ASIA TIDAL WAVES - Help tsunami victims!

Spare a thought, spare some change.

Here are the various ways you can make a contribution to Mercy Relief's cause in helping the less fortunate amongst Man. Your contribution is precious.

Background/Crisis

More than 24,000 people were killed when the world's strongest earthquake in 40 years unleashed flash floods and giant tidal waves across a huge swathe of South and South-East Asia. Measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale, the massive underwater earthquake struck off the western coast of northern Sumatera on 26th Dec 2004, triggering the killer waves that swept away entire coastal villages and seaside resorts in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Maldives, Bangladesh and Malaysia.

Physical damage and emotional loss were immense, as many lost their
homes and family members in a matter of minutes. Waterborne-diseases such as cholera and dysentery are also threatening to increase the death toll, as the lack of clean drinking water, rotting corpses and the breaking down of health systems in the affected areas threaten an epidemic.

With countless rendered homeless and hungry, there is an urgent need for humanitarian aid to be extended to these stricken victims.

And the new found death rates are increasing every minutes..

In response to this humanitarian crisis, Mercy Relief and its institutional partners – Singapore Soka Association (SSA) & Young Sikh Association (YSA) –together with the Singapore Red Cross Society (SRCS) are conducting a nationwide fundraising campaign for the victims of the calamity.

This fundraising effort would allow Singaporeans from all walks of life to extend aid and compassion to our fellow neighbours in a substantial and concerted manner. The funds raised will be channelled towards supporting humanitarian relief and rehabilitation operations for more than 12,000 families in the affected countries, and assist in bringing their derailed lives back on track.

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For more information, please call Mercy Relief at: 6332 6320

If you wish to make a contribution may do so via:

Modes of Donations

TELE-MERCY
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Simply dial:
1900 - 911 1150 for $50 donation
1900 - 911 1110 for $10 donation

CHEQUES
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Please make the cheque payable to:

MERCY RELIEF
with 'ASIA TIDAL WAVES' written on the reverse.

Please include name, address and contact number for the issuance of receipt and mail it to:

Mercy Relief
36, Purvis Street, #02-03, Singapore 188613

Alternatively, you may drop in the cheque at your nearest DBS
Bank/POSB Branch(es) and make your donation to:

ACCOUNT NAME: MERCY RELIEF
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 054-900493-6

DIRECT ATM TRANSFER / INTERNET BANKING
...........................................
Donate through any DBS Bank/POSB ATM Kiosk or Internet Banking
account to MERCY Relief's DBS Bank account

ACCOUNT NUMBER: 054-900493-6

Donate online.
...........................................
Via http://www.mercyrelief.org/asiatidal.html

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Mercy Relief, a Singapore humanitarian organisation, is raising funds
for the victims of the asian tidal wave disaster.
http://www.mercyrelief.org

Humanitarian Assistance To The Victims of the Bay of Bengal Earthquake and Tidal Waves

- Taken from Red Cross Singapore Website
- Media Release - For Immediate Release- Monday, 27 December 2004

The Singapore Red Cross Society in response to the call for international assistance by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, is launching a public appeal to help the victims of the Bay of Bengal earthquake and tidal waves.

As an immediate response to the disaster, the Singapore Red Cross will be sending a sum of Singapore dollars, One hundred and fifty thousand (S$150,000) to Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and India (through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies). The Singapore Red Cross is also in touch with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the national societies of all affected countries to determine what assistance is required to assist the victims.

The Singapore Red Cross hopes to raise Singapore dollars, One Million (S$1,000,000) for this appeal.

The Singapore Red Cross calls on Singaporeans and other like-minded organisations to come forward to contribute to this appeal and help the victims affected by the earthquake and tidal waves that swept across the India Ocean and affected Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Maldives, India and Sri Lanka.

The Singapore Red Cross requests donation for the affected countries. The money donated to this emergency appeal will be used to fund purchases and direct delivery of emergency items like medicine and first aid, food parcels and other relief supplies for the displaced and homeless victims.

