, the way an IT manager did by choosing to say that his true weakness is that he’s a terrible cook. This will not impress the interviewer.

Here are some of the wrong answers that job applicants give when asked the question:

Via WSJ

A new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology determined that not all bosses are actually competent enough at what they do to deserve that position in the first place.

Social psychologists say that one way to come across as a leader is actually to simply act like one. This means speak up, speak well and offer a lot of ideas. In time, you’ll realise that people will start doing what you say. Nevertheless, this can only work well when leaders know what they’re doing. But what if you act like a boss and give out crap instructions?

Researchers at the University of California carried out a test and found that people who spoke up the most were rated by their teammates for qualities such as “general intelligence”, “dependable” and “self-disciplined”. On the other hand, people who kept silent were rated higher for less desirable qualities which included “conventional” and “uncreative”.

Worryingly, the test also found that any kind of speaking up would be enough to put people into the position of a leader. Providing any kind of information related to solving the problem is also counted, especially if they did so confidently and repeatedly.

“Dominant individuals behaved in ways that made them appear competent,” the researchers added, “above and beyond their actual competence.” More often than not, the members were willing to listen to and take directions issued by these underqualified bosses. Teams tend to use the first answer issued by anyone, without giving or only briefly considering to the other answers that were shouted out. This happened an overwhelming 94% of the time.

So maybe people are only looking for leaders based on how quickly they are able to provide answers, regardless of the quality of solutions offered.

What do you think?

via TIME

When Marriott hotel opened its doors for a behind-the-scenes tour, it was an invitation too good to miss out on.

I got the opportunity to speak to the pastry chef, Irene (middle) about her experience working with Marriott Hotel for the past fourteen years. A typical day at work would begin with making sure that everything would be ready for functions and businesses that take place at the hotel. One of the challenges that Irene has to deal with daily would be manpower-related problems. “Sometimes, there are just not enough manpower to deal with all the businesses coming in. As a leader, I have to learn how to move forward and manage the team the best way possible, to get things done.”

She added that in her line of work, there is no such thing as saying “No”. Marriott will deliver what their clients want as far as they possibly can accommodate.

When asked what made her stay with Marriott all throughout the years, Irene responded without hesitation that she loves the “Marriott philosophy”. This is because of the way Marriott believes in taking care of the internal staff, taking into consideration their interests as they believe that doing so will translate into better service rendered to their guests. For instance, Marriott puts aside the last Thursday of every month for an “All Star” staff day, whereby associates gather to celebrate birthdays and also communicate and share news about successes in their various departments.

“There is nothing better than to have guests and clients satisfied and happy with the end product that my team and I have managed to put together. I’m very passionate about my job and in such a fast-paced business hotel like this, time just passes by really quickly!”

At the Robert Walters media session yesterday, the senior management team shared with us some of the local and global highlights shared in the presentation by Andrea Ross, managing director of Robert Walters, Singapore.

Locally, our financial services are experiencing recruitment freezes, especially within operations and finance. The areas of growth are within compliance credit and audit. The revenue generating sales roles are also more prominent within the oil and gas FMCG sectors when it comes to sales and marketing. The good news is that job opportunities in finance within the commerce industry continue to grow, showing no signs of slowing down.

Ross also touched on the general outlook for Singapore, which are as follows:

Globally, professionals are moving from financial services into less volatile commercial and public sectors. Demand for contract staff has also increased amid the headcount freezes and redundancies. Also, because of a smaller discrepancies when it comes to quality of skills, employers are able to select from a larger pool of quality candidates.

If you have managed to survive a lay-off, start acting like a survivor and don’t let your feelings get the best of you. “People who survive difficult experiences and economic times are able to do so because they can imagine a time when things will change for the better,” says Janet Banks, an executive coach in Boston. While it is never easy to keep the ball rolling when your office is undergoing so many changes, here are some suggested ways that may help you start taking charge of your job again.

Throw out negativity. Survivors left behind can easily fall into a state of being sorry for themselves as they go about having to pick up the pieces. Managers look for people they can count on during these times – people who can handle more pressure, easy to work with and are team players. This means that it is essential for you to keep upbeat, looking out for the positive things, rather than to harp on all the negative energy. “You want your manager to see you as having a personality that brings energy rather than zapping energy from the group,” says Banks.

