Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Researchers' tool: eGrabber eMail-ID Extractor
The Plug-in installs in your browser toolbar. Clicking it extracts email IDs from the page, de-dupes, sorts and displays them for you in an Excel and Outlook friendly format.
Go to this link and down load the plug-in: http://www.egrabber.com/freebies/emailidextractor/
***Happy Hunting folks***
Friday, July 23, 2010
Ever need a phone # quickly? Use Google!
Try it out - (if the person's is listed somewhere of course);
Also, while there are many ways & many tools to do this, if you need an email format for a company, type in Google:
"email * * companyname.com"
(Use quotes and replace 'companyname' with the actual co you are trying to find email address formats for. As you scan the results, it will give you email patterns/formats for that company - such as firstname.lastname@company.com or firstinitiallastname@company.com, etc)
- by Gary Cozin
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Facebook Statistics!
Some of them are listed below -
- FB is 6 years old (founded in Feb'2004)
- Over 400 million active users (Only China and India have larger population than FB has members)
- People spend over 500 billion minutes per month on FB.
- 700,000 new users everyday which amounts to 21 million new users every month.
- About 70% of FB users are outside the United States
- As of June 2010 there are 187 countries with registered FB member
- While USA tops the list with 123 016 580 members, at the bottom of the pile is Sierra Leone with 5400 members
- Indonesia has the highest number of users from ASIA with 24 722 360 members and they are just behind the US of A and England.
- As for tiny Singapore with a population of 4 million we are 38th on the list with 2 253 640 members and user growth of 4.52% from last year. Which is relatively high penetration rate(46.57%).
- The country with the highest user growth is Laos with an astonishing figure of 82.01% while the lowest user growth is in Namibia with a drop of minus 286.21%
- The top 3 countries with the highest user growth are Laos, Iraq(38.31%) and South Korea(20.07%)
- Lastly, the top 3 categories on FB that has the highest number of fans are (sex) Playboy on Facebook - 1 4110 189 fans, (news) CNN on Facebook - 840 628 and lastly (information) Google.com on Facebook - 696 883 fans.
It is rather intriguing that Playboy which falls under the category SEX has the highest number of fans considering the fact that women have always made up a larger share of the FB user base than men! Thats something to ponder upon ..... ;-)
/ta
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Singapore banks on hiring drive!
On top of the pile was British-based Barclays Bank, which is leading the hiring resurgence with plans to add more than 500 staff here this year. Most will be employed in the bank’s technology section, in general operations and in finance.
Besides Barclays Bank, notable mentions are DBS with 500 positions, HSBC with 200 senior positions and ANZ Bank with more than 800 staff that will include the staff they will inherit from RBS' retail and commercial businesses.
From local to foreign, small players to big boys, almost all banks operating here have recruitment high on the agenda.
Morgan Stanley, State Bank of India, Standard Chartered Bank and OCBC Bank are just some of the others adding staff.
The outlook definitely seems very upbeat at least for the first half of the year and as for the rest of the year one has to wait and watch how the global economy sustains its recovery momentum.
For the moment, its happy billing days for the recruitment industry here in Singapore and here's wishing everyone a great 'Year of the Tiger' ahead.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Four Sources of Candidates - by Bill Radin
1. Candidates I own.
The candidates I own are the people I already know about or whose contact information, profiles or resumes are in my database. Whenever I start a search, I turn to these people first, not only because they’re the most accessible, but because over the years, I’ve gotten to know many of them, and I’ve qualified them, sent them to interviews, and maybe even placed them.
I feel like if I already have a history with people, and they trust me, and I’ve invested time in developing them, then those relationships will result in better decisions on my part as to whether they’re right for a job. And certainly, someone I have a good working relationship with will make for a more reliable and generous source of referrals. Even someone I’ve only spoken to once a long time ago is an owned candidate, because there’s some degree of history between us.
2. Candidates I rent.
These are candidates whose names or resumes are made available through job boards, resume banks, databases, directories and split networks. I call them “candidates I rent” because they’re in the public domain, and they’re available to any other recruiters who are willing to pay a subscription fee or join a network in order to gain access. Once I make contact with the candidates I rent and import their records into my own files, they can be merged into my community of talent, that is, the candidates I own.
