The Asia Pacific Headhunter

Friday Links

Some great articles for you to take in over the weekend:

Evidence from Japan that companies that offshore operations are more successful at maintaining and growing their domestic workforce. This is worth a read for all the anti-offshoring types. Offshoring has been a big issue in Japan since the 80's thanks to all the manufacturing done there. And while the study can't say what type of employees are hired in the domestic operations, the results do show that perhaps not offshoring is a bigger risk to the growth of a company in their country of origin.

Immigrants Fuel Workforce Growth in Canada - Canada's foreign-born population has reached it's highest point in 75 years with 20% of the population born overseas. They have given a much needed boost to an ageing workforce.

South Asian Blood Sweat and Tears in the Middle East - A damning article on the treatment of nearly 600,000 Sri Lankan domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, and the UAE. The Sri Lankan government reports that 50 domestic workers return to Sri Lanka "in distress" every day! More needs to be said about this, it's disgusting that this type of abuse of workers continues.

Indonesian Economy on The Rise But Jobs Scarce - Quick article on economy growth in Indonesia but also how that growth has been confined to certain parts of the country. In some cases people can make more money offering themselves as passengers to commuters so they can use the car pool lane, than they can from working near their homes.

Dow Chemical cuts 1000 jobs - Includes leaving the automotive sealers business in Asia. Hardly even causes a blip on the share price which always seems to be the case when there are layoffs.

UK Investment Bankers Predict Doom in 2008 - But they still think they'll personally get bigger bonuses!  You've gotta love their optimism. Not that those bonuses weren't bad last year either.

Indians and Filipinos Happiest People in Asia - Who would of thunk it? Filipinos in particular are happy about their career prospects and families but are most of all happy about their health. Unfortunately they came last in "preparedness for retirement". Still at least they aren't unhappy about it.

Career Success Resources

I'd like to put together some pages and/or blog posts to review and list career success resources. I get a lot of questions on career management and career success and while I have some strong opinions and ideas myself I'd be really interested in any readers thoughts on books, blogs, podcasts, speeches, guide books or anything else you've read or seen that you felt made a difference for you in your career. So please leave a comment with the resource, and if possible a couple of reasons why you like it and I'll let you know once I've put together the final list. I think in particular if you have resources that you feel are more relevant to motivated employees in the Asia Pacific I'd really be keen to hear about them.

When recruiters google you

Link: SILICON VALLEY USERS GUIDE: How to look good when your recruiter googles you - Valleywag.

Great advice for job hunters who aren't so sure what will come up if they were to get googled. I'm sure most candidates wouldn't have any serious worries - but for those who may... the damage control here is straight forward - decide what areas you can control and edit them or make them private - such as personal blogs that reveal the more risqué you. For those that are out of your control (other people's blogs & websites), ask them for a favour if you can.

The thing to do also is to make sure your positive online presence and branding - are ranked higher and more visible. Do you have a professional blog, or are an active member of a network or community?

This reminds me of other advice I've come across for jobhunters & their online presence:

From Brazen Careerist:
Blogging Essential for a Good Career - there's no doubt that being found online can be a good thing - if done right

From Marketing Headhunter:
Don't Drog Blunk - Common sense. Don't commit anything to writing (paper or online) when inebriated and angry.

Your Blog is not your Resume - Just a reminder for some who feel their online presence just says it all. You still do need a resume if you want to be considered for a job.

I guess some may think it's a shame that we need to "edit" our online persona if we need to consider how a potential employer or client would perceive us. But you know what folks - that's just the way it is. Whatever you write in the blogosphere - be it your own blog or comments on others - it's a public domain that your boss and potential employers are a part of. If you need to do or say something that could be questionable keep it in private - through your private network.

Frontier Blog

Link: Frontier.

For my own record, Lattice Semiconductor have their own blog - Frontier: The Weblog of Innovation. I've done a lot of work in the semiconductor industry and it's great to see a company blog like this. If anyone knows of any other semiconductor blogs, please leave them in the comments.

