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Skilled engineers, nurses, accountants, IT professionals, teachers, hospitality professionals and many more skilled workers are badly needed to fill urgent positions all over the world.

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Snippets: Ask for more to do

This is part of a series of articles to make your job hunting experience more meaningful with JobStreet.com.

Have you ever thought of volunteering to help out other departments or teams or simply asking for more responsibilities? This selfless action increases your value within the organisation. When you ask for additional work, it shows an interest and desire to help your department and company to succeed. It also puts a spotlight on your value to the business.

Do check back on 10 Aug 2009 for more tips!

Be prepared for some hard work

Joblessness is not a new phenomenon and especially, during the economic downturn, the search for a job can be long and difficult. However, opportunities still abound and job seekers, especially new graduates who are passing out from universities this year, should be heartened by this short message of advice from Steven who faced similar challenges of unemployment as a new graduate about 15 years ago. Here is his story:

"I graduated with a degree in Hotel Management in the early 1990s. For a long time, I went jobless and could not even find work as a waiter in a hotel. I was told that I was over-qualified for the job and the hotel was certain that I would not stay long on the job. Also, I couldn't find a more senior position because I did not have the experience.

"I faced this dilemma for almost a year until I met a very understanding Human Resource manager who gave me a chance. The job I got was a very junior position in the front office department. But now, after 14 years in the industry, I am holding a senior executive position at a five-star hotel and have a comfortable salary. Luck played a big part in my getting my first job but I can tell you that it has been full of hard work and long hours ever since then.

"To address the unemployment problem among new job seekers, both employers and graduates need to compromise on matters. Employers must give opportunities to new graduates to learn about the job. Likewise, new graduates must learn to accept lower positions and get the necessary experience.

"My advice to new graduates is that they should be prepared to work hard and not expect jobs and money to come automatically with a degree. Graduates should not be choosy when job hunting but use job hunting as a learning experience to equip themselves for future advancement."

Wanted: a witch of a job, expected salary £50,000

The tourist attraction of Wookey Hole Caves, near Wells, in Somerset, has advertised for someone to teach visitors about witchcraft and magic after its previous employee, Jane Brenner (pictured) retired. The job advertisement, which appeared earlier this month in local newspapers and job centres, states that the successful applicant "must be able to cackle" and "must not be allergic to cats".

Wookey Hole said it has since sent out 2,319 applications and have received 23 letters of complaint from church or religious groups.

Legend has it that the caves were home to the Wookey Witch who was turned to stone by Father Bernard who had been appointed by the Abbott of Glastonbury to rid villagers of her curse.

Auditions for the role are being held in front of a panel of judges who will assess the applicants costume and character as well as the ability to perform witch tests.

Daniel Medley from Wookey Hole said: "Wookey Hole wants the appointee to go about her everyday business as a hag, so that people passing through the caves can get a sense of what the place was like in the Dark Ages. This was when an old woman lived in the caves with some goats and a dog, causing a variety of social ills including crop failures and disease. So the job is straightforward: live in the cave, be a witch, and do the things witches do.

"Wookey Hole is advertising nationally and hopes to attract a strong field of candidates, with the £50,000 salary serving as a major incentive. Interviews for the post will involve on-site assessment incorporating a range or standard tasks. Ambitious witches, looking for a key career move, should turn up dressed for work and bring any essential witch accoutrements. A limited range of potion ingredients will be available.

"We are witchless at the moment so we need to get the role filled as soon as possible. We are looking for someone who is friendly, a little mischievous and with lots of character. We are expecting hundreds of male, female and trans-gender witches all in full witchy regalia competing for the 50k job opportunity in a X-factor style audition. In one minute they have to convince a panel of three judges they are the right witch for the job using whatever props they can carry. The grand winner will be chosen on the day."

Internships and how they helped today’s successful CEOs

The importance of internships have are often overlooked, but for a lot of CEOs who would eventually make million (or billion) dollar decisions, it was the starting point of something bigger.

Making full use of their internships, some were hardened by their experience, gaining resilience and persistence along the way. Others gained insights into the industry and realized what they were truly passionate about. Those fortunate enough to work under visionaries and revolutionaries in their field, learned lessons in both personal and professional areas, lessons which will guide them throughout the rest of their lives.

Click here to read the Forbes.com story of CEOs and their internship experiences

P.S: If you know someone who is looking for internships, send them this link. Just click on the links below for internships on JobStreet.com

Malaysia | Singapore | Philippines | 

How much can you save?

We are presently running a poll on our Malaysian website to ask job seekers to estimate how much they could accumulate in their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) by the time they retire. The EPF is a statutory body in Malaysia which collects monthly contributions from both employers and employees, and an employee can only withdraw from his account under special recognised circumstances. Normally, when a person retires, he should be able to withdraw the whole lump sum in his account.