3. Candidates I cultivate or find through original research.
4. Candidates who come to me through my pipeline.
Pipeline candidates are also the people who visit my Web site and send me their resumes, or respond to a job posting, or ask to receive my newsletter or candidates who are referred to me by word of mouth. Pipeline candidates are people who hear about a workshop I’m giving on interviewing techniques, or see an article I wrote in a trade publication.
I take my pipeline very seriously, and I set it up and maintain it for the express purpose of magnetizing people and drawing them into my community. Once they find me—or we become “friends”—they too, get merged into my files as candidates I own.
The Power of OwnershipI’m a big believer in candidate ownership, because when you own your candidates, you’re less dependent on other sources, and you won’t need to spend your hard-earned cash on rental candidates who are accessible to any number of other recruiters. Given the choice, I’d rather be self-sufficient and in control of my own resources.
Another reason to own your candidates is that—and this is a slightly advanced concept—once your database reaches critical mass, it’ll begin to have an asset value unto itself. And what that means is that your inventory can then be leveraged. So, for example, if a company or a recruiting partner or a third party is looking for a particular type of candidate that you have a reputation for owning, you have leverage. So if you choose to do so, you can earn a higher fee for a placement, or do a split on favorable terms if you decide that sharing the candidates in your database would be a good business decision. With ownership, you have that control. If you’re just renting candidates everyone else is renting, your control becomes very limited or even non-existent. Of course, it goes without saying that this is the strategy that works best for me. The most important thing is to find what works best for you and stick with it.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Tips - If I've learnt 3 things in recruitment
1. Rejection isn't personal!
2. The longer you procrastinate over something the harder it becomes
3. Sometimes you just have to walk away from a deal
-by Diane Marker, MD, Marker Consulting - www.markerconsulting.com
Source:UK Recruiter Newsletter #419, dated 2 September 2009.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Microsoft Excel: How to Hide Tabs
At the bottom of your spreadsheet, you can see all available tabs. For this example, we will hide the Formulas tab.

3. At the top of the left pane, locate the desired tab that is to be hidden and select it.
5. Go to the Visible setting and use associated dropdown to select 0 -xlSheetHidden.

7. Right-click VBAProject and select VBAProject Properties.


10. Input a password, repeat it to confirm the password.
11. Click the OK button.
12. Go to the menu, click File and select Save.
When you return to your spreadsheet, you will now see that the tab is hidden.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
How I Made 3 Hires with Twitter in 6 Weeks
Twitter Hire #1
I posted my first requirement for a .Net developer and (I’d have to check my Twitter diary to be certain…and yes, I kept one…stop laughing. No, seriously. Stop.) waited for any sign of life on the other end. It seemed like 17 minutes went by (again, that’s in the diary) and then finally, someone RT’d (“retweeted” for all you newbies) my Tweet. “Holy crap!,” I thought, “This is working.”
Eventually, I had several people retweeting my post that day and by the end of the day, I had five referrals, three interviews, and…wouldn’t you know it…a placement…with a great .Net talent I never would have known otherwise. This is when I started to really believe in the power of Twitter. The fact that this candidate saw my Tweet because someone I didn’t know reposted it blew my mind. I was addicted. So addicted now, in fact, that even as I write this blog post, I am Tweeting about it…well, that and how my dog smells like corn chips.
Twitter Hire #2
My second placement happened much like the first one. I had a position come in that I was on the fence about – partially because I was slammed…and partially because I’m a dev-loving snob (this position was infrastructure…ick!). In any event, I updated my Twitter followers on my newest need and it got retweeted several times. I’ve found it helps to ask for a Tweet to be retweeted but more on this in a second. This was position was slower to fill (it was a “purple squirrel”) but about a week or so after I posted it, I got a message from a candidate (and now Kforce contractor) that was interested.
