There are two types of leadership beliefs - type X and type Y. A type X leader holds a belief that all individuals are inherently not interested in working. They will find ways to slack whenever they can. Hence in order to maximize productivity, we should find the best way to complete a task, then find a way to get all employees to do it that specific way. On the other hand, we have our type Y leaders. They believe that everyone has their own motivator(s) that determines how

One of the key reasons why we believe recruiting is almost impossible to be 100% automated is the element of candidate’s personality fit to the job. Personality fit goes beyond whether this person will naturally perform well at the role, but extends to whether he/she will get along with the hiring manager and the team, and also impacts the company’s overall culture and quality of performance. Besides all the technical aspects of the interview process, there is always this som

What is the first thing people do or ask when needing to do a hire? Bingo! We start with a job description (JD). I’m sure most of us as HRs/ Recruiters have been through the process many times - You reach out to the hiring manager, understand their needs, write up the JD, then proceed with the job posting. In my past 20 years of recruiting experience, I have attended countless training, workshops, and sharing on how to hire Best-Fit-Candidates. But one thing I noticed is tha

One month into your new role, you know your skills, personality, and motivation all fit perfectly, but something’s off - you feel like you are dispensing a lot of energy but not going far. What went wrong? Let me first share a story with you. There were two friends that lived in different parts of the world - John and Andy. One day, they started talking about how they are keen to get a vehicle they really want. It was a very exciting discussion, they talked about functionalit

When thinking about personality fit in a career context, you might just associate it with how well the individual gets along with the manager and the team. In the GTP world, personality fit is way beyond just that. If the ultimate goal is to find your best-fit-job, you must understand that “personality fit” is the most unique and important puzzle piece of all. So what’s the first area we should consider - the fundamentals - role fit. Do you think there are particular roles th

Think back on your career journey - what do you think got you to where you are today? In my 20 years of recruiting experience, both in-house and external, I noticed a rather interesting pattern; the more skilled and in-demand the talent is, the more their career move is tied to the matching of their motivation with the prospective employer’s needs and requirements. Let’s backtrack a bit, what does motivation actually mean? Motivation is defined as an individual’s reason(s) fo

Do you know how much of our life is spent in your job? Research shows that the average person will spend around 90,000 hours (~40 years) at work over a lifetime - not to mention how that number may likely be higher for big-city workers like Hong Kong, London, New York, and so on. By spending probably half of your lifetime at work, what’s your approach in career planning? Do you believe you can influence the type of job you are going to land when you are conducting job searche

5 days after Jenny’s layoff, we had our followup call. “Thank you for the initial call. I felt better now and would like to kick-start my job search. What shall I do next?” Jenny asked me. After giving herself and her family some time to digest the news, Jenny is now ready to get back in the game. When it comes to the job search game, The common approach is: You sit at your computer and start applying to every job you see. The more effective approach is: You strategize it and

“I don’t want to go home, what am I going to tell my family?” 1.5 hours into my chat with Jenny, after we talked through the shock, the denial, the initial transition plan. “What am I going to say to them?” Dealing with a layoff is tough, but the hardest part is imagining the worry, sorrow, and maybe even fear in your loved ones. So, the million dollar question - one that matters the most but is talked about the least - how do you break the news to your spouse, family, and ev

“Why dread over emotions? What's done is done. I’d rather get productive and start job searching,” says Jenny, my coaching client who recently got laid off due to Covid-19. Well, in fact, it is important for us to acknowledge and process the emotional impact from a layoff as it can be detrimental to the actions you are trying to take. In the previous blog, we explored how you could head start a transition in the case of a layoff. What’s next? Like Jenny, you might immediately

“I got laid off, what should I do?” Jenny, my coaching client called me one day crying. She just got the news from her manager that due to Covid-19, they are cutting 15% headcount and she’s one of them. No matter how experienced, mature, confident, and employable you are, layoffs can still be a highly stressful and scary situation. It’s not just a loss in income, but the self-doubt, confusion, fear of future security that can be very overwhelming; not to mention the challenge