How To Keep Ourselves Employable In This Economic Down-Cycle?

Recent news of retrenchment and reduction in wage growth showed that the bull market days have come to an end. Globally systemically important banks, HSBC, Standard Chartered and Barclays, came out with the opening by announcing that they are intending to cut jobs globally. Singapore being an open economy would have also imported quite a fair bit of such doom and gloom.

This is not only witnessed in Singapore but also across comparable countries.

Exhibit 1: Total Unemployment Rate

Note: Unemployment rate is based on total labour force
Source: World Bank and International Labour Organization

Exhibit 2: Youth Unemployment Rate

Note: Youth unemployment rate is based on total labour force with ages between 15-24 years old
Source: World Bank and International Labour Organization

Although the FY2015 figures are not yet released by World Bank, we could easily guess that unemployment rate is in the uptrend.

With commodity priced hitting all time low, slowing global growth and central banks running out of effective weaponry to combat the slowdown, how do we ensure that we remain competitive and employable?

LinkedIn Is Your Best Employment Buddy

From time to time, you would have heard from your career coach and friends asking you to update your LinkedIn picture, experiences and education. More often than not, you might have overlooked it and say that it is just a “more professional” Facebook account.

We sincerely hope that that is not the case because LinkedIn should already be considered the most powerful employee seeking tool used by the Human Resource and Headhunting firms to locate their talents for recruitment.

Here are some tips on up-keeping your LinkedIn profile.

1. Use a relatively professional picture
There is no need to spend hundreds of dollars to get your picture professionally taken (sorry our Korean friends, life is tough and we understand your plight). Just a passport size picture, which includes your styled-hair, face and shoulders, will do just fine.

Remember to dress appropriately. For guys, the minimum should be a collared shirt and tie. For ladies, a collared blouse and formal jacket is highly recommended.

2. Update your job scope and achievement once every few months
If you are currently involved in a project which will only be completed in two years time, do not be shy in stating what you are doing and what short-term milestones you have achieved. This is to show your prospective hirers and talent observers that you are not just a project executive, but an achiever as well.

If you leave it blank and wait until your project is completed before updating, you would have lost 2 years of precious time for talent observers to keep track of your success story.

3. I am not intending to change/seek a job currently
If you are not intending to change or seek a new job, it is still important for you to update your profile. As mentioned, HR and headhunters are consistently keeping a bird’s eye view. You would not know when you might intend to change or seek a job, therefore being overly prepared is always better than short-changing yourself.
Your future you will thank your current hard work.

The Law of Attraction and a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Even the Bible (Matthew 7:7) states that “Ask, and it shall be given. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened.”

You have to understand your career goals and ambitions. It might be daunting, especially the younger folks. However, the earlier you come to this conclusion, the earlier you will be able to “peacock” to you employer and potential hirers.

If you have a job, by knowing and consistently asking from your boss what you want, it is not a matter of “will you get it”, but “when”. A good organization with a relatively good boss will surely reward you for your hard work and dedication as they are afraid you might leave taking away an abundance of knowledge and skills to the competitors’ camp.

For those unemployed, by stating your interest and specialization, HR and headhunters will have the easiest job in locating you and send you in for interviews and eventually a job.

SkillsFuture will boost your credentials

We are mentioning SkillsFuture once again because the government is giving us free money to pursue courses to upgrade ourselves.

There is a pool of very valuable courses to choose from, for instance, “Introduction to Marketing”, “Digital Marketing” and “Foundations of Business Strategy”. These are pretty generic and are great courses to boost your resumes.

Being your own boss will mean a 0% probability of being unemployed

Our government has been trying to encourage more entrepreneurs to form the Singapore business core in the long term. Initiatives like the Productivity and Innovation Credit, Wage Credit Scheme and reduction in taxes are just some examples of a helping hand.

Starting your own business can be very daunting and precarious. Nonetheless rewarding at success. It also enables you to be employed permanently regardless of the economic cycle.

Note that those who own landed properties at Nassim Road, Bukit Timah and Sentosa Cove are mostly likely not employees of big MNCs but bosses of larger small- and medium-sized enterprises in Singapore.

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