It seemed he had just been laid off unexpectedly and was now on the market…and was just the purple squirrel I thought I’d never (ever, ever) find. He emailed me his resume and within four hours we had him driving up to Jacksonville from South Florida to interview face to face. He received an offer a day later and he started work the following Wednesday. This was a particular success for me because he was an out of area candidate that I would have never met otherwise, he was one of very few that had his skill set, and it was a perfect match with a brand new client (that coincidentally, came from a Twitter lead). @OrlandoTechNuts was feeling pretty darn good about herself at this point.
Twitter Hire #3
My most recent placement is the one that gets me most excited. I had been recruiting (or stalking) this candidate for about a month (at least!). He was absolutely dead on for a position I was working on (again with a new client) and for some crazy reason, he would not answer his phone, and he would not return my hundreds of voicemails and emails. I briefly contemplated showing up at his house but I was advised against it (seriously…or not). I had just about given up on this candidate (apparently he was too good for me) when I got a direct message on Twitter about a job I had tweeted.
My contact had a friend that was looking and was looking for a reputable recruiter to work with and he saw the RT of my position. He was interested. Well, wouldn’t you know if that the candidate that was interested was the very same candidate that I had been chasing down and losing sleep over (yes, I get very involved in my job). Looks like @OrlandoTechNuts now had the upper hand. For a moment, I thought about acting like I was a jilted ex-girlfriend and not calling him back…but, I am a recruiter. We’ll always call back. Long story short, he FINALLY answered his phone when I called and we got him a job (and a great one!) within two weeks.
Twitter Hire #4 is in the Works!
Stay tuned! I’m very close to getting my fourth Twitter hire in the next week. Assuming our client doesn’t go MIA (again…gotta love that, right recruiters?), I should have another great dev talent working very soon. Like the others, this was a guy that I had never met, nor probably would ever meet, because he is a passive channel candidate and not on the boards…and frankly, he wasn’t too keen on recruiters (until @OrlandoTechNuts got to him, that is!).
Following the right people (and having the right people follow you) along with tweeting relevant information is a great way to build your credibility and it can effectively separate you from the hundreds of other recruiters out there – that is what really helped move this potential hire along.
How to Use Twitter in Recruiting
I look back now and kick myself for not being open to Twitter sooner. It took a while to get Kforce onboard and unblock it for me but once I got going, I was not going to stop. Twitter has become such an integral part of my every day life (even outside of work) and I’m not sure what I’d do or how I’d effectively recruit without it at this point. Sure, I’d manage (after all, David Dunkel didn’t have Twitter and somehow he managed to do ok), but I would not be able to touch nearly as many people and connect with my community as deeply as I have.
Your use of Twitter needs to be approached like any other aspect of recruiting or sales. It is a long term investment and you really have to care to grow and develop your relationships. One of the most common concerns I hear from candidates is that recruiters seem to be all about instant gratification. They tend to view talent as a commodity and lose sight of the fact that they are working with people. The relationship is not important and there is a strong need to take your “kill” back to the den as quickly as possible.
If you go into it (it being Twitter, in this case) thinking, “What am I going to get out of this and how soon?” you might as well stop now. Chances are you aren’t going to walk away with an immediate “reward”. I think the majority of my success has stemmed from actually caring about the connections I make and what is going on in my (IT) community.
I try my best to contribute daily (and this time I’m not referring to my Tweets about my smelly dog) and demonstrate that I am very much invested in my community. It never hurts to be engaging. Ask questions, respond to Tweets that interest you, and basically, take an active interest in what your fellow Twitter folk are doing. It has to be more than just posting a job opening you have. It never hurts to RT other people’s Tweets, either. That goes a long way.
Now, when you do decide to Tweet your positions, make sure those Tweets count. Make sure you don’t use all 140 characters (that is a pain to RT…and I learned that the hard way in the beginning) and if you want others to RT your positions, ask for it. I always do and people are more than willing to oblige.
