Cut costs vs Up efficiency

Recent news article speaks of this company whose employees are taking up cleaners' roles at work. I don't know how many cleaners this company hired (don't think even 10), but rather than firing cleaners (how much can you pay for a cleaner really), which possibly contributes to unemployment of the less-educated (jobs search already hard for those with tertiary education), and having employees (who essentially make the money for you) clean up the office (thus less time for effective work?), how about having some non-monetary incentives to increase the productivity of your employees, so they deliver twice as much work in the same amount of time?

EP hard to get.

I finally got my employment pass sometime last week (April fools to be exact). Almost didn't make it for the day because I did not bring my edu cert (photocopy/original) with me. Luckily I had them in email archived, and (thank gawd) the printing shops these days offer comprehensive services that allowed me to retrieve documents from my own email for print. When I was back an hour later to collect my pass, I saw something so ironic.. a man on the ledge atop MOM.

I'm sorry but he didn't look like he was going to jump off. Judging the way he positioned himself, rather than sitting with 2 legs hanging outside, he sat there as if he was sitting on a see-saw. I mean if you're really determined that it's the end of your world, you would probably be facing towards the outside of the building (there 2 legs hanging). And most likely won't stay in the same spot, where down below a huge air-bed has been prepared for you. My guess is that he probably got very depressed all of a sudden, perhaps denied a work permit, and wanted the "authority's" attention to the self-claimed difficult life he had.

Crowds were gathered below across the street. But I wonder who was really concerned with that man's life than just standing there to find out if he jumped in the end.

First time I see this with my own eyes. There wasn't any major publishing in the media, so I guess he really did not jump after all. :p

Jobs search VI

Whew. At last! A temporary financial relief coming from Cellcity. [recall]

3 months contract starting Dec (next week). If all goes well, I should get a permanent contract by Feb. Pay is not too great. (wx keeps complaining plus it's less than what I earned before) But jobs are really hard to come by these days you know. =\ I hope the work style here would help me learn more from my job than my previous company.

For a start, I am finally getting my own computer this Saturday!!

Jobs searching V

So Cellcity finally called back on Mon and arranged another meeting with me for Tue. Later that day, I got a call from Home Nursing Foundation for an interview on the same day! Wee~ I think the interviews went okay. At least they were more interested in my application than Photonitech, and even took the time to explain/show what they do and who they need.

Cellcity is a growing small mobile communications company. Neat idea to compile a one-stop Singapore living/lifestyle/city guide for the mobile generation. Well now, they are looking for a web marketing person to help them manage web activities and promotions more effectively. Very much like the things I did back in Innovolt. The lady was very nice. She's the Director for the Asia Marketing dept. Told me a lot about their future business developments and business models. Hehe, she's also good at marketing her product to her interviewee. Let me tested the city guide on her cellphone. Quite a diversity, I believe, among the employees in the office.

It was quite an interesting first interaction with charitable organizations and much contrast to the previous job description. More hands-on, and more events planning and marketing. I've never given much thought about going into this industry. But it doesn't sound like an easy job to do, like getting sponsorships, might even be tougher than selling a commercial product. I guess the lady understood that I'm a fresh grad and still looking out for options/alternatives. She gave me a pretty good idea of VWO's job nature. "So.. why Home Nursing Foundation and not other VWOs?"

Jobs searching IV

update:
I can't believe this is how people here work. I called the office twice today but nobody answered. Sent an email but got no replies. Least I expect a polite reply to turn down my application. I guess it's because they don't really care whether one more candidate showed up for an interview or not. So an email just comes in, throwing in a date, time, and location, asking people to come in the NEXT day for an interview. At least with such a SHORT notice, I would appreciate a phone call to make sure the person got the message! Can't assume I would check my emails few times a day, and not like I know when the recruiters are emailing back to me. Sigh.

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Wuuhuuhuu~

I just lost an interview! :'( I received an email on Tue (11/4) to come for an interview on Wed (11/5). But I only checked my emails today (11/6)!! HOW!?

Plus, it's a marcom position.. AHHHHH HELPPP!

Jobs searching III

GAWD! Erjie just pointed out a super 大蛋白 thing on my resume.. I mistakenly wrote $880 (half-month pay) as my FULL monthly salary instead of $1760!!! T_T.. Sobssss. That's a huuuuge difference! In SGD, the rightful amount is $2.5k+!! Not $1.2k+!! AHHHHH~~ And I've already sent out 30 over applications with the stupid wrong info. =(((((( Hope it didn't impose a fatal impression on my app. Haizzz.

Jobs searching II

Wooo I'm back at this stage again.

So I finally got to Parklane Mall yesterday.. but turns out that they (or their clients) accept applications from Singaporeans or PRs only. Meh no chance for me then. Quite reasonably so, considering that most are that small and more temp/contract jobs than perm.. I think.

I'm starting to flip through the newspapers classifieds now.. heh even better so, postings are also available on the web!