The public can send their donations:

1) By cheque - Please address the cheque to "Singapore Red Cross Society" and indicate behind the cheque "Tidal Waves Asia". Include name, address and telephone number at the back of the cheque as a receipt will be sent to you. Post the Cheque to: Singapore Red Cross, Red Cross House, 15 Penang Lane, Singapore 238486

2) Donors may wish to come personally to make a donation (either by cash or by cheque) at the Red Cross House, 15 Penang Lane between 9.00am to 5.30pm on weekdays and from 9.30am to 12.30pm on Saturdays.

3) Donors may also make on-line donation at DBS website @ https://internet-banking.dbs.com.sg

For more information, please contact us @ 6334 9152 / 6334 9153 / 6336 0269.

Craig’s List

Have you been to www.craigslist.com? A very innocuous site with lots of value and punch for the regional US or international job seeker. According to USA Today newspaper: “Craigslist is a giant Internet bulletin board where people buy and sell their stuff, trade humor and political wisdom, look for dates, seek home repair advice, share their poetry and often just rant. Some call the site a public forum. Others call it a classified market. Many call it an obsession…. It’s kind of a big library of everyone else’s knowledge… It is getting back to that sense of community that we’ve lost.”

Before I scare you away from Craig’s List, let me add what makes it such a viable tool and recommendation for the job seeker:

- Region/country special sites for 60 major US cities, Canada, Europe, UK, Americas, Australia and others.
- Job postings (frequently unique to Craig’s List) but representing both big and little players.
- Consulting gig postings and opportunities as varied as VH1’s recruitment for their reality shows.
- Resume posting / searchability.
- Discussion forum on jobs / employment.
- Volunteer opportunities.

The best part about Craig’s List, which has been growing in popularity on the Internet since 1995, is that everything is free except posting jobs. Even then, for a company to post a job opportunity the fee is only $75 – highly reasonable in today’s booming Internet job posting frenzy.

Take a moment to check out www.craigslist.com and see if it offers another regional tool to support your clients in their transitions.

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Adapted from PRWRA newsletter.

Make 2005 a Great Year

It’s not uncommon for a great idea to start as a nagging question. You may be plagued with little questions such as, “Why can’t I?” … “I’d like to?” … “Wouldn’t it be great if? … But during our busy rush from project to project, client to client, bill to bill, those questions tend to take a back burner where they continue to simmer but never reach a boil. Unattended, those ideas and dreams never quite make it off the back burner. Those questions need to be brought to the forefront, addressed and acted upon. As many resume writers and career professionals have embraced during the last 3+ years, the strategy of career and life coaching is brimming with the “right” questions that develop ideas, create action and accountability, and lead to a strategic plan for results.

So, what can you do to make 2005 a great year, or maybe even your best year yet? Take advantage of a wonderful web-based planning tool from Jinny S. Ditzler, author of “Your Best Year Yet! Ten Questions for Making the Next Twelve Months Your Most Successful Ever” and creator of the “Your Best Year Yet!” website and coach certification program.

I worked through the book and found the questions and action plans a terrific way to rework my life, career and overall balance. But, a recent web search led me to www.bestyearyet.com where I stumbled upon the fact that Ms. Ditzler offers the opportunity to visitors to work through the 10-question plan across a three month time frame online for FREE. I signed up to take a peak and found that the program is better than the book with audio / video, samples, and account saving features. Want more support and stimuli? There are low-cost teleclass programs for synergistic group growth, regional workshops and more.

The web-based tool alone with its incredible free price tag makes it an excellent resource for both your personal growth as well as that of your clients.

So what kind of questions can lead to your best year yet? Here are Ditzler’s 10:

Q1: What did I accomplish in 2004?
Q2: What were my biggest disappointments in 2004?
Q3: What did I learn in 2004?
Q4: How do I limit myself?
Q5: What are my personal values?
Q6: What roles do I play in my life?
Q7: What role is my major focus for 2005? This will be an area that is out of balance or where you want to excel.
Q8: What are my goals for each role?
Q9: What are my top ten goals for 2005?
Q10: How can I make sure I achieve them?

