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www.biipmi.com MICA (P) 116 / 05 / 2012 Dec 12 / Jan 13 Issue #7
DARE TO DRESS
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Career & Education 2013
The Largest & Most Established Education, Recruitment And Training Exhibition In Singapore And The Region p.10
History of Recruitment
A Publication on Employability for PMEs by PMEs
Model Amelia W. from Look Talents (a sub-division of Carrie Models International) Makeup and hair by Madaline D. Tan from Carrie Academy International Pte Ltd Photographed by Richard Chen
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PROFILE
Victoria Tan Marketing M anager 100 Points
Dec 12 / Jan 13 Issue #07
SO IS YOUR RESUME WORKING FOR YOU?
Dec 12 / Jan 13 Issue #07
ENHANCING EMPLOYABILITY Through Personal Branding Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore’s Finance Minister, recently mentioned in a Straits Times article (“Lack of quality jobs is a major challenge globally” ST 01/08/2012) that governments the world over are facing a crisis in creating quality jobs for their citizens. Quality jobs are not just jobs that pay well; they are also jobs that are appropriate for the aptitudes of the workers. Hence, they are jobs that will challenge the intellect and skillsets of the workers, and thus able to offer the workers opportunity to progress upwards. With a shortfall of quality jobs, and ever-increasing numbers of highly skilled and qualified workers, how can one vie for that preferred job?
Anderson Tan is the Director of biipmi pte ltd. He has a distinction in MA in Lifelong Learning from Institute of Education, as well M. Eng and 1st Class Hon. Degree from NUS. He is a career coach, an adult educator, and an entrepreneur. He can be contacted at anderson@biipmi.com.
Personal Branding When you buy shoes or clothes, are there particular brands that you would go for? What comes to your mind when you see brands like Hush Puppies or G2000? Branding is about creating a form of identification for some feelings, experiences, or expectations. Branding enables something or someone to stand out among similar others. While many people must have been familiar with branding of products, personal branding is probably less recognised. While skills and knowledge are highly valued in our economy, how well a person is able to brand himself or herself will increasingly distinguish him or her from the crowd. However, personal branding is not just about how presentable someone is; it is the total image that he or she is able to present to evoke some form of feeling or experience that matters. Hence, personal branding is about harmonising and enhance the three A’s of a person: - Aptitude, Attitude, and Appearance.
temper with the janitor, who was a little slow in cleaning the toilet and therefore delayed his interview, might jeopardise the very branding image that he or she is trying to portray.
Aptitude – a person must have tangible skills, abilities, and knowledge before personal branding can be possible. What personal branding does is to identify, qualify and quantify the aptitude, and articulate the qualities well enough to give form to the substance. It is noteworthy that although the substance might be the same, the articulation is not static and might have to be tweaked to reflect the form suitable for the setting. That is why it is a common flaw for job-seekers to use a standard resume when applying for different job positions.
Online Personal Branding
Attitude – this is the hidden image of personal branding. While articulating aptitude is an art, attitude, on the other hand, speaks for itself. How a person responds to a situation or event, especially involving another being, reflects his or her feelings, as well as mental and emotional orientation towards that event. The branding disposition that one attempts to portray has to be consistent with his or her attitudes. Hence, a person who is applying for the position of human resource manager might attempt to project a friendly and caring image during the interview.However, his or her lack of patience and outburst of
Appearance – this is the most conspicuous, and often over-rated, part of personal branding. While US humourist and novelist Mark Twain argued that “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society”, I think few would refute me when I say Mahatma Gandhi, with his self-spun loincloth, portrayed a much stronger persona than any statesmen wearing the formal three-piece suit of the western fashion. Having said that, we cannot deny that a well-groomed person will undoubtedly create a better first impression than one who is nonchalant about his or her appearance. Hence, it is very beneficial to have an appropriately well-taken photograph of yourself included in your resume.
With the advent of social media and pervasiveness of the internet, personal branding has become very challenging for many people. As branding is very contextual in nature, portraying and maintaining a consistent personal brand across personal and public spaces, or family and corporate spaces, has become all the more crucial. One has to be mindful of one’s digital footprints when it comes to online personal branding, as images or written statements might be misinterpreted when taken out of context. While there are various online social media tools that people use for different purposes, it is advisable to ensure that the branding proposition is consistent and suitable.
