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Idiot’s Guide For New Kids On The Block

June 30, 2011 by corporateshopaholic

Unless you are an habitual job-hobber, if you have had changed jobs more than 2 or 3 times within a decade, you might have been at the receiving end of some repetitive, or sometimes bother-line annoying,  questionings from either prospective employers or headhunters.  ” Are you not a loyal employee? ”  “Does it reflect concerns on stamina?”  Sometimes the question is sugar-coated as “I am seeing that you have a promising career path in your previous (or present) company, what makes you want to move so soon?“

As implied in my first sentence, the key to tackling these questions is to really ask yourselves whether you have indeed put in the necessary amount of time in a post to deserve the accomplishments and experience you brag about on your resume.  You are not likely to be able to make a convincing argument for a 6-month posting, but if you can provide evidence that you have indeed added value during the limited time period, be prepared to articulate it with concrete examples.  Yes, when I mean concrete, I mean specific projects and accomplishments rather than “providing support to the team“.

What I really want to bring up here is that if you are indeed not a job-hobber and if there are legitimate reasons of every one of your job moves, don’t get carried away by the questioner’s argument or logic.  Yes you understand where the interviewer is coming from, and you appreciate that they are being frank and honest with you by expressing their concerns out loud.  Though is it that easy to find the right opportunity, pass all the stringent interview process, background and reference checks and get hired in the first place?  How incredibly difficult is it to constantly adapt to new working environments with new bosses, colleagues, internal stakeholders and working culture?  It is surely not cut out for the faint of heart.

You can even go further to imagine that it takes a lot more adaptiveness, stamina, and energy to keep diving in new and unfamiliar waters every few years.  If you can pull that off plus churning out a few recognizable accomplishments during your tenure, it should be no way underestimated.

So when you find yourself demotivated being a new kid on the block, give yourself a break when you are trying to compare with colleagues who have been in their posts for 4 or 5 years.

You may not be able to change other people’s perceptions or opinions, but at least don’t give up without trying to fight for your case.

Posted in Grin, Hope | Tagged | 1 Comment »

Battle Between The Lawyers…And Then Some…

June 13, 2011 by corporateshopaholic

Dealing with suppliers that are not in any way smaller than your employers is one of the trickiest negotiation scenarios to master.  I cannot believe I still come across senior procurement executives who continue to believe that they are given almighty powers just because they are in the seats of making multi million deals.   More often than not, they are the ones who constantly get themselves hit with never-ending surprises.  I pay no sympathy for them, not even a tiny bit.

I wrote about reciprocal trading last year and that existence is plentiful with large multinational suppliers.  What I encountered recently is the classic example of negotiation leverages – the battle between the lawyers.

A big technology supplier is insisting to use a brand new contract template on a renewal deal, while we believe that it is just going to be a tremendous time drain to review all the terms and conditions again from scratch.  Lawyers of mutual parties refuse to give in, and as in every negotiation, essentially it’s the deal itself that is going to matter.  As long as I gather the bottom line position of my stakeholders (i.e. users), it is now up to me to lay it out on the table by keeping it simple.  Do we need this deal or not?

The answer is always yes, or we won’t get ourselves into this situation in the first place.  If this is a deal not worth remembering, no one would have been bothered by it this much.  As long as the intention is mutual, there is ought to be some common ground that we can all work with.  I usually don’t dwell on matters that are already handled by the lawyers to avoid redundancy.  I focus on the logic portion and point out the inconsistencies I see of the other party’s arguments.  Why is a new template needed?  What’s changed?  What does it have to do with our other similar agreements in other markets?  Why wasn’t this mentioned during bid phase?  Why are we discovering this only now?

In short, don’t take us for a ride.  Our company’s time is worth much more.  I reserve no time for last-minute rip-offs.  Even if we really rely on you, we deserve some professionalism instead of some third grade sleeky salesmanship.

Obviously, I sugar-coat such messages.    Though every seasoned salesperson, or in many cases the Managing Directors, would have gotten my messages.  When I make it a point as to question someone’s professional credibility or even integrity, coupled with logical reasoning and facts, there is no way the other party won’t budge.