Recruiting Blogosphere War Goes On

The "Recruiting Animal" is back with a new joint recruiting blog and proves that he is still one of the hardest working bloggers in the Recruitosphere despite leaving Recruiting.com just before it was sold for millions of dollars earlier this year. Maybe that is what is driving him? He has just set up a new blog with some real talent at RecruitingBloggers.com. I am interested in hearing the thoughts of people like Shally Steckerl and David Perry pretty much any day, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Good luck guys!

Top Japanese Bloggers

Today I want to plug some great blogging software - Pukeko. Pukeko is the English version of the popular Japanese blogging software Serene Bach, created by my good friends Takuya and Yoko Otani. Serene Bach is extremely popular in Japan (Takuya has recently returned from a book release tour there), but it's creators live in Auckland, New Zealand. The English version is still a "lite" version and lacks some features. But if you prefer to download and have an application on your computer it might be a good choice for you.

Interestingly enough, Takuya's blog (which is in Japanese only) is probably the most popular in the world written by someone living in New Zealand (if anyone thinks different, let me know) his current ranking on Technorati is in the top 150. ReadWriteWeb is the next closest as far as I can see.

UPDATE: FULL VERSION OF PUKEKO NOW RELEASED!

You'll find risk management jobs on GlobalRiskJobs.com.

Blogging Injuries

Have had a couple of questions on why I am so quiet recently. Am very busy at the moment and and at the same time have given myself a nasty case of RSI (repetitive stress injury). I actually think it is caused by my using my ibook and PC together. I initially set them up side by side and just switched computers when I needed one or the other. But I've picked up some really bad habits physically doing this and now have some major pain in my left back and arm. Anyway I am working through it now and have switched from using separate keyboards and input devices for each computer and now using one keyboard and one mouse for OSX and Windows through SynergyKM and Synergy. It's working really well (so far) and hopefully that change (and others) in my workspace, some physical therapy, and treatment will have me back blogging regularly soon. But I do expect I might have to slow a little over the next couple of months.

My apologies also to anyone (and there are a few of you) who I have promised to either blog about a particular topic or add something to Asia Pacific Headhunter for and haven't got around to it just yet.

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Search for jobs and careers at JobCentral.

Online in Asia: Bloggers, Gamers and Money

Three interesting reads that I thought were worth noting down. First on the influence of China's 80 million Bloggers. There are a couple of interesting cases on how Volkswagen and Ice Cream maker Haagen-Daz made marketing mistakes and how quickly the response was on local blogs.

The second on the incredible growth in online gaming in China. Some games, such as Korean developed - Crazy Arcade Bomb and Bubble, have as many as 130 million users! I really feel old when I read this. I have enjoyed games in the past. But now that I have my own kids I no longer feel like I have the time or patience to try. Even though the online games look really interesting I just can't see myself spending an hour let alone 24 hours like I hear some other people doing!

The third read I recommend a blog: Web 2.0 Asia from Korean Blogger Chang W. Kim. One post that I found really interesting was about monetizing blogs in Korea and what he calls the "Show Off Economy". Definitely worth a read.
 

Furst Person provides call center outsourcing services to employers.

Recruiting.com is Acquired!

Jobster have splashed out big bucks to buy Recruiting.com from Jason Davis and I have to say I am excited about it for a couple of reasons. First, Jason is a great guy and deserves any credit he gets and secondly it is a really interesting development for the Recruiting Blogosphere. A development that 12 months ago I don't believe any of us would have thought possible. So well done Jason and well done Jobster! The future seems to get more and more interesting every day!

Podcast Jobs in New Zealand

Dan Salter at New Zealand's funniest IT Recruitment firm's usually quiet blog, has started to deliver their latest jobs by podcast. The podcasts are nice and short and give updates on jobs that they don't have full job descriptions on yet. I think it is a really nice idea; especially for those candidates who prefer to listen rather than read. Although a lot of people will think podcasting is a fad, I think there is something much warmer about listening to details about something than just reading it. Dan has a great voice and I hope he keeps them up, it differentiates him from his competitors in a very busy market.