The Asia Pacific Headhunter

How to Manage your Career in Scary Times: A Guide for Senior Professionals

Ian Christie of the excellent resource boldcareer.com has got in touch with me about a report he's put together that is very timely. 

Hi Steven, I recently produced a report titled "How to Manage your Career in Scary Times: A Guide for Senior Professionals" and I wanted to send it to you because it might be of interest to your readers and because I recognize a kindred spirit in your posts.

The 20-page downloadable pdf report includes:
* Getting clear on the idea of career management
* Understanding the 4 common career traps during scary economic times
* Learning strategies to minimize risk
* Exploring how to expand your pool of opportunities
* 8 ways to respond effectively if a layoff does occur
* And learning how to conduct a deep, personal SWOT analysis of your position (including worksheets)

Given the current state of the world economy and the natural career planning that occurs around the New Year, I think the report's message, information and tools are timely and would be of interest to your readers. Please have a look. The report is available to registered members of my site at no cost. 

Ian Christie
Head Career Strategist
www.boldcareer.com
866-484-BOLD

Bilingual Japanese Online Job Boards

Just to add to my previous post Top 15 Japanese Online Job Boards, another generous reader and Tokyo-based search consultant Gary Bremermann of Robert Leonard Consulting, commented on two other Japanese online job boards that are bilingual. In addition to Daijob.com that was mentioned in the Gomez report, Gary recommended:

careercross.com - Tokyo-based online job board aimed at the niche market of bilingual jobs for Japanese and English speaking professionals. They have listings for full-time, part-time and temp jobs.

ecentral.jp - Aimed at bilingual professionals seeking international jobs in Japan and employers requiring bilingual candidates. They've partnered with the ACCJ, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan.

And to add to that:

Jobba.net - a job board aimed at Japanese speakers for jobs world-wide.

Thanks Gary for your input!

 

Top 15 Japanese Online Job Boards

First of all, a big thanks to reader and freelance sourcer Bernd Kestler in Tokyo for generously sharing this find with me!

If you're interested in the Japanese market either as a jobseeker or employer - which job boards would you go to? To help sort through the different online job boards Gomez.com, a provider of on-demand web application experience management solutions, ranked 15 Japanese job boards based on user nominations and for ease of use, volume of information and content, site security and feeling of trust, and comfort in interface and service.

Here's a list of the top 15 job boards in Japan (all sites are in Japanese only except for Daijob!):

1.  Mainichi Communications (http://tenshoku.mynavi.jp)
2. Intelligence, Ltd. (http://doda.jp)
3. Recruit Co. Ltd. (http://rikunabi-next.yahoo.co.jp)
4. PROSEEK, Ltd. (http://www.proseek.co.jp)
5. SoftBANK Human Capital Corp. (http://www.ecareer.ne.jp)
6. Career Design Center Co., Ltd. (@type) (http://type.jp)
7. en-japan inc. (http://employment.en-japan.com)
8. Career Nikkei (http://career.nikkei.co.jp)
9. Mixi, Inc. (http://find-job.net)
10. Create Co., Ltd. (http://www.d-dj.com)
11. I & G Partners Inc. (http://green-japan.com)
12. JS Corporation Inc. (http://shigoto.js88.com)
13. Aidem Inc. (http://www.e-aidem.com)
14. Daijob, Inc. (http://daijob.com) In English see here (http://www.daijob.com/en)
15. Antique, Inc.(http://www.q-jin.ne.jp)

To see the fully detailed report compile by Bernd, you can download here:

Download japanese_online_jobboard_ranking.pdf

Get paid for going on a job interview

Getting paid to go on a job interview... by the company that's interviewing you???! Sounds like a far-fetched fantasy for candidates, but that's what start-up NotchUp.com is basing it's whole business model on. Candidates (preferably happily employed ones) can sign up for free, put up their (LinkedIn) profile and calculate what their interview fee would be with an interview-price calculator. This is based on your industry, job, highest educational degree, years in industry, time in current position, and current salary.