Does it work on people on the same side as I do?  You bet.  Did they inspect all the fine prints when they received the quote?  Did they sound way too eager when they approached the supplier?  Did they not make it clear as to what’s important to the company aside from the service only?

I have to say again and again that none of this is rocket science, and those of you reading this must also agree that this is just common sense.  However, you may be surprised just how much time and effort continues to be wasted on such power play.

Perhaps, that equates to job security to many.

Posted in Frown | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

Life And Other Impossible Pursuits

June 6, 2011 by corporateshopaholic

It was a perfect finish to a 5-month long hiatus.  The best part of it is that nothing is planned which is so against my decades of personal belief, and I’m loving every minute of it.  Aside from blogging, juicing, reading, gyming, shopping and partying, I was in Taipei, Bangkok (x 2), Paris and Barcelona.  I could have been in Taipei (yes, again) and Tokyo as well if not for the last-minute changes and the horrendous earthquake, but there is absolutely nothing worth complaining about.

So when I got the call where I could offer my service once again, I jumped on the chance feeling recharged and totally fired up.  Despite what happens next, it’s always our EQ, passion and attitude that matters.  My latest trip reminds me once again how beautiful the world is, and how often we might have overlooked the fortune and pleasures around us.  I have every intention to internalize all that I have experienced during my last week and a half, and if that succeeds in any small way, I have the two most beautiful cities to be thankful for.

Come to think of it, was there really some truth to what the supposedly scam-artist told me last month?

Posted in Grin, Hope | 1 Comment »

Are You Linked In?

May 23, 2011 by corporateshopaholic

The most recent IPO of LinkedIn raised a lot of eyebrows.  Starting off at $45 a share last Thursday, today’s stock price is a whopping $93.  With this apparent huge demand and popularity analysts are expecting to see similar IPO success with other social media firms like Groupon and Facebook.  Yes, there is enormous profit to be made being socially and commercially connected.

I believe I was on LinkedIn much earlier than the birth of my Facebook life.  Keeping business cards is a real chore and even if you have all of them nicely stacked in name card cases, they become obsolete in no time due to mergers & acquisitions, changes in company names, addresses and phone numbers, your contacts changing jobs, and eventually you find yourself totally disconnected from the business world, again.

Having my business contacts’ profiles on LinkedIn makes my life so much easier.  I can access them anywhere, be updated of their whereabouts, and no more obsolete corporate e-mail addresses due to personal movements.  More importantly, I can choose to upload my business credentials onto my profile for selected access of my contacts, making self introductions less necessary in business meetings.  Face it, knowing that you have been in the field for 11 years and being no stranger to competitors’ business, a subtle message of “I’ll not be fooled” is sent.

Though for bulk of the last decade LinkedIn is filled with so-called headhunters and personnel agencies trying to extend their talent database.  It’s not that bad actually if you are keen in knowing what’s out there, though at times it can get to be a bit annoying.  It certainly saves time applying for a job through conventional means.  Instead of approaching a headhunter or placement firm, now they come to you, and they come from all over the world with the convenience of a global platform.

That happens of course, if you have put together an impressive and colorful enough resume on your profile that attracts attention.   Although it’s impossible to gauge what recruiters and employers are looking for in each and every job opportunity, a detailed and comprehensive write-up won’t hurt.  Unlike Facebook, you are responsible to manage your professional image in front of the world, and it’s worth spending the time to craft your message.  With the functionalities of the two social networks getting more and more similar,  it’s gratifying to know that none of your business contacts will see a tagged photo of yourself dancing drunk on the bar counter, appearing right under your career achievements.

Well, maybe not yet.

Posted in Grin | Tagged | Leave a Comment »

Am I Really Immune To Outsourcing?

May 22, 2011 by corporateshopaholic

What is outsourcing?  Many are familiar with the term, but few can cite specific examples in their space.  In fact, it is much closer at home than you think.  There is outsourcing in your office, your own business, and more often than not, your home.