The results of this poll indicated that a vast majority of employees only have a vague idea of their accumulated savings. About a third of the respondents believed that they would have less than RM200,000 in their EPF Account, while about 28 percent said that their saivings would be between RM200,000 and RM500,000. Another 17 percent thought that their accumulated savings would be between half-a-million to one million ringgit, while only 22 percent firmly believed that they could get at least RM1 million from their savings.

Considering that an average person would be working between 30 and 40 years during his lifetime, an accumulation of RM200,000 or less would be a gross underestimation. Just check for yourself: take your present annual salary, work out what's 20 percent of it (consisting of both employer and employee contributions) and multiply by 30 years. it's already a healthy sum and this does not even consider your annual increments and the interest that is compounded on the savings.

Industry Nite: Information Technology

JobStreet.com's Industry Nite, a series of Industry Talks organised jointly with The National Library Board continues this month with a closer look into the I.T. industry.

Our special guest is Mr Raymond Wong who will share with us how new constant developments within information technology are connecting people and processes, making our world smarter and faster, and presenting everyone – especially IT professionals – with boundless business opportunities and growth.

Details of the event are as follows:

Date	Tue, 28 July 2009
Time	7pm – 8.15pm
Cost	Free
National Library Board Level 5, Imagination Room, 100 Victoria Street Singapore 188064 Details | Directions

Pace of hiring indicates positivity on the way

The speed of the recruitment process is starting to once again increase, although most employers remain uncommitted to exactly when overall recruitment activity will resume, says specialist recruiter Hays.

“Sentiment seems to be improving slightly in the labour market, with a stabilising effect bringing some positivity to hiring plans,” said Chris Mead, General Manager of Hays in Singapore.

“While recruitment freezes are still in place in many businesses, a small improvement in the general outlook and new financial year budgets are allowing some recruitment to take place. Most employers are watching and waiting, but those few that are recruiting are doing so in a speedier manner than we’ve seen in recent months.

“Certainly employers remain cautious, but with the gentle increase in recruitment momentum and market stability, HR and line managers are considering their recruitment processes, which became drawn-out over recent months. They plan to start to quicken the process to secure the best candidates from the generous options available. 

“But while the speed of the recruitment process is starting to improve, companies will still approach their recruitment with prudence. The past year has made them far more cautious, so job seekers should still expect a very thorough screening and interview process,” advised Chris.

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Employers are hiring – you just need to know where

The roller-coaster employment ride of the past year appears to be reaching more stable ground, with recruitment activity starting to rise and businesses recommencing – albeit with caution – their hiring plans, says a leading recruiter.

In its latest Hays Quarterly Report, recruiter Hays says employers have started to take a more positive approach towards their staffing needs. “Employers are approaching their recruitment with patient positivity,” said Chris Mead, General Manager of Hays in Singapore.

“Despite the economic downturn, stability is gradually returning to the market as companies plan for their future. They are now thinking about expansion and growth again. For example, we have witnessed a moderate increase in hiring activity at selected banks and in specific areas, which we expect to continue this quarter.  The construction sector has also become far more positive, with demand for staff driven predominantly by infrastructure work. Contract recruitment is expected to continue to increase this quarter as companies realise it offers a viable solution to headcount freezes. A temporary assignment can be extended, or converted to a permanent position once headcount approval is achieved. This measured increase of hiring activity will continue until quarter four, when a stronger injection of vacancies is expected,” said Chris.

Employers are most commonly hiring at present in the following areas:

• Cost accountants and costing managers: “Many companies seek to improve efficiency and the quality of financial reporting, and so require these specialist roles, but there are very few of these candidates currently available in Singapore.  Financial controllers and finance managers with experience in management reporting are also in demand.”
• Audit, compliance and controls within banking: “Increasing regulatory controls, a greater focus on valuations and the review of complex transactions has created this need. Market risk and project (migration and integration) candidates are also sought by banking employers.”
• Rail: “Demand continues within the construction sector for candidates with specialist experience on rail-related projects. This demand ranges from engineering to onsite construction professionals.”
• HR Executives and HR VPs and Directors: “These candidates are sought by the public sector, while the commercial sector is also refilling business critical HR positions, most commonly multi-skilled generalists and compensation and benefits experts.”
• Information Technology: “.NET, C# project managers, network operations managers and Siebel CRM candidates are in demand at present, and those with banking and telecoms industry experience are viewed particularly highly. Network operation engineers with experience in MPLS networks and TCP/IP are also sought.”
• Developers: “Risk projects are creating a need for hands-on development staff with hybrid business skills.”
• Sales professionals: “Those sales candidates with a very strong customer focus and an excellent record of delivery remain in high demand.  The IT, oil & gas and FMCG industries in particular are recruiting these skills.”
• Oil & gas professionals: “The project development space is starting to return in Asia and this is reflected in an upturn in demand for EPCM staff. A number of offshore construction projects have created a need for temporary staff. Business development specialists are also required to generate sales and strengthen relationships.”