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Post Tips
Monday, August 23, 1999

INTRODUCTION

Job hunting

You are reading this on the Web, so you may not know that our series of columns and lessons, called Improving your English with the Bangkok Post appears five days a week in the Classified section of the Bangkok Post. We’re there because, for students, this is one of the most useful sections of the paper. That’s because of job information, of course. Advertisements for jobs make up more than 50% of the classified ads. That’s what we’re looking at today – job recruitment advertisements and how to make the best response to them.

Chitsopee Thaongtao
Manager, Classifieds

We have three guides for today’s lesson. The first is Ms Chitsopee Thongtao, the manager of the Bangkok Post’s Classifieds, an important department because it generates income for the paper. It is true that you pay 20 baht to buy a copy, but that does not nearly cover the cost of producing the paper. In order to generate income, the classified department employs people with a variety of skills: fast, accurate keyboard operators and proofreaders; sales advisors who receive information and compose ads for their customers on new layout software; creative artists; and sales and administration executives.

We asked Khun Chitsopee what she looks for when hiring new staff members. Not surprising for an English-language newspaper – applicants must do well on an English test which includes writing a short essay. Then, she said, "I look for people who show initiative and can demonstrate their ability to get along well with others. Teamwork is important in a big department."

For this lesson, we wanted to bring you information from other employers who are valued customers of the Bangkok Post. Khun Chitsopee recommended the two people we interviewed and I think you’ll agree they have some important advice for you.

Meeting the experts

Our two company guides are experts in job placement. The first is Ms Varaphorn Sayupatham, Director of Executive Recruitment for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Ms Varaphorn told us the company is one of the world’s largest providing business advice and assurance services. They employ over 140,000 staff in more than 150 countries. Through its original companies, Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand, they have been in Thailand for more than 40 years and employ more than 1,100 professional staff. Ten full-time staff work in the Executive Recruitment division.

That’s the work we are interested in today. They advertise, screen and recommend suitable candidates to meet the requirements of their clients. They have to understand the requirements and the culture of the client company, then match applicants with the right qualifications and who will fit into that culture.

Our second guide is Mr Surachai Suwitheechon, Senior Manager of Human Resources for Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC), a 130-year old bank headquartered in London, England. There are more than 130,000 employees in its 5500 offices world-wide. It was the first foreign bank to establish in Thailand. That was 111 years ago and HSBC now has 606 employees in Thailand.

Exercise

Wondering how to prepare yourself?

Our two experts are among the very best in the field of employee recruitment. The information they give could make a big difference in your future. You will want to read both interviews carefully in your own time and make sure you understand all the vital points.

A. To help you do that, here’s an activity for you to do in class. Read one interview in detail.

List the information about the screening and selection process the interviewee uses. Notice especially what qualities they look for in candidates and what they do with the hundreds of resumes they receive.
List the advice about writing a resume and preparing for an interview.

Compare your lists with other students who read the same interview to make sure you don’t miss important information. These lists will be important to keep for future reference.

B. Here are some other ideas to think about as you read:

Is the interviewee hiring for his/her own company or for a client firm?
What did you learn that might change the way you go about looking for a job in future?
Our interviewees are both in business. You may not be interested in a career in business, but in science, education or the arts. Does the advice still apply to you?

The interview for you to read

This week I have selected two news stories for you to read. They are both good examples of the issues commonly found in stories in stories involving the environment. Here are some things to consider as you read:

Ms Varaphorn Sayupatham

Ms Varaphorn Sayupatham
Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers Executive Recruitment (Thailand) Ltd.

Most of the recruiting done by PricewaterhouseCoopers is for middle and upper-level management positions. You might not be ready for that yet, but read what Ms Varaphorn told us about preparing for your job hunt. Here are some of the questions we asked and the highlights of her answers.

What can you tell us about the professions or fields of work you are asked to find employees for?

Professions where employment is more certain are engineering, accountancy, medical and dental fields. The social sciences are more difficult markets majors such as law, political science, public relations, education. In those areas, experience is very very important.