Technically speaking, whenever you are paying for an external party to help you with a task, service or process that you would normally do by yourself, you are outsourcing.  Hiring someone on your payroll is not, since you are still owning the responsibility.  So when corporations are trying to concentrate more on their core business of making money, every one of them are outsourcing their support functions, or, non-core businesses, to external parties.

Some may claim that it’s the capitalist way of cutting jobs and pay.  Though I don’t support allowances of inefficiencies.  If we really have no clue how to design, build, manage and maintain the car park in our office building, what’s the point of painstakingly identifying and hiring experienced personnel, only to fire them after the facility is completed?  Instead of spending unnecessary amount of time researching for the right technology and systems, applying for the right permits, and running into hick-ups and delays of unknown waters, outsourcing the car park design, construction and management services to a professional firm in the industry proves to deliver much more precise results.  We are now outsourcing our non-core requirements or services, to a partner whose services are of their core business proposition.

The only so-called alarming trend nowadays is that more and more of our supposedly core corporate functions are being identified as non-core.  Corporations want to save costs, and they also want to protect their brand image.  Though it doesn’t really work these days as public opinion still goes after the cost bearing parties, corporations still find it better hiding behind the outsourced partner.  Certain obligations can be passed along, financially or legally.  For the last two decades or so, we are seeing payroll, real estate management, mailroom services, logistics, finance & accounting, IT, HR, legal, and of course, procurement, being outsourced.

The way I see this makes sense is that with external parties, we are harsh toward them.  We want accountability, crystal-clear processes and deliverables, and lower costs every year.  If they would have done it in-house, it may take considerably more time and efforts to pitch, convince, and motivate internal staff to “up their game”.  Plus, there is on average 30% additional HR benefits being invested on each employee on top of their salaries.  As long as a reliable partner can be identified, most senior corporate management think it’s just a no-brainer.

For employees, this is definitely a worrying trend.  None of our jobs are truly secure these days.  Thousands of professional firms are popping up every month around the world looking for services to take up for our employers.  Just knowing what our employers do as a business actually limits our career.  We now need to make sure we are truly functional specialists that are non-industry specific.  What about opportunities?  Yes, consider the option of moving into specialist firms or BPO (business processing outsourcing) firms.  Just google the area you are in and you will find tons of HR services firms, finance & accounting solutions, procurement services BPO centers, and so on.  The field really has changed, and so are the game rules.  Though the experience can be a lot more satisfying depending on the type of person you are.

Still wanting a comfy life with the security of a large corporation?  Make sure you are one of the best within your team, and target for the remaining few positions that are still needed to lead and manage your corresponding outsourced firms.  These positions are still critically needed within the headcount of corporations, because all of them will acknowledge that failing to sufficiently manage an external outsourced partner is always a ticket to disaster.

Posted in Grin | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

It’s All About Timing

May 18, 2011 by corporateshopaholic

Life operates in its mysterious ways.  You will almost never get anything that you are fixated at, and when you least expect it, things come knocking on your door.   There is no way around it, and you just have to make sure you are always physically and mentally prepared for the unexpected journeys in life.

We can plan all we want, and believe me I’m probably more logical and organized than I should have in life.  Yet when the circumstances in life ask you to take a break from your work schedules, relationships,  or longer term plans, you just have to take a big breath, get your gears on (and sometimes off)  and embrace what’s next.  The most important thing is to learn how to be content with what you already have.  Don’t be a whiner.

Bessie Anderson Stanley wrote a poem in 1904 titled Success.  I find it very fitting today.

He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much;
Who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children;
Who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;
Who has never lacked appreciation of Earth’s beauty or failed to express it;
Who has left the world better than he found it,
Whether an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul;
Who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had;
Whose life was an inspiration;
Whose memory a benediction.

 

Posted in Grin, Hope | Leave a Comment »

Political Brain-Washing? Really?