Personal Branding and Employability As in all cases, branding adds tangible value to a product. Similarly, personal branding can add value to a job-seeker. The employability of a person is the value that an organisation attributes to that person. Hence, the stronger the personal branding, the higher the valuation, the higher the employability of a job-seeker!
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Evolve Your Skills As workforce of the next century, we need to occasionally sit down and figure out how to enhance our employability. If we don't, we will constantly be trying to figure out how to stay merely employed. Here's the difference; When we wonder, "Where are the jobs?" we are focused on merely staying employed. But when we focus on discovering new ways to apply our talents and interests to what is currently shaping the world, that's thinking about staying employable for the future. Doing the latter will keep you relevant, which means you're less likely to be in that constant state of asking, "where's my next job?" Yes, this takes time and research. And yes, the workforce will keep changing — probably mostly because of technology. But it will lead to enlightening discovery that then leads you to a way to stay employable throughout the rest of your career. You should be looking at trends and asking questions that focus on what work will be needed as a result of those trends. They include "retrofitting", adding new skills to an existing job or incorporating new trends and social changes into a current job. One example might be the successful plumber who has mastered all the new water-flow sensor technology and pipefitting innovations vs. another plumbers who just know the basics. The latter plumber will find himself in a less desirable position as compared to the first.
Blend to Create New Specialty We can also explore the idea of blending skills and knowledge, making a connection among two or more separate industries. You can do this by combining transferable skills or functions from different jobs or industries to create new specialties. A typical example in Singapore would be professionals who later in their career, opted to join the training industry. These groups of individuals blended past experiences, skills and knowledge so that they can create new specialties and provide a more holistic facilitation in their training assignments. Ask yourself: What skills, interests and talents do I have that I can blend into a new specialty that fits a growing need? Look to Solve Problems The third approach is good old problem solving. Looking at problems people will face and come up with new roles and functions to help solve them.Take the problems the communications age has brought, including privacy and security. As a result, one growing area is digital footprint management, monitoring and managing electronic information about individuals or even corporations.
‘Retrofit’ to Stay Relevant Ask yourself: As trends develop and new problems arise as To examine how to retrofit your career, ask yourself these questions: a result, what services will be needed to support customers and businesses? Which ones interest me? • How are technological trends and social changes affecting my career? Start asking yourself these questions. • What new skills and knowledge can I add to my line of work to support the growth of the above-mentioned trends? Article by Anfernee • Can I incorporate these new trends into my current work, and if so, how?
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Submit 2 Photos (full body + face shot) to styleme@carrieacademy.com ATTEND
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Compete in Carrie's first ever Executive Make-Over Contest! Ordinary men and women who are job-seekers or who need a change in their career will go through this specialised training to improve their image, self-confidence and poise to make that important first impression a lasting one. We will see these men and women transform as they embark on a journey that will change not only their outlook, but their lives. Carrie Models and Carrie Academy International present STYLE ME - First Impressions. This is an opportunity to re-invent your professional image through a certified grooming course and make-over contest. How to Participate: Interested registrants are to submit the following to styleme@carrieacademy.com: • A 150 words short description of why this make-over is important for you and how it can add value to your image • One full-body and one close-up facial shot • Closing date for registration is on 7th February 2013 Participants are required to attend a certified 2-days grooming course (worth $430 with starter kit provided) for only $50. After the grooming course, 20 best-performing trainees will be selected to undergo another two days of training on poise and deportment worth $600.00, absolutely FREE! Upon completion of this intensive training, the finalists will showcase their new looks at the Career and Education 2013, on 3rd March 2013. $2000 worth of cash and hamper prizes to be won. Eligibility: • Male and Female between the ages of 18 years and 45 years • Singaporeans or PRs only STYLE ME - FIRST IMPRESSIONS (Hall D, 3 March 2013) 11:30am - 1:00pm
Colour Theory & Make-up workshop conducted by Madaline D. Tan (CAI Trainer)
1.00pm - 1.30pm
Personal Grooming for Online Branding workshop conducted by Anfernee Tan (biipmi.com)
3.00pm - 3.45pm
Fashion Show by Talents & Models from Carrie Models International (CMI)
5.00pm - 5.30pm
Make-Over Contest by finalists
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Dance Performances & Audience Guessing of Make-Over Winners
5.45pm - 6.15pm
Prize Presentation to Winners of Make-Over Contest and Audience Winners
EMPLOYABILITY CENTRE STAGE
About the interviewee
One of the key features in every issue of biipmi.print will be Employability Centre Stage where we will interview individuals from various professions and industries on topics pertaining to employability.