Of course there is also the risk that Twitter can drain all of your time, but so far, even though I heavily rely on it, that really hasn’t been an issue. I do keep it up all day at work…and on my phone…but I check it once an hour or so to see if there is anything relevant I can comment on (or occasionally heckle some of my dev friends) and then I post something as I feel like it. I’d say if you added up the collective amount of time I spend tweeting, it is around an hour or so per day. Considering that I’m a full time recruiter who works about 60+ hours a week, that’s a relatively small investment and the rewards have been huge…plus you make some pretty interesting friends along the way.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, I really don’t think there is just one way to leverage Twitter successfully. My experience was very much trial and error and so far, I’ve managed pretty well (other than making a few rookie errors). Like anything, stick to the basics. Remember that relationships are king and you can’t make a withdrawal if you never make a deposit. If you keep this in mind as you Tweet, I promise you will be right on track to make 3 hires in 6 weeks using Twitter too. Trust me. After all, I am always (almost) right.
About the Author
Megan Hopkins is a senior technical recruiter working for Kforce in Orlando. She specializes in recruiting .Net developers and is very active in the Microsoft development community, regularly attending events such as Orlando.Net User Group and the Tampa ASP.Net MVC Developer User Group at Microsoft - she’s also the exclusive sponsor of these groups and several more.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Facebook used to screen potential employees!
On the flip side, 18% of employers have found content on social networking sites that made them hire candidates. Most commonly, the candidates' profiles provided a good feel of their personality and fit, or their profiles supported their professional qualifications.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Happy hiring days are here again!
Look around and you will see, hear and feel the difference in the air as compared to few months back.
News are abound with confident boosting plans, actions and positive forecast for hiring needs.
For some this week itself has brought in loads of business in the form of new assignments and projects that they've not seen in the past 2 months combine. Pipelines are very strong so are the billing numbers.
The feeling that I get when I spoke to couple of recruiters is that they are going to end with a strong quarter. Which needless to say is a very welcoming change indeed.
I am very confident that this positive momentum is going to see us through the remaining quarter and take off in Q1 2010 to something of a record of sort.
Some of the notable banks that are in hiring mode are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, StanChart, ANZ, Credit Suisse and even the locals banks.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch is resorting to having specialist in-house recruiters for different streams by infusing new blood by hiring experience recruiters and also calling back some of their recruiters who were made redundant during the aftermath of BoA buying ML. They are now poised to hire financial experts and technocrats in the hundreds.
Barclays is as strong as ever with every recruiter fighting for a share of the headcount pie.
Credit Suisse on the underhand is looking for senior leaders in big numbers while they continue to build their offshore support strength.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group which was very much a small player, an unknown entity here in Singapore is bursting in its seams with their program to built a Super Regional Bank and now added to this aggressive growth plan they also have the huge task of hiring in hundreds resources for their integration with RBS (retail, wealth and commercial businesses).
StanChart is still in the news with their plans to hire 850 priority bankers while ANZ is planning to hire over 100 private bankers over the next 18 months.
The hiring market is bullish indeed but I am positive that we are still in the initial stage of the bottom curve and we can be prepared to see much more hiring frenzies in the months to come.
Happy hunting and bigger billings to all the recruiter folks out there!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tips - If I've learnt 3 things in recruitment
1. It actually is a numbers game (as annoying as my previous managers were in drumming that in to me!), and you do need to make hay while the sun is shining
2. Complacency is the root of failure!... Never take a candidates word for granted (or client for that matter)
3. You're only as good as your last quarter
StanChart to boost pool of relationship managers to 300
In an expansion of its priority banking business here, the foreign bank yesterday said it planned to hire 300 relationship managers over the next three years, more than double its current number.
So far, it has hired 80, it said. Priority banking caters to individuals with $200,000 or more in net assets.
Other banks are also hiring more. HSBC says it is planning to take on about 100 staff in wealth management, while OCBC says it will continue hiring selectively.
Market watchers say this is a good time for banks that are relatively unaffected by the financial crisis to capture more market share.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Singapore's economy bounces back
Growth surpassed expectations, with a more than 20% rise from the previous quarter. All thanks to a surge in biomedical production.
Manufacturing is not exactly a huge part of Singapore's economy, but the island specialises in pharmaceuticals and high-end specialist manufacturing.
And increased demand for flu vaccines helped an already recession-proof sector to expand.
Exports, which are the real lifeblood of Singapore's economy, rose nearly 6% in May.
Shipments of raw materials such as iron ore are picking up. The reason, yet again, appears to be China.