May 17, 2011 by corporateshopaholic

I’m a liberal, and I am definitely not a fan of political propaganda drawn up by the sometimes out-of-touch administration and its mothership.  Yet when some critics claimed that the latest talks of civic education planned to be rolled out in our primary and secondary schools are  “brain-washing tools” , I can’t help to think that the teachers perhaps need to develop better and more sophisticated rebuttals than that.

No I’m not that naive to think that the administration isn’t planning to spoon-feed our young generation of the glorious prosperity of our state, ever.  Every policy and every cent spent has an agenda, so the motive is definitely there.  Though I believe whoever finding the way to “brain-wash” our generations Y & Z through a few hours of public school curriculum deserves a Nobel price.

 

Today’s youth is rebellious in nature, and it is not necessarily a bad thing.  We have to embrace it no matter we like it or not.  They are independent thinkers, though some may argue the logic of their thinking.  One thing for sure, they will not take in any knowledge or thoughts as granted.  So what are the chances of having them brain-washed by the most transparent form of patriotic education?  Just look at the student riots everywhere from London to France to Seoul.  These countries have a much longer standing as sovereign states, and they are still struggling of social unity across the classes.  So what is Hong Kong afraid of being a territory known for our indifference in our nationality?

Come on, except the occasional declarations on immigration forms abroad, how often do Hong Kong people acknowledge our nationalities?  We distance ourselves from mainland China because we cannot condone the many backwards policies and practices in the country, but we want their cash and the related business and job opportunities.  We make an effort to explain to our foreign friends that we are from Hong Kong and it’s used to be a British colony, but we know it’s political incorrect to express any reminiscing sentiments over the colonization period.  We know we are led by the supposedly independent Hong Kong government, though it is so lame-ducked and out-of-touch with the general public that it’s just unfashionable to even be sympathetic with the unimaginable duty it shoulders.  So what’s left of us?  A bunch of incredibly materialistic citizens who will flock to wherever that brings us instant gratification.  In more cases than not, to Hong Kong, that means CASH.

That’s why if you think our youngest generation has not caught on with the trend, you are just kidding yourselves.  Instead of brain-washing through civic education curriculum, just dangle a big fat deck of $500 notes in front of them.  That will do the trick.

Posted in Grin | Tagged | 3 Comments »

My Beloved

May 16, 2011 by corporateshopaholic

Never underestimate the power of a song and its lyrics.  Last night I was watching a Taiwanese entertainment talk show featuring the local diva Ah-Mei, and by the end of her live performance I  found myself tearing up.  I then youtubed the song’s music video and ended up crying through the night like a pathetic loser.  Yes, I was utterly moved to my tears.

Although it’s obviously no fun at all seeing and feeling yourself aching at heart and weeping alone, somehow I find that it’s a blessing to have the ability to feel and get in touch with my emotions.  I have never felt more alive, and it can be endearing to express my vulnerability once in a while.

To all of you who have truly loved someone in the past, I dedicate this song to you.  Enjoy a good cry, and move on!

Posted in Frown, Hope | Tagged | Leave a Comment »

Employees’ Choice Awards: Best 50 Places To Work 2011

May 13, 2011 by corporateshopaholic

If yesterday’s list of top companies for work-life balance seems to be a bit too narrowly focused for you, glassdoor.com has published their annual poll on best places to work for the year 2011, based solely upon the opinions and ratings of actual employees, instead of company financials or human resource indexes. 

So let the drum roll begin…

  1. Facebook
  2. Southwest Airlines
  3. Bain & Company
  4. General Mills
  5. Edelman
  6. Boston Consulting
  7. SAS Institute
  8. Slalom Consulting
  9. Overstock.com
  10. Susquehanna International Group
  11. CareerBuilder
  12. MITRE
  13. QuikTrip
  14. Shutterfly
  15. NetApp
  16. Trader Joe’s
  17. Goldman Sachs
  18. McKinsey & Company
  19. National Instruments
  20. Apple
  21. Analog Devices
  22. Northwestern Mutual
  23. Procter & Gamble
  24. BB&T
  25. Synopsys
  26. Chevron
  27. Scottrade
  28. Bristol-Myers Squibb
  29. MassMutual
  30. Google
  31. Travelers Companies
  32. Fluor
  33. Monsanto Company
  34. Publix
  35. John Deere
  36. QUALCOMM
  37. Morgan Stanley
  38. State Farm
  39. Adobe
  40. REI
  41. Salesforce.com
  42. Ford Motor
  43. Turner Broadcasting
  44. Genentech
  45. Intel Corporation
  46. American Express
  47. Nike
  48. Deutsche Bank
  49. Cummins
  50. Capital One