The first step is to take the first step. Put aside 30 minutes to visit www.bestyearyet.com, and get the ball rolling. Ultimately, the exercises and their sub-steps (questions) will take about 3-4 hours to complete, but are well worth it if they lead to “your best year yet!”

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Adapted from PRWRA newsletter.

Practical Productivity

As the year winds down and a new one looms, it is time to relook your organizational processes to be more efficient and productive.

From the early days of human history, success has been equated to a certain ability to simplify complex tasks into smaller and easily accomplished components to facilitate performance.

According to Mark Twain, “the secret of getting ahead is to get started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex and overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and then starting on the first one.”

However, most people manage tasks in an ad hoc manner, relying on impulse or intuition. This is evident from slogans that are commonly bandied about, such as:

- Focus and consistency
- Positive work attitude
- Foresight and insight
- Supportive environment
- Passion and determination
- Proactive hands-on approach
- Coordination
- Teamwork and a bottom-up approach
- Adapting to changing environments
- Creativity and entrepreneurship
- Leveraging on strengths and avoidance of weakness

Notwithstanding the obvious wisdom of such advice, these are nevertheless abstract attributes. Operational manuals, standard operating procedures, policies and decisions are often adopted because they look good rather than because they are effective.

The prevalence of an intuitive management approach may be attributed to the common habit of equating success to individual efficiency.

But, if you look around, you will come across many objectively-defined work processes that are taking over traditional tasks with increased efficiency and productivity, such as online banking, real-time ticketing, automations, telecommunications, computerized management and accounting applications and so on.

Enterprise activities may similarly be carried out in established small steps such as study of ideas, enquiry, securing contracts and contract administration (operations).

Studying of ideas may be carried out through forms for every staff member to submit his problem-solving ideas. This method also encourages mass participation.

Making enquiries can be performed using a quotation or tender form. This can facilitate the process of identifying and seeking after opportunities.

The third step, securing contracts, will result in proper evaluation and acting on opportunities by calculated risk.

Finally, contracts can be laid out in parameter-defined functional departments such as human resource, revenue, accounts, marketing, services (for all outsourced activities), facility, enforcement, production, compliance and a general category. This is to facilitate consistent and focused performance.

A typical department report may be set up to oversee operational tasks as follows:

• Identify three or four core activities for consistent and focused performance
  
• Assign two to three quality-time-cost parameters to make each core activity easy
  
• Perform core activities according to time-schedules and parameters set up
  
• Inspect or oversee performance in time-schedule and parameters
  
• Assess and provide quantified feedback on performance. You may want to rank them by percentages, with scales representing non-attainment, attainment and excellent attainment of parameters
  
• Submit all non-attainment performance areas in department reports with corrective actions

With these measures, a business can oversee overall tasks without hassle and regulate quality and standards in sequential work processes which are laid out in work forms and integrated to departmental parameters.

Having work processes defined and logged in a report enables personnel to engage in two-way interaction. It will also encourage mass participation and knowledge application.

This allows the company to have more control of its overall activities. It can practice total management and attain organization efficiency as all requests, complaints and problems are input properly and processed holistically in self-regulated processes.

It is much more efficient and productive to process input tasks in department reports, application forms, work orders, quotations, salary, contracts, budget control and so on.

Inter-departmental activities are coordinated through a one-stop standard clearance form. Thus saving on manpower.

Such a total management style enables management to forge consensus with a sense of fair play. It also offers a practical means to ameliorate or resolve disputes, differences in opinion and hidden agenda.

The breakdown and malfunctioning of essential services can be avoided or minimized with hands-on time-scheduled corrective actions.

Inaction or tolerance of intuitive management habits exact a heavy toll on human capital in the form of wasted resources, office politics, fire-fighting or fault-finding.

