Should I Or Should I Not Thank The Employer

I had gone for an interview and I realized I am not that interested in the job. Should I or should I not thank the employer?

It’s only polite to say thank you after every interview, for the time spent by the interviewer/hiring manager.

The industry can be small, depending on how you look at it. Keep every bridges you build. You may not know when you need to cross one of these. You can always word your email that includes a line like: “After some contemplation, I concluded that the position is not a good fit for me. But, I appreciate the time you spent interviewing me.”


The truth is you won’t lose anything by saying thank you. But most people would think it’s too much trouble. Instead, they choose to completely ignore this basic courtesy.

Oh God! It’s Official. We’re Having An Affair!

It’s a line I picked up from the movie, “It’s Complicated”. Having affairs is of course complicated, whether it is with your ex-husband or otherwise.

You've heard it before: The workplace is a hotbed of extramarital affairs. Why is it so? Is it because more women are in the work place? Or the long working hours spent with our colleagues on a project? Or the cologne we wear at work?

Last week, I met up with my ex-colleague.

Hey, do you know that both William and Henry had divorced their wives of less than five years of marriage? And guess what, William married his new subordinate that joined a year ago and Henry married one of the company’s suppliers. William was having the affair for more than a year before his wife found out. Worse still, everyone in the office knew about it as it happened right under their nose.

How to prevent affairs in the office? Nina Chen has some suggestions.

Should employers care?

Can we? Our HR policy does not say it’s illegal for two married employees to have a relationship. It’s a personal matter, anyway.

Think again. It won’t be that personal anymore if things go awry and the drama twisted into sexual harassment. Or putting other employees at risk when one of the spouses that were being cheated storm into the office in a rage?

Related reading:
Office Romance - Bliss or Stress

Career Change Is Not Job Change

A career change involves a significant shift in jobs that includes a change in skills, knowledge or a totally different job specialization. If you change industry but your skills and knowledge in your next job remain the same, it is a mere job change.

For example, when an accounts executive leaves a trading company and join a retail company in the same position, he is making a job change. However, if he leaves the accounting field of a trading business to become a Make-up Artist in an entertainment industry, he is making a career change to a different job specialization and different industry.

Top 10 Online Job Sites in Malaysia (2010)

Mid of last year, I listed down the top 10 online job sites in Malaysia. One year has passed and it’s time to update the list. Who's in and who's out? Instead of referring to Jobzing now, this list is based on Alexa traffic ranking.

Alexa provides information about traffic to a website, denoting its popularity. The lower the ranking number, the better it is in terms of its traffic. However, it is not entirely accurate as information is derived from browsers that have Alexa toolbar installed. But until a better website ranking system is invented, we shall take Alexa’s information to compare the sites.

(Note: The figure next to the job site is traffic rank in Malaysia)

1. Jobstreet.com.my (No. 44)

2. Jobsmalaysia.gov.my (No. 295)

3. Jenjobs.com (No. 579)

4. Asiaparttime.com (No. 691)

5. Monster.com.my (No. 822)

6. Jobsdb.com.my (No. 1037)

7. Allyhunt.com (No. 1722)

8. Star-jobs.com (No. 1838)

9. Bestjobs.com.my (No. 2166)

10. Jobscentral.com.my (No. 2490)

Of course, I'm darn happy to see Allyhunt.com faring so well in the past one year.

But a fair statement should be made from the recruiter's point of view and that is I had found job sites no. 1, 3, 5, and 7(Allyhunt.com) most effective in getting the talents I want.

World Cup = Lower Productivity

“The World Cup is causing human resource managers a headache as late nights and anxiety over match outcomes take their toll on employee productivity.”

The World Cup has to be the most watched sports event in the whole world. It does not only capture footfall fans but people from all walks of life like me who get crazy about football once every four years only. OK, I may be exaggerating but it’s true, people do caught up with the hype or fever. News about the world cup is everywhere. Your office colleagues talk about them. Now with the Facebook and Twitter community, the wall posts and tweets about this event are everywhere. How can you possibly avoid the excitement surrounding the world cup?