What’s the process you go through once you have a request from a client for a particular position?

Advertise: For one position PricewaterhouseCoopers may get from 50 to 300 applications depending on the job.
Screen: Looking for qualifications, experience and character to match the client’s requirements and culture, they will select a long-list of 20 - 30 candidates (approximately 10% of those they received). The usual time spent reading one resume is 3-5 minutes.
Test and interview: Eligible candidates are tested (an English reading and writing test) and interviewed by PricewaterhouseCoopers. For executive positions the interview would be about one hour, for junior positions, about 30 minutes
Recommend: Only 3-5 candidates’ names are forwarded to the client for consideration.

Presuming the requirement is for someone fluent in written and spoken English, are interviews conducted in Thai or in English?

Eighty percent in Thai. There must be a section in English to gauge the English fluency, but to be able to know the real person and his/her working style it’s important to allow the person to express him/herself completely - that has to be in Thai.

What advice can you give new applicants?

Have a vision of your career path. One of the best ways to prepare for that is reading the classified ads, even for positions you are not yet ready for. That gives you an idea what companies you might be interested in and what their requirements are. Then you can build your base of experience toward your goal.
Prepare a good resume. It should be no longer than two pages, in English. The format should be clear and easy to read. It must be easy to see what you have done but be careful not to make it look crowded. Include a statement of your career objective and emphasise the activities, accomplishments, achievements that distinguish you from others — that’s what a screener will be looking for.
If you have little work experience, include what you have done in student activity in order to demonstrate your experience and ability in human relations, in leadership and in developing useful connections.
A cover letter should be hand-written, in English, and be not more than 4 or 5 short paragraphs. You should briefly summarise your qualifications, mention qualities which distinguish you from others, and state what you offer to the company.
Prepare well for an interview. First, make sure you get a good sleep, be well groomed and try to relax. Think about what you will be asked and prepare your answers based on what you know about the company, the requirements for the position and your own resume. You should also prepare a few questions you would like to ask to demonstrate that you know something about the company. Finally, its very important to listen in the interviewer so that your answers are to the point.

Should a person submit an application to a company even though you don’t meet all the qualifications?

Yes, provided of course, you are somewhat compatible with the requirements. Especially if you are interested in a particular company or field of work, there may be other positions not advertised at the moment. Also the resume will be entered in the database.

gauge	to measure; to assess
to the point	on topic, relevant to the question
compatible	suitable; have the qualifications

Mr Surachai Suwitheechon

Mr Surachai Suwitheechon
Senior Manager
Human Resources, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC)

Mr Surachai’s department is directly responsible for hiring new employees for HSBC. Here are the questions we asked him and a summary of his answers.

What’s important for you when you are hiring?

HSBC places high priority on quality service to customers, so employees must be service-minded. The other general requirement is a high level of English proficiency.
For entry-level positions (filing clerk, data entry operator, for example) most successful candidates come from an Economics or Business studies background.
For mid and upper level management, candidates have Economics and Banking and Finance backgrounds, plus experience in the financial field.

What’s the process you go through to hire for a particular position?

Short-listed candidates are tested for reading comprehension and numerical proficiency. We are also looking for analytical reasoning ability. The test is administered "on the site", that is in a working environment to see how candidates cope with that.
Successful candidates are interviewed. For mid-level and upper management positions our interviews are "criteria based". By that we mean that problems are posed to the candidate who should explain how they would solve them. Even for entry positions, questions are open-ended and the interviewer will try to find out how the candidate thinks.
Candidates for management positions also take a psychological test to assess thinking style, relationship building and emotional skills.

Presuming the requirement is for someone fluent in written and spoken English, are interviews conducted in Thai or in English?

That would depend on the level of the person being hired. If the position is at the entry level it’s most important to know the person’s working and thinking style — Thai would be most appropriate. In all cases, there must be a section in English to gauge the English fluency.

What advice can you give to new applicants?