This platform is meant to cut out the recruiters and headhunters. Since companies need only pay the interview fees set up by the candidates they choose to interview, the comparable fees are supposedly lower than the recruiter's traditional placement fee which is a percentage of the new hire's first-year salary. As a recruiter, I should really discredit this model (after all, it's going after my job!), but I'm a fair person and see that everything has its merits and disadvantages.

First off, sure -- throw money into the mixture - and changing the roles of who gets paid, you'll get some interesting results. I'm sure in some cases companies -- esp. start-ups who's future depends on excellent talent can save money in placement fees by paying lower interview fees. Passive candidates (happily employed who are successful at their job) who otherwise would not put their profile up may be enticed to put their profile up if there's money in it for them. In it's best light - it may work well over regular online job boards and with a companies that work with lame recruiters who just slap up job ads everywhere and wait for whatever comes in - only to send out high-volumes of low-quality candidates to their client.

Now, here's where I see the model lacking:

First off, the point is to attract good candidates right? Good people aren't attracted just by a few hundred dollars for their time. They are attracted to good opportunities that help grow their careers and their strengths. I'd say 9 times out of 10 the candidates I recruit are attracted to the opportunity, the challenges, and the company rather than just the money.

Secondly, recruiting and headhunting isn't just about getting the right candidate to the job or vice-versa. I doubt any recruiter would be paid just for that. (Contingent recruiters usually get paid ONLY when THEIR candidate gets hired, and they usually provide a guarantee for up to 3 months - it varies of course). The hard work doesn't end there (which is where NotchUp does). Job interviews don't automatically lead to a job offer. And a job offer doesn't necessarily lead to a successful hire. There's a whole process in making the successful hire go through. Recruiters and headhunters manage people (candidates, HR managers, hiring managers, other decision-makers), people's expectations, timing, and other factors that are crucial in making a successful hire. A lot of wasted time, energy and money (in terms of lost productive work time for everyone) happens not only in the search for getting that first interview, but in the follow-through that happens after the initial job interviews. This is another part of where recruiters and headhunters provide value and service.

In the end, I seriously doubt this online platform will make a dent in the demand for good quality recruiters and headhunters out there who provide very targeted, high quality service for their clients. It certainly won't replace third party recruiters. If anything, this will probably become just another tool for recruiters to use in research.

Take control of your career: How to Recession-Proof your job in a Slowing Job Market

I just did a google news search on "job market" and the top results were all about stagnation, talent demand-supply tension, and impending recession:

From Forbes: "Japan's job market recovery at a standstill as companies battle higher costs"  
From Economic Times, India: "Shrinking Job Market"

From Viet Nam News: "Job market suffers from shortage of skilled staff"

From BBC: "New dip in US consumer confidence"

All a bit negative, but then I saw this article from SmartMoney.com: Four ways to keep your job during a slowing job market. While there may be some worry to job cuts (depending on which industry you're in), you still can do something about it. It's important to always be positive, to be prepared, and to perform strong. To "recession-proof" your job, here's a recap of SmartMoney.com's advice:

1. Make yourself indispensable. Best way to do this is to maintain a good relationship with your boss, along with other managers. Make sure they know your up-to-date accomplishments, skills and how you give value to your company. The decision-makers who know how good you are will back you up and vouch for you when it comes to letting people go.

2.Don't be high maintenance. It's human nature, isn't it? High-maintenance people drain you, and make things unpleasant. So even though you perform well, if you're a difficult person to work with, causing problems either through constant complaining or being a "stirrer", you will be on the top of the list when it comes to downsizing, no matter what the official reason may be.

3. Stay busy. This is a given. It also counters the number one step of making yourself indispensable. Show your managers how good you are by taking on assignments and getting involved in projects. Of course, you don't want to bury yourself in work where you can't produce or perform, so be realistic, keep communication open and try your darnest to impress.

4. Do damage control. If the worst does happen - their advice especially for 45-60 year-old employees who may be laid-off, try to negotiate a lower salary to stay on. Although not ideal, it would keep you from having to look for a job when the market is down and also something that's much harder for people in that age group.