Start managing your tasks with processes laid out in objective steps. Be an asset to your organization and make a difference in your workplace.

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Article contributed by Robert The Kok Hua, who is author of Objective-Steps Processing Management System. Email: robertkhten@hotmail.com

Why Should We Hire You?

This is one of those broad questions that can take you down the wrong road unless you have done some thinking about what to say ahead of time. This question deals with your ability to sell yourself. Think of yourself as the product. Why should the customer buy?

Answers that WON'T WORK -

"Because I need a job."
-- This answer is about YOU -- "they" want to know what you can do for "them."

"I am a hard worker."
-- This is a really trite answer -- almost anyone can say he or she is a hard worker.

"I saw your ad and could do the job."
-- This answers lacks passion and purpose.


STRONGER ANSWERS that would get the interviewer's attention --

"Because I have three years experience working with customers in a very similar environment."

"Because I have what it takes to fill the requirements of this job - solve customer problems using my excellent customer service skills."
"Because I have the experience and expertise in the area of customer support that is required in this position."

This is a time to let the customer (the interviewer) know what your product (YOU) can do for them and why they should listen to what you have to offer. The more detail you give the stronger your answer will be. This is not a time to talk about what you want. It is a time to summarize your accomplishments and relate what makes you unique and therefore a viable fit for this position.


Product Inventory Exercise

Start by looking at the job description or posting. What is the employer emphasizing as requirements of the job? What will it take to get the job done? Make a list of those requirements on one side of a piece of paper.

Next, do an inventory to determine what you have to offer as a fit against those requirements. List your skills on the other side of the paper. Think of two or three key qualities you have to offer that match each requirement that the employer is seeking. Don't underestimate personal traits that make you unique -- your energy, personality type, working style, and people skills.


The Sales Pitch -- You are the Solution

From the list of requirements and your matching list of what you have to offer, merge the two into a summary statement. This is your sales pitch. It should be no more than two minutes long and should stress the traits that make you unique and a good match for the job. Example - "With my seven years of experience working with financial databases, I have saved companies thousands of dollars by streamlining systems. My high energy, and quick learning style nable me to hit the ground running and rapidly size up problems. I have the ability to stay focused in stressful situations, and can be counted on when the going gets tough. I know I would be a great addition to your team."

Preparing this statement ahead of the interview will give you the edge when asked questions like, "Why should we hire you?" or "What can you bring to this position?" This will be your chance to let the interviewers know that you are the solution to their problem.

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Carole Martin is a celebrated author, trainer, and an interview coach. Her books, "Interview Fitness Training Workbook" and "Boost Your Interview IQ" (McGraw Hill) have sold thousands of copies world-wide. Receive Carole's FREE 9-week job interview e-course by visiting her web site at: http://www.interviewcoach.com or http://www.interviewfitnesstraining.com

Defining Personal Life Goal

Question:
After several months of feeling terribly uncomfortable with my profession, I left my job and gave myself time to review my options. But now I do not have clear goals. I drift from one idea to the next. How can I define my personal life goals?

Answer:
We've all read about people who took time off to wrestle with a knotty question. They become desert hermits, go on long quests or just take long walks with or without their dogs. Some report getting flashes of vision and insight.
Others return home, tired, hungry and cold, with visions of hot chocolate far more vivid than visions of life purpose.

So, how do people really figure out what they want to do?

First: Prepare to live with chaos for awhile. In Finding Your Own North Star, Martha Beck warns us not to take our early ideas too seriously. And Rick Jarow, in Creating the Work You Love, makes the same point. One week, we want to go on pilgrimage to the east; the following week, we're considering returning to school for a law degree. This confusion seems to be an essential aspect of change, not a reason

Second: Forget about chasing your goals the way a cat chases a mouse. Instead, listen to your surroundings and you'll get an invitation. Does this idea seem too woo-wooish and magical? Believe it or not, serious career researchers, following respected mainstream methods, find that serendipity plays a role in almost everyone's career change.