A resume will not result in a job; it’s a key marketing tool to win you an interview. A long resume is a negative; it says you don’t know how to focus what you have done in relation to the job requirements. Include your biodata, educational background (major and grades) as completely and concisely as possible. Your work experience section should tell your responsibilities, achievements, and accountability. Using bullets focuses your points clearly. Finally, don’t think that your resume will result in a job; It is a key marketing tool that will help you to get an interview.
If you don’t have work experience, include involvement in organisations, sports and activities during student days. The employer is looking for team spirit, co-operation, human relation skills.
Your cover letter should quickly tell what you have done and what value you can add to the company and state your aims and expectations; it’s the chance to "sell yourself".
Prepare well for an interview: Plan how you will introduce yourself, your background and accomplishments based on your resume and be prepared to explain more fully if asked. Know something about the company you are applying to, and stress how you think you will fit into the company culture. Formulate some questions — that demonstrates your thinking ability and that you are not afraid to speak your mind. It is a wrong decision not to ask a question — if you don’t ask you will never know.

Should a person submit an application to a company even though all the qualifications cannot be met?

Yes, provided of course some of the qualifications are met. For example if the advertisement asks for 10 years experience and you have only 3 – go ahead. As a person looking for a job, you should choose the kind of company you want to work for. If you and the employer make the right decision, you will stay for a longer time, make a better contribution to the company. HSBC doesn’t want to hire someone for just a few months.

Mr Surachai had one final comment: "These days it is tough applying for jobs because there are many well-qualified people available with good experience. You should know the process, know how to prepare yourself. One good way is to read the Bangkok Post - our employees do."

As I left Mr Surachai’s office there were at least eight young people completing application forms.

short-listed	selected as a good possible candidate
proficiency	skill level
analytical	logical, systemati
open-ended	having more than one answer
accountability	being able to answer for; taking responsibility

FOLLOW-UP

Read the recruitment advertisement below. What is the business of the company? What can you tell about the company culture from the ad? Would you fit it well with that culture? Do you qualify for either of the positions offered? If not, how could you prepare yourself? How would you prepare for an interview with this company?

We provide express shipping & insurance to the gem, jewelry and high valuables trade. We are a multinational company headquartered in the USA and aggressively expanding in Asia. Our growing team is excited to offer the following positions:

Outside Sales Executive:

Male/Female age 25-35
University graduated, with English skills (spoken & written), other languages a plus
Entrepreneurial, self-motivated, aggressive, outgoing and creative
At least 2 year’s sales experience, computer literate, own a car

Customer Service Executives:

Male/Female aged 20-28
University or College graduated with English skills, other languages a plus
Pleasant personality, good on the telephone, self-motivated, energetic
Previous sales/customer service and formality/customs experience a plus

Attractive compensation/benefit package, training program, growth opportunity and fun work environment. Please fax resume with salary history to: Khun Nattakhan, Fax: 630 0608, Tel 630 0604

TEACHER'S NOTE

This is a valuable life skills lesson for your students. Begin by having them use the Classified section of the Bangkok Post to list the variety of recruitment advertisements found there and what type of qualifications they are looking for.

Next, students should read the introduction to this lesson and share any experience they have had in applying for jobs.

Then divide the class into two groups, each reading one interview. Students should first make their own lists as I suggested in Exercise A. In small groups 3-5 students have them compare their lists to add or clarify points from the interview.

Have the whole class compare the points made by the two interviewees, looking for similarities and a few differences.

Exercise B can be used for a discussion in which students should be challenged to think about how they prepare themselves to demonstrate their thinking ability and show that they are not afraid to speak their minds, in the words of Mr Surachai.

Use the Follow-up exercise for small group discussion. If your students will soon be looking for work you could follow up by having them prepare a resume and cover letter based on the ad above or another of their own choice from the Classified section of the Bangkok Post . Emphasise that their resumes and cover letters should demonstrate what they have learned.

Next week: Two ISB student interns who spent a week at the Bangkok Post prepared the lesson on the writing of a feature story in real.time.

•This lesson was prepared by Acharn Sunee Canyook and Maureen Paetkau of the Educational Services Department at the Bangkok Post.

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