According to glassdoor.com, “the ranking is determined based on the results of a 20-question survey that captures employees’ attitudes about: Career Opportunities, Communication, Compensation & Benefits, Employee Morale, Recognition & Feedback, Senior Leadership, Work/Life Balance, and Fairness & Respect.”

Here’s what some employees said about the top companies:

“The energy and direction of the company! There’s plenty of opportunity to take on new responsibilities and build the future of Facebook.”  – Facebook employee (Palo Alto, CA)

“The company was founded on the principle that in order to succeed you need to treat your co-workers as well as your customers. This had led to industry leading salaries, benefits and a fabulous place to work.” – Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant (location n/a)

“Always interesting and challenging, hardly ever boring, never menial. Everyone here is super intelligent and motivated. They really take care of their employees.” – Bain & Company employee (location n/a)

Same as yesterday, I also have the privilege of working for one of the top 50 list above.  All I can say is that everyone go about answering these survey questions differently and they are highly subjective.   What’s important for you may not be what I consider a priority at this stage, and vice versa.  Nevertheless, it never goes wrong to select bigger and more established global companies to work for as they have a bigger brand name to lose should their value proposition, policies and governance are not up to par.  Bottom line is, I have never been shy about my personal belief:  I don’t look for a caregiver at work.  I look for a place where I can add value in return for a fair pay check, and I know that place will be challenging.  If there exists a workplace that is filled with love, harmony, unconditional support, tolerance and complete equal opportunities, I guess none of us would be needed and hired in the first place.

* Oh well, non-profit or religious organizations an exception, of course.

 

Posted in Grin | Tagged | 1 Comment »

Top 25 Companies For Work-Life Balance

May 12, 2011 by corporateshopaholic

Alright alright, don’t boo me.  I know work-life balance is a politically correct alternative way of saying “I’ve had it up to here!”.  Many people would seriously doubt its existence in the first place.  Come on, what do we expect?  Our employers hold the pay check, and they pretty much have the rights to do whatever they want with it, particularly in our neck of the woods where there are hardly any worker unions except flight crews and the government.  We suck it up, and live with what we got.  When we are about to get burnt out, we look for something else and if we are lucky, it’s the same old story all over again.

Nevertheless, I still check this list where employees are asked to report how their companies rate for balancing work with personal life, by glassdoor.com.  Here is the list:

  1. Nestlé Purina PetCare
  2. MITRE
  3. SAS
  4. FactSet
  5. United Space Alliance Ops & Processing
  6. Slalom Consulting
  7. Facebook
  8. Morningstar
  9. Susquehanna International Group employee
  10. Colgate-Palmolive
  11. Mentor Graphics
  12. Autodesk
  13. Sheetz
  14. Agilent Technologies
  15. Turner Broadcasting
  16. Dupont
  17. Southwest Airlines
  18. General Mills
  19. Biogen Idec
  20. Scottrade
  21. Chevron
  22. Synopsys
  23. MTV
  24. Intuit
  25. National Instruments

What makes the list?  Some examples…

  • free lunches
  • flexible work hours
  • concierge services like car servicing and laundry
  • 24 vacation days
  • bringing pets to work
  • sabbatical every 4 years
  • ease of relocation
  • lights off at 6pm

It seems that I cannot complain since I have worked for one of the companies on this list.  However, all I can remember is that everyone’s salaries was cut by 5%, and we were forced to take no-pay-leaves when the economy was bad.  I paid the dues, but never enjoyed the perks which were mostly applicable for our US colleagues, anyway.

Posted in Grin | Tagged | Leave a Comment »

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