The rest of the manufacturing sector is still struggling, however, and retail sales are still down. Domestic consumption is not picking up, so analysts say the worst may not be over yet.
- Mariko Oi, reporter, BBC Asia Business Report
Sunday, July 12, 2009
If I've learnt 3 things in recruitment...
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Recruiters worst fear - back out!
The pain of losing out on a deal a billing does not apply anymore now that I don't have to worry on targets but it still does leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I still believe that one should always be transparent if not at least there is such a thing as courtesy and that one is obliged to his or her recruiter in explaining the circumstances under which he/she had to back out or turn down an offer. After all, Singapore is but just a small island and you never know whom you bump into around the corner street or at the food court.
A good and wise candidate typically will have at close contact a doctor whom he can trust for his general well-being, a mentor a guru that he can always go to for advice or seek wisdom on life and someone also said a good recruiter whom he can call up anytime to seek career advice/better opportunity or simply banter with like good friend.
To everyone job seekers out there or for that matter anyone aspiring for better career opportunities you will gain more if consciously you try and cultivate a good relationship with your recruiter by giving and or showing respect and regards. We recruiters thrives on such and don't be surprised your gesture might just be reciprocated with similar kinds or even deeds ;-)
Friday, July 10, 2009
Singapore job market shows signs of pick-up!
Almost every paper this morning carried news of survey results collated from some of the leading multinational recruitment firms. Everyone echoed similar sentiments; higher recruitment projection for the next quarter, substantial increased in hiring this quarter and the two sectors that showed most remarkable turnaround are IT and Banking Finance.
Q3 forecast as per Hudson's May survey shows - 32 percent of respondents in banking and finance expect to increase recruitment as compared to 19 percent in Q2.
As an in-house recruiter in a mid size regional bank contrary to the negative hiring trend in the market outside in the past few quarters we've never slowed down on our recruitment pace.
However, lately and even more so this last 2 months I am getting to experience candidates that are willing to turn down or back out of offers while in the process of signing the contract or in one instance just days before reporting for work.
This to me, from past experience ( Y2K project and SAP boom days) is one sure sign that the job market is bullish and that candidates have in their hands multiple job offers.
Wishing all the recruiter folks out there happy hunting and good billings!
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Singapore employment outlook brightens
Of the 697 employers considered for the third quarter update, 12% expected to see an increase in their headcounts. A further 7% predicted a decrease in staff while the remaining respondents expected there would be no change in the third quarter.
Philippe Capsie, country manager of Manpower Singapore, says this represents a significant turnaround on the group's second quarter survey. Then, more employers expected to reduce headcount, rather than increase it. "While there is no quick fix in this current economy downturn, employers' hiring confidence is improving," he said. "Most employers are saying they will retain present staff in the third quarter, indicating that the worst may be behind us."
The survey considered seven distinct industry sectors. Of these, four (including manufacturing, finance and construction) predicted negative employment growth overall. In contrast, modest growth was predicted for the transportation, utilities and retail trade sectors.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
If I've learnt 3 things in recruitment - by Anonymous
1) Go with your gut instinct...............if you think a candidate will let you down at some point, they will.
2) Keep in communication with clients. If you're struggling to fill a role, tell them so and manage their expectations effectively. They will respect you a lot more for it.
3) Everyone makes mistakes, just don't make them twice! I would prefer not to be referenced.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Standard Chartered to hire 100 bankers
While the bank did not elaborate further on its hiring plans, a bank source said most of its new hires will take place mostly in Asia, with the remaining going to Europe and the Middle East.
Peter Flavel, global head of its private bank unit, says Standard Chartered is in good shape despite the global downturn. "'As we're seeing a continuing increase in client demand for our private banking services, we will continue to invest in attracting talent to further strengthen our proposition," says Flavel.
He adds that the bank is scouting for talented candidates with excellent track records and consistency in fulfilling client expectations.
"'We are here to meet clients' needs. To achieve this, we need a certain type of relationship manager - someone with exceptional people and advisory skills, a strong team player, commitment to building long-term partnerships with clients."
About 100 out of 350 relationship managers in Standard Chartered worldwide are based in Singapore, according to a report by The Straits Times.

