Jobs in the front line

Even though we are In a recession, there are still jobs in the front-line. Jobs in which you face the customers and provide a service for them still exists. Bank tellers, customer support, front counter staff, call centres, tele-marketing and sales staff are some examples.

These are jobs that needs a personal touch, where every situation is different. It cannot be automated like an assembly line in a production factory.

People buy because they have a “want” rather than a need. This is rather surprising as you would have thought that we are all logical and rationale beings. Yet very often, we buy because of emotion. We buy because we feel good, we feel we deserve a small celebration when we have achieved a desired result or it felt like the right thing to do at that moment. This applies to men as well as to women.

Shops and companies will always need sales staff. In recession, it is more important to have good sales staff as people may need a bit more persuasion before they buy. Sales staff can decide which benefits are relevant to the person after asking a few questions and close the sale quickly.
Customers like to be shown how a product works rather than go home and read the thick user manual. They may have questions on certain aspects of the product and will come back to the person who sold it to them.

Customers may have some small complaints that a customer services staff can easily solve. Then the company has a satisfied customer who will probably buy other products from the same sales staff. Otherwise, people will ask for a refund.

Front line staff bring in the money or keep the money within the company. Office based staff, whether in mid-office or back office are only overheads. Hence they are more at risk of being retrenched as they do not contribute to profits. In a recession, there is less sales and therefore less need for high efficiency in the processing.

Please contact me if you want to join our Work and Study Program in the services industry. In my previous post you know that Singapore is doing many things to attact tourists, including hosting major sports events.

World class races on land, in the sea and in the air

Singapore is already in the calender of the Formula 1 racing cars and in the Volvo Ocean Race. To enhance its tourist attraction, Singapore will be part of the MotoGP World Championship – the motor bike racing event.

Unlike the street circuit for F1 cars, the motor bike race will be held on a permanent track, scheduled for completion in late 2011. The race may be held as early as 2012. Each rider will be accompanied by their mechanics and pit crew. The motor bike race is expected to generate tourism dollars that will be on a similar scale to that of the car race.

Having put itself on the map in world-class races on land and in the sea, Singapore is negotiating to be part of the Red Bull Air Race. As 4 rookies will be added, it is likely that there will be more than 12 pilots for 2009, The organisers want to have new race locations so Singapore is bidding to be one. 8 cities were on the 2008 calender.

This is an obstacle course in the air. Pilots pit their precision skills as they race through the low level race track made of air pylons in their single propeller engines. Unlike the road races, this air obstacle race is a knock out competition. It should be fun to watch these air duels as the pilots need to win each round and we can witness different race strategies in a single day.

Another difference from the land and sea races is that we can see the whole race from one spot. We can only see a portion of the land and sea races. Hosting this will attract a different segment of the racing spectators to Singapore as tourists.

40% of Singaporeans marry foreigners

In 2007, 20,755 Singaporeans married, 8,086 to non-citizens – 6,200 non-citizen wives and 1,886 non-citizen husbands. Almost 90% of non-citizen spouses were from Asia.

The cosmopolitan nature of Singapore increases every year. The numbers in previous years- 8,406 (2005) and 8,161 (2006) - Sunday Times Oct 12, 2008.

Singapore Flyer sponsored a ride on the Flyer and a boat trip for 50 Indians and Bangladeshis who celebrated Deepavali. On board the Flyer, visitors can tune in to the radio guide for a concise history of Singapore and trivia on the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort (IR) that is under construction - TODAY Oct 8, 2008.

You can join the Tourism and Hospitality industry in Singapore. Genting Resorts World at Sentosa is the other IR under construction in Singapore. 60,000 jobs will be available in Singapore. 20,000 of these will be at the IRs itself.

If you want to Work and Study in Singapore and get a Diploma/Advanced Diploma, send an email to jonathan.chan@harrietgroup.com

You get paid while you are studying for your Diploma/Advanced Diploma

Singapore welcomes foreign talent

Singapore has leapt to "developed country" status in just one generation. This is a country with a population of only 4.5 million with around 1 million foreigners. There are many Multi-National Companies in Singapore and some of these companies have their regional headquaters in Singapore. There is a significant number of expatriate staff of these Multi-National Companies in town.

Singapore is a pragmatic society. There is already about 1 million foreigners in Singapore. Singapore wants to have a population of 6.5 million, an increase of 2 million people. A significant portion of this will be foreigners as the birthrate in Singapore is about 1.2.