Third: Stay active. Most people find their purpose (and their careers) by a zig-zag process, not a straight line.

You investigate one option. Then you consider another. It's two steps forward, one step back, and a job to the side. But if nothing's happening, you won't have a zig to use as a base for your next zag.

Fourth: Take care of the basics. A few people find their life purpose when they're experiencing painful pressure. But most of the time, you need the leisure to explore options thoughtfully. Panic can be the enemy of insight. Find a less-than-ideal income source to keep afloat during the journey.

Fifth: Partner with mentors and experts, but hang on to your power. Books, counselors and coaches should help you discover processes you can use to uncover your own inner compass. Talking to others can rekindle a fire that's gone out or overcome discouragement. But ultimately you find your new direction, which should emerge from your own actions and ideas.

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Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker and career/business consultant, helping midlife professionals gain and re-gain career power.
Your Next Move Ezine: Read one each week and watch your choices grow!
mailto:subscribe@cathygoodwin.com
http://www.cathygoodwin.com
http://www.movinglady.com
Contact: mailto:cathy@cathygoodwin.com

Surviving the Holidays Without a Job

Joblessness during any time of the year presents difficulties. However, the holiday season presents special challenges to the unemployed or underemployed. It is a time when one’s high expectations contrast sharply with the realities of life and can lead to severe emotional responses unless you prepare yourself. The following tips serve as guidelines to assist you in navigating the holidays and retaining the holiday spirit, despite the uncertainties of unemployment...

Read more here

Do the Right Thing

You're certainly familiar with your left mouse button - the one you click to follow links, position your cursor and make menu choices - but you might never use your other mouse button. And that's just not right.

It's easy to overlook the right mouse button, but it can make many of your operations easier to perform. The right mouse button gives you access to a special popup menu - one that contains commands specific to your current application and location. For example, if you right-click on a folder, a popup menu appears that allows you to open, cut, copy, delete or rename the folder. From inside a spreadsheet, right-clicking on a cell brings up a popup menu that allows you to cut, copy, insert data or format the cell.

Read more here

Yahoo! HotJobs launches local recruitment solution

Yahoo! HotJobs’ experience is that more than half of all businesses would prefer to only source local candidates who already live nearby and know their business. Not only do companies experience a higher success rate with local targeting, but the cost of acquiring new talent from local sources will now be cheaper with Yahoo! HotJobs’ new pricing structure for local distribution. The company will allow advertisers to distribute their recruiting offerings for as little as $39 - $275 per job, varying by geography and the number of listings purchased.

Read more here

The implications of a negative candidate experience

According to an October survey of 5,700 people by www.Reed.co.uk, one in 25 employees walk out of their job after a matter of weeks or days because their employer has failed to help them settle in. The survey confirms that companies are losing talent because they are failing to put the right induction processes in place that could make all the difference as to whether a candidate stays or leaves. Induction processes are obviously very important in ensuring new talent is retained, but perhaps even more important is the recruitment phase. From the very first moment a candidate interacts with an organisation, he or she forms an opinion, one that is likely to stick. Inefficiencies during the recruitment process, such as mislaid CVs, delayed response times to candidates, rescheduling of interview times and lack of follow-up can all lead to a very negative experience for the candidate.

Read more here

Using Words - Will My Doc Be Messed Up?

What happens when I send my document to someone else? Will Word mess up my formatting? There is an urban myth about Word that suggests that Word will mess up your formatting when you send your document to someone else. Like most urban myths, this has an element of truth mixed up with a fair dollop of misunderstanding.

Check out this good resource in using MS Words in your business (and for your resume/cover letter!)

Microsoft Word Help at www.ShaunaKelly.com

Jobs for the Day (Singapore and Azerbajian)

More jobs from our career center.