Here's what I'd like to add to these steps:

1. Always keep an open mind for opportunities. Whether it be within your company or outside. This means maintaining good relationships with key people in your industry both within and outside of your company, including headhunters & recruiters.

2. Being creative and flexible in your career path. When they suggested making yourself indispensable, that included giving an updated resume/CV to your boss. Take stock of where you've progressed and grown in your career, your accomplishments, newly acquired skills and expertise and gauge it against your overall career goals. Where do you want to be? How close have you gotten? Or how far did you stray? Are the goals still the same as when you made them? Have you found that you've acquired all these new skills that you enjoy and want to pursue even further? Perhaps apply them to a growing industry that won't face big hits as other industries - like green tech or biotech? Consider other locations where the market is still strong? Keep an open mind for opportunities with a creative outlook and where you could go.

Friday Links

Some great articles for you to take in over the weekend:

Evidence from Japan that companies that offshore operations are more successful at maintaining and growing their domestic workforce. This is worth a read for all the anti-offshoring types. Offshoring has been a big issue in Japan since the 80's thanks to all the manufacturing done there. And while the study can't say what type of employees are hired in the domestic operations, the results do show that perhaps not offshoring is a bigger risk to the growth of a company in their country of origin.

Immigrants Fuel Workforce Growth in Canada - Canada's foreign-born population has reached it's highest point in 75 years with 20% of the population born overseas. They have given a much needed boost to an ageing workforce.

South Asian Blood Sweat and Tears in the Middle East - A damning article on the treatment of nearly 600,000 Sri Lankan domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, and the UAE. The Sri Lankan government reports that 50 domestic workers return to Sri Lanka "in distress" every day! More needs to be said about this, it's disgusting that this type of abuse of workers continues.

Indonesian Economy on The Rise But Jobs Scarce - Quick article on economy growth in Indonesia but also how that growth has been confined to certain parts of the country. In some cases people can make more money offering themselves as passengers to commuters so they can use the car pool lane, than they can from working near their homes.

Dow Chemical cuts 1000 jobs - Includes leaving the automotive sealers business in Asia. Hardly even causes a blip on the share price which always seems to be the case when there are layoffs.

UK Investment Bankers Predict Doom in 2008 - But they still think they'll personally get bigger bonuses!  You've gotta love their optimism. Not that those bonuses weren't bad last year either.

Indians and Filipinos Happiest People in Asia - Who would of thunk it? Filipinos in particular are happy about their career prospects and families but are most of all happy about their health. Unfortunately they came last in "preparedness for retirement". Still at least they aren't unhappy about it.

How To Create Job Ads Just For Geeks

Here is an example of the perfect job ad for a Geek. GPS Tracking software company Telogis are advertising for Software Developers and use Google Adwords so their ads appear in places where Software Developers can see them (I found it in my Gmail, I'm not a software developer but I work with enough to think their targeting is pretty good). But when you click through you get the following page (pictured below) and you have to work out what the URL is to their jobs page. Too hard for me! Can anyone tell me what it means? If you can then I guess you can apply for their jobs too.

Crazy Job Trends in Japan

The way jobs work in Japan has always been different, with "Lifetime Employment" and Freeter probably the most widely known work and career styles that continue to be quite uniquely Japanese. But I just read an article from Joi Ito's blog (which is a great read for a variety of reasons) talking about a new company who are really bringing another very innovative work style to Japan. The company is called, "Otetsudai Networks" ("otestudai" is the noun form of the verb "testudau　手伝う" - which means to help or assist someone with a task) and they take advantage of the proliferation of cellphones with GPS technology and also the preference of many young Japanese to work in ways that give them a lot of freedom.

Joi explains it best:

With Otetsudai Networks, if you are willing to work, you sign up for the service with your skills and focus, take a GPS reading on your phone and then just hang out. If you are looking for someone for say... 3 hours to man a cash register or help wash dishes, you just send the request to Otetsudai Networks and within minutes, you have a list of people available. The list shows what each person is qualified for, how others have rated their work and exactly how far away they are. Typically you will receive a list of half a dozen or more people within a few minutes.