Be sure of new business priorities. Businesses tend to change their direction and priorities of the different projects after a big cut-back. Thus, keep on top of things and find out what is the highest priority at work by checking in with managers who are one or two levels above you, says Mark Phelps, a senior consultant at Development Dimensions International. Always check and make sure that you know exactly what is expected out of you, especially when taking over the work of a former colleague.

Establish yourself as a team player. Layoffs usually calls for more collaboration between the remaining staff as departments will be merged and responsibilities end up being shared. Instead of complaining and getting upset over how your tasks are now blurred, use this chance to built up ties and get to know your new team members better. This will help facilitate the different ways you can get work done with fewer people around.

Via WSJ

Perhaps it would be helpful for you to read Burning the Suit by Andrew Taylor for a different take on retrenchment. Taylor’s experience will make you feel thankful that you’re the one having to do the clean-up, rather than being thrown out. Instead of fighting back against the redundancy of not being needed by the company anymore, fight back against the desire to hold the company responsible for all the guilt and uncertainty that you are feeling after a wave of layoffs.

Hand reflexology can instantly ease away stress, headaches and pain. It doesn’t matter if you are an office exec who gets tension headaches or simply someone who wants to reduce trips to the doctor. Hand reflexology benefits everyone. Massaging certain points on the palm can instantly relieve stress- which is the main cause of many diseases out there.

Here are some of hand exercises tips recommended by Advanced Health Group:

1) Interlocking fingers – Cross your 10 fingers with strength and slowly loosen the grip. Repeat this 3 to 5 times. It will stimulate the central nervous system and release stress from working or studying.

2) Fingertip massage – With your palm facing up, press and massage each finger entirely for 1 minute. Spend more time on aching fingertips. This helps to reduce headaches and boosts concentration. Massage the thumb for the brain, index finger for digestive system, middle finger for heart, ring finger for liver and the pinky for your kidney.

3) Finger stretching – Cross your fingers and extend your arms forward to maximum length, hold them there and move up for 3 to 5 times. This stretches your arms and prevents hands, arms, shoulder and waist discomfort. This exercise is ideal for workers who spend the day facing computers.

4) Piano playing – To prevent cardiovascular diseases, pretend you are playing the piano on the table for 3 minutes. This is especially good for those who party hard and entertain.

When push comes to shove – you eavesdrop, or at least that is what survey findings are proving.

More than 494 respondents acknowledged an increase in gossips and rumours about downsizing and layoffs within their companies, says a survey conducted by Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). It also found that  nearly one-quarter of respondents also reported  a considerable jump in cases of employees spying over the last year.

Explains Evren Esen, survey manager at the SHRM,

Everyone is on guard, and they have their ears perked up for any information that may give them a sense of clarity about what’s going on at their organization because people feel threatened and scared, they’re more likely to do things they wouldn’t normally do.

Snooping activities includes listening in on closed-door meetings, peeking at confidential emails or sharing second hand information with colleagues. Although it may seem irresistibly harmless, such banter can in fact turn ugly, especially when false messages circulate. Esen warns that leaked news of upcoming layoffs can dampen morale and foster distrust. Such behaviour also reduces productivity on top of dampening morale.

Executives are reportedly taking an even firmer stand against the spread of confidential information by installing equipment to make eavesdropping harder!

So how far would you go to eavesdrop? Or are Singaporeans too afraid of the consequences at hand to do a little dirty digging? Sometimes you can’t help but overhear stuff, can you? This must be the only time when open-plan offices can be great after all!

Via Inc.

People tend to make a lot of mistakes when writing resumes – even when it is not their first time submitting one. How do you  make yours look and sound better than a colleague who has the same experience? With diminishing jobs available in the market today, openings will be quickly grabbed and greeted by floods of applicants all armed with similar-looking resumes.

So here are some of the mistakes that should ideally be avoided when writing a resume.