I'm currently working in Huttons Real Estate Group as a Senior Marketing Director. I cover a wide spectrum in the Real Estate market, including HDB, private residential, commercial, industrial, and certain overseas developments. For investors, I provide comprehensive and accurate consultancy services with market trends and analysis, helping them to maximise returns with minimal outlay. For home-seekers, I help them find a desired home within their affordability. My professional all-in-one services include mortgage broking, detailed financial calculations, comparative market analysis and liaison with solicitors, ensuring that my client have peace of mind in their real estate matters.
3. How do you intend to enhance your employability?
1. What is your understanding of employability? Employability means possessing the required skill-sets for a particular job. An important aspect is positivity and good attitude. Other aspects would include specific “hard skills”, such as technical expertise, and “soft skills”, such as team work and EQ.
2. What skill sets do you think contribute to your employability? An important aspect for me is my genuine interest in real estate, which is critical in this industry. Besides this, I believe professionals in this industry need to possess social intelligence. Being socially intelligent means we are able to quickly assess the emotions of those around us and adapt our words, tone and gestures accordingly. This has always been a key skill for professionals like us who need to collaborate and build relationships of trust, but it is even more important as we are called on to collaborate with larger groups of people in different settings. Our emotionality and social IQ developed over millennia of living in groups will continue be one of the vital assets even in future.
DARE TO DRESS Your professional presence starts with your outlook how you dress and how you carry yourself. More than 50% of first impression is formed just by looking at someone’s outfit. Most people would stick to black as it is the easiest combination of outfit and it surely makes someone appear slimmer. However, wearing black all the time will give the impression that you work as a receptionist at a hotel or a wait staff at a restaurant. Adding pops of colours to your outfit will enhance your appearance and it surely will make you look fresh and trendy.
I may consider taking up the Diploma in Real Estate Business offered by Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
4. Can you think of any personal circumstances that might limit your employability? Not at all.
Terence
5. Can you think of any external factors that might limit your employability? Not really. Real Estate is something that everyone needs at some point in time and there are tens of thousands of transactions annually. The important part is to have sufficient professional expertise to be able to cover the entire market, rather than just a small area or a particular type of real estate.
6. Can you think of a wrong decision you made previously that affected your employability? Not joining the industry early enough. I believe that there isn’t any “good” time to join this industry because with the right attitude and skill-sets developed along the way, anyone can progress and achieve more in their respective industry.
Colours represent different feelings, occasions and specific events. Just as the model on the front cover wearing a yellow top with a black cardigan; it is a contrast between light and dark, one of the concepts in ‘Colour Theory’. The combination of her outfit with the bag is a scheme in the ‘Colour Theory’ called ‘Triadic’ combination. Colours can be fun; you just need to know how to combine them to make you look fashion forward yet professional. For presentations and meetings with VIPs, wearing blue can make you seem more credible and professional and it is used to calm the mind and body in colour therapy in spas. Grey is also a great neutral tone to use when wearing suits for executives as it comes across as non-biased and that you are more open to possibilities. Article contributed by Madaline D. from Carrie Academy International
For more information on colour theory, please enquire on the ‘Maintain Professional Image + Apply Colour Theory’ course. (Courses are funded for Singaporeans and PRs) at w w w . c a r r i e a c a d e m y . c o m
If you would like to find out more about professional grooming courses offered by Carrie Academy, simply consult our experts at Carrie Academy International. Please refer to the centre spread for details.
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