The businesses are rated too on a per-manager basis so when you're hanging out with your friends and you get a request to go help at the corner convenience shop, you know how your peers have rated that particular guy who's asking you to come and help. You can also counter the request and say you'd go if they paid you 2000 yen / hour instead of 1500.

As more and more people start using this system, it's liable to start filling a very important gap in the workforce. It's also a perfect example of a location based, peer-to-peer reputation based, mobile behavior oriented product for an aging society.

This is a REALLY interesting idea. For employers (or anyone for that matter) who want 2 or 3 hours of work done for them it creates a great opportunity to get help quickly. For people who have flexible time situations it brings opportunities to them where they are right now. I can imagine this kind of scenario. You have an area you want cleaned and it's too big a job for one person but you only have a couple of spare hours. You look for 3 available people in your area and you could have help within minutes that serves their needs and yours.

The fact that this is all run through cell phones also means you have a way of tracing all those involved to help eliminate any possible fraud. There will be issues with quality of work for some people, but the risk is low since you can start with short periods of time and since the system becomes reputation based over time. The other barriers I can think of are possibly legal in regards to some workplaces having legal requirements for safety training for employees. None of the issues are insurmountable though. I for one will be really interested to see how this grows.

How To Find a Career in Asia

I'm often asked by people who want to move into the Asia Pacific region, especially those with training in Asian languages, "How do I get a job there?". There are also a lot of people who find themselves in Asia, gain good local language skills and knowledge who also want to leverage that into a corporate position. Now as a Headhunter I can rarely help these people directly. But I have seen a lot of people in the past use the following method to get their footstep in the door in the Asia Pacific and not just get a job, but build a career.

Firstly, remember this: you are in a very lucky position! It's unlikely that at many other times in your career will you have such a clean slate to work with on where, and what you want to do. Next, try the following steps to thoroughly to really give yourself some choice.

1. Establish the skills and experiences that make you valuable for companies. By this I mean analyzing your experience and finding great stories of how you can help others from your recent experience. Make sure you are convinced of the validity of these stories of your experience and that you can back them up with both referees and if necessary hard numbers.

2. Choose a group of 10 companies through online research where YOU think these stories will really resonate.

3. Find someone in these companies to try your story out on. Anyone will do but ideally someone who has been with the company or in the industry for more than 5 years. When you approach them ask them if you can do a quick, "information interview" on their company. Ask them what is valuable to them in an employee etc. Finally tell them one of your stories and ask them, "honestly do you think my experience is useful for your kind of company".

4. Go back to your original list of 10, from what you've learned from the people you spoke to, is your experience still valuable to them or should you look at another industry or position? If the group is right then congratulate yourself. You now have a real world understanding of where you can add value quickly. That is what companies care about, knowing this point is CRITICAL to selling yourself.

5. Now that you know the industries that will benefit from you start researching which companies you want to work for in the region. Once you have that list it's time to approach them and actually see if they have a need for you now. Often the people you spoke to in your first calls will recommend someone as long your original value and personality has resonated with them.

This may sound a little difficult but it should give you more choice that YOU want. The fact is there are many jobs for good people, if you are a good person you won't have a problem finding a job. But finding a career you love is a different story and I think the process above can help with achieving that.

Checkout Austin jobs at itzbig.com.

Opportunity in online media startup backed by Indian online pioneers

Online advertising is big business and growing globally. A contact of mine in India is looking to take over the online advertising industry there, and is hiring right now. More details below.

Tyroo (www.tyroo.com) is the only Indian ad network to have developed a world-class technology. We are very well-funded and have grown very rapidly in the first few months, thus taking a lead amongst all the Indian players. Tyroo is founded by the Smile Interactive Technology Group (SITG), one of the largest interactive technology set-ups in India. The founders have three other group companies – Quasar (India’s largest independent interactive agency), Zumtra (India’s largest technology services group) and Zoomtra (India’s first travel meta-search engine). The company is looking to put together a core team across each of the functions to drive the business. Some key positions currently open: Sales Manager, Product/Operations Manager, Project Manager (Tech). If you are interested, drop in a line to the Business Head (aditya.k@tyroo.com). For more details, log on to here.