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.