1) Senior Offshore Structural Engineer, Singapore

2) Submarine Pipeline Engineer, Singapore

3) Lead Certification Engineer, Azerbajian

Incidentally, I wonder how many of us here uses any of the three of the giant job boards? I am referring to Yahoo! HotJobs, Monster and CareerBuilder. Hmmm... let's find out with a short poll! Click the following link: Job Board Survey

Christmas Shopping? Move It Online!

In my recent newsletter, I did a feature on doing online shopping for this Christmas season. The reason is simple - Christmas shopping in Orchard Road (the premier shopping belt in Singapore) can really be a daunting affair.

Instead of getting yourself trampled by desperate last minute shoppers, screaming teenagers and wealthy tai-tai (that's Singaporean slang for rich housewives) with enough shopping bags to fill a truckload, perhaps it's wise to move your shopping online. They say everything is available at the click of your mouse.

A feature was ran in Straits Times on Sunday - and I though it will be a good idea to give you a brief run down here:



Arguably, ebay.com is the most popular online shopping website. Okay, so it is not exactly shopping. More like bargaining/auctioning. While many of the sellers are international-based, there is a local version of ebay but with less selection. One feature worth checking is the "Holiday Wizard".

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Used to be touted as THE online book site, amazon.com is now more than just books alone. The range of goodies available is amazing, and I have to tell you this - the LOTR Trilogy Special Extended Edition Set!



Now, that will be one of my Christmas wish list!

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A boon to men buying intimate gifts for their wives? efrenchkiss.com.sg is the online lingerie store that even provide a men's guide to buy the perfect garment for the women in their lives!

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Other sites worth checking:

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Do share with us if you know of any good sites for Clickmas Shopping!

Show me the money

According to Latest Monster Meter, Better Salary Tops List of Benefits for Irish and European Workers

The Irish poll revealed that:



55% chose “Better salary / Bonus”

31% chose “More holidays”

10% chose “Pension”

2% chose “Mobile phone / Internet paid”

2% chose “Gym allowance”


Read more here on OnRec.com

Resume Blasting

A client of my resume service asked me for my opinion on resume blasting service.

Do you know what a resume blasting service is? For a fee, such service providers will send your resumes (mostly in electronice format) to a list of hiring managers. This will, as claimed, increased your exposure and chance for a (better) job. You can even get such service in Singapore.

Of course there will be pros and cons to it, but in my opinion, the disadvantages outweigh any positive impacts resulting from the service.

1) Most services blast your resume indiscriminitely. Your resume might end up with companies not in your industry, or the right hiring managers
2) Most people in such mailing lists are included without their permission, i.e. not opt-in. As such, the unsolicited resume can be regarded as SPAM.
3) Even if your resume reached the right manager in the right company who subscribed to such list, your resume will not project you favourably. My take is - unless you are out of a job and desperately needed the exposure to get a new job, you are better off making discreet applications the normal way.

In fact, I can offer such service as well since I have access to information of many hiring managers, but I don't. Simply because I know my clients are already too busy with their actual shortlisted candidates without having to look into unsolicited one.

Just my two cents worth.

Unusual Interviews

Vice Presidents and personnel directors of the one hundred largest corporations were asked to describe their most unusual experience interviewing prospective employees.

• A job applicant challenged the interviewer to an arm wrestle
  
• Interviewee wore a Walkman, explaining that she could listen to the interviewer and the music at the same time
  
• Candidate fell and broke arm during interview
  
• Candidate announced she hadn't had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and french fries in the interviewers office
  
• Candidate explained that her long-term goals was to replace the interviewer

Read more...

Jobs of the Day - Opportunities in Singapore

Some new jobs posted on EnergySkills Career Center yesterday.

1) Helium Leak Detection Technicians / Operators, Singapore

2) Sales Coordinator, Singapore

3) Workshop Mechanic, Singapore

4) Pipeline Technicians / Operators, Singapore

5) Commissioning Engineer , Singapore

6) Pressure Control Equipment Coordinator, Singapore

Gonna launch our newsletter for November soon!