Brad Karsh, co-author of How to Say It on Your Resume explains that the biggest screw-up is to sound like a human resource executive, ie. someone who writes clear concise job descriptions. Karsh adds that if a colleague or the employees who had your job before or after you could write the same thing about their position on their resume then you have just minimized your chances of getting hired. What you should do instead is highlight your key accomplishments in that position.

Another mistake that people make is to use long and full sentences. Bearing in mind that a resume only gets a ten second scan, full sentences are too time-consuming in today’s hiring world. If you’re too flashy and long-winded, with unclear content, you are less likely to sell. Make your resume as easy as possible for your prospective employer to read.

Quantify your accomplishments. Accomplishments come is two forms;  scope and results. When thinking about scope, consider questions like how much, how many, how often, how frequently. When it comes to results, think about accomplishments that were singular and superlative—were you the top seller, the only person chosen, the grand prize winner? Numbers are key to proving what you’ve done in an especially concise fashion.

More resume-writing tips to share with you here.

We have heard many horror stories about companies ruthlessly chopping off their workforce by the thousands. While we are all so caught up sympathizing with the plight of these displaced workers, it is easy to overlook the impact that this recession has on the employees who are left behind to pick up the pieces from where their ex-colleagues left off.

People assume that the ones who are still with jobs are the luckier of the lot. Of course it is a valid assumption to make. Isn’t it better to still have a steady income that will help you tide through this awful downturn?

Not necessarily so.

As reported in Time, employees who are left behind often have to dealing with guilt that it wasn’t them who was laid off, anxiety that they might be next, exhaustion from the extra work they must take on and even envy of those who get to leave such a depressing environment.

Says a market researcher in New York City who recently watched an entire division of her company be cast off,

“It’s depressing. You walk into the office and it’s quiet, the entire atmosphere is different. When someone gets promoted you want to say, ‘That’s great,’ but then you realize they got the job because the two other people in that group got laid off; this person was cheaper. You start feeling evil. People say at least you have a job, you should be grateful. Well, I’m not sure how happy I am. And then I feel selfish about that.”

It seems to me that the economic climate today has spared no one – regardless of whether there is a job or not. Everybody is just as mentally, emotionally and physically drained as the next employee.

So who’s got it worse, really? Having no job at all? Or having too much work all at once from taking over an ex-colleague’s workload?

Via TIME

If you’re feeling sad and lonely this coming Valentine’s day, perhaps it’s time to approach your HR department for a little social get together with other eligible folks… on a cruise.

As reported in our HR Bulletin yesterday, some companies in Singapore have signed up their single workers to go on a cruise to meet other potential soulmates.

So I asked my single colleagues in the office as to what their reaction would be if our company sent them on a cruise with other singletons. Here’s what they have to say.

Keav, a young account executive’s first question was: “Is the boat going to be full of despos?” His requirements are “simple”. If there are going to be beautiful (and possibly rich) ladies — he’s in.

Rayana, a journalist with Marketing is less skeptical of such an idea. As long as the people on the boat are diverse, engaging and hopefully not too much older than she is, Rayana’s open to giving this a shot. “I’m probably going more for the cruise, rather than love,” she quipped.

Angeline, editor of Procurement Asia is determined not be sent to any of such outings. According to her, meeting new people and making small talk is really stressful and awkward. I couldn’t agree more. How are sparks supposed to fly under such business-like conditions anyway? I imagine people coming up to each other, handing out business cards and exchanging brief pleasantries as if it were a conference or networking event.

Melody, the production editor summed it up best. “I need to know the demographics of the people on the cruise before blindly signing up! Something that sounds like a loveboat initially can end up like Murder on the Orient Express.”

So now you know what a bunch of pessimists we are when it comes to matters of the heart. Ideally, it would be great to leave it up to the forces of nature for some loving to come our way. Still, given the amount of time workers spend in the office, a nudge in the right direction from the HR department might help speed Cupid’s work up a little. Or maybe companies should just secretly sign their employees up instead, leaving no room for arguments.

What are your thoughts? Do you need your HR department’s help in finding some romance in your life? Or should companies stay out of employees’ personal lives completely?