You can be one of the foreign talents whom Singapore welcomes. There is an acute shortage of skilled staff in the Tourism and Hospitality industry in Singapore. With a Work and Study program, you can get a job immediately while you study to get a Diploma or Advanced Diploma awarded by the Association of Business Executives.

For more information, send an email to jonathan.chan@harrietgroup.com.

FREE group coaching session

A life coach at the Warrior Camp gives FREE group coaching sessions over the telephone. You do not have to travel (time, expense) nor dress up (no one can see you in your home attire) to join. Just dial in.

Louisa's target audience is the singles - single dad, married dad (who has his turn at looking after the children), mothers who balances a career and home. I guess she means YOU are alone when you have quality time with your loved ones - children presumably. What do you do well that you can share with others, what do you really like to know how others are doing successfully, how you can and should be different from your spouse when you spend time with the children.

Louisa has some recorded coaching sessions that you can listen to, for FREE. Why not check it out and then participate in one of the live sessions - if you want to talk to somebody, it makes sense to talk to and listen to someone who focuses on

• stress mangement
• time mangement
• emotion management
• wellnes and health mangement
• dating and relationships
• finance management
• work life balance

visit http://www.abundantlivescoaching.com/ or http://abundantlivestraining.wordpress.com/[3:26:35 PM] Jonathan Chan says:

Warriors act FAST to stay alive, what about you?

I was away for 4 and a half days of training, entitled Enlightened Warrior Training Camp in Kuala Rompin, Pahang, Malaysia. A warrior fights because he has no other choice; if he does not fight he will lose his life, his loved ones will be enslaved and his hard-earned possessions will be taken away. A warrior may never have to fight a battle - he may live through peaceful times. In troubled times, a warrior have may to fight in many battles, maybe many wars too. In a battle, warriors have to ACT fast to stay alive.

On my return, the newspapers are FULL of news of possible global recession, AIA in Singapore is retrenching staff, the government warns of recession into next year, of more retrenchment and there are numerous articles of comparision to the GREAT DEPRESSION 80 years ago. The near future can be very difficult for those who are just entering the job market as well as for those whose job is not safe if retrenchment occurs. You will literally have to fight to get a job.

You choose to prepare for the battle ahead in many ways. One way is to get a job NOW as our program is a Work and Study Program - we will place you in a job while you study part-time, so you will be have a job for 2 years unless you do something really stupid to get yourself fired. Act now or be left behind - less jobs will be created and many will lose their jobs; these people will compete for any and all available jobs. We still have job openings so take them or others will.

You are warmly invited to the briefings on our Work and Study program in Singapore. Send an email with your name and mobile phone number to
jonathan.chan@harrietgroup.com or send an sms with your name and mobile phone number to 9476 2545. We will send you the address and give you directions.

Briefing dates and times in SINGAPORE:

1. Tues 4 November at 7pm
2. Wed 5 November at 2 pm
3. Sat 15 November at 2pm

Briefing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

1. Sat 8 November at 2.30pm
2. Sun 16 November at 2.30pm

Marina IR hires Singapore citizens & PRs

The Marina Bay Sands (MBS) Integrated Resort starts its hiring today Oct 20, focussing on rank-and-file operations staff eg waiters, technicians, housekeepers, security guards and cleaners. The General Manager George Tanasijevich said they will hire "as many Singaporeans as possible" as this is MBS' most important commitment to Singapore.

This hiring blitz is aimed at people without experience in the Tourism and service industry. 10,000 workers at all levels will be hired at the end of 2009 when it opens. Marina Bay Sands is partnering the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and the National Trade Union Congress' Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) to prepare new hires for jobs in this field. Another daily, TODAY, reports that hiring includes back-to-work mums, low-wage earners, retirees, the retrenched and jobless. For more information, visit career.marinabaysands.com or call 6586 7700 (9am - 6pm) by Nov 5.

WDA Director (Tourism) Teo Sio Hoon states that the tourism industry is expected to generate 60,000 jobs by 2010. If you want to be in this industry BUT want to work in better quality jobs compare to the posts mentioned, one way is to get a Diploma/Advanced Diploma in Travel Tourism and Hospitality awarded by the Association of Business Executives. We have a Work and Study Program so that you get 2 years working experience when you graduate from the 2-year programme.

We have briefings on the Work and Study Programme :

1. Tues Oct 21 @ 7pm
2. Thur Oct 23 @ 2.30pm and
3. Sat Oct 25 @ 2pm
   

To register please send an email with your name and mobile number to

jonathan.chan@harrietgroup.com or sms me at 9476 2545 for more details.