If you are a hard-core fan, you’ll be spending time watching three matches a day. That’s at least 4.5 hours! Not only that, the 2:30am live match in Malaysia can be a real “inconvenience” because it’s going to affect your work the next day. And who and what suffer the most? The employers and your work productivity! Complaints such as high absenteeism, MCs, lack of concentration due to lack of sleep, potential work place accidents and the like contribute to one outcome: lower productivity! Of course, the employers cannot issue a memo to stop employees from following the games. You can’t install CCTVs in their houses, can you?

Worst still, betting. Though there may be celebrations if the whole company is siding a winning team but if the employees divided among themselves and pit against one another, unwarranted exchanges, anxiety and conflicts may be the result. Again, what does this leads to? Lower productivity!

So, is world cup good for business? Perhaps not. But as for most employers that are as crazy about world cup as anyone else, who cares? It only happens once in four years. Everyone including bosses are making adjustments and planning their appointments around their favorite team matches schedules.

I will be the first to admit I did just that. I was supposed to have an appointment at 6pm last evening. But I realized I may miss the 7:30 pm match between Argentina and South Korea. I quickly checked if I can move the appointment to 4pm instead. Asked why I have to reschedule, without sounding like a world cup freak, I briefly mentioned, “I’m just not available after 6:30pm.”

Unemployment - How Scary Can It Be?

I just read in FinChannel.Com that the situation on the job market in Europe remains the greatest concern. Compared with the previous year, the degree of concern has even risen slightly.

Greece is already in a crisis. Spain seems to be the next in line. Not surprising considering its unemployment rate at 18%. I was in Turkey last week and apparently they have the second highest unemployment rate in Europe, at 14%. In short, it is a bad time in Euro Area. I wonder how the unemployed cope.



How scary can unemployment be? I talked about it with my Malaysian friends. I had blogged about it. But honestly, I do not truly appreciate the magnitude of its effect because I had never experienced it myself. Whew, lucky me? Or shall I say, lucky Malaysians?

Latest unemployment rate - 2010

The recent global financial crisis did not hit Malaysia as much as it does to Europe and US. However, many had caution bad times ahead. How will we tackle the situation? How will I face it - I mean, no job for six months, one year or even more? Will I fall apart? Will I be crying every night?

Our job forms such an important aspect of our life. It is not just a matter of livelihood but it entirely defines our identity whether we like it or not. A job loss equates to a loss in identity. As simple as that.

Job Loss = Temporary Identity Loss

Of course, a job loss would change our lifestyle. We certainly need to cut spending and probably do some downgrading exercise. But the impact of losing a job and the inability to find one soon will land us in a state of hopelessness and that’s what the government and society at large fear most. A group of hopeless people can turn violent and hence, contribute to social ills. It doesn't take a genius to know high unemployment will always leads to higher crime rate.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that the unemployment rate in Malaysia will remain status quo, if not lower.

No, I don't wish to have the experience of being out of work to blog about it.

What Is The Best Time To Hunt For A Job?

I was asked this question many times.

I agree job opportunities somehow are a tad more during the non-holiday season, i.e., from March (usually after the Chinese New Year) right up to October. One of the main reasons is that employees that wanted to make a move would usually throw in their towel after obtaining their yearly bonus. And most companies pay out their bonuses at the end of the year or right before Chinese New Year. Thus, attrition rate is lower between November and February. No resignation, no opening. Well, at least in most cases.

But seriously if you are hunting for a new job, there is really no perfect timing. Openings happen whole year round and even during hard times. Bear in mind, the opening must be something relevant to you. Hence, there may not be that many openings, say during a holiday season but the job that is right for you happened to be available then. And probably the chances of you getting the job are higher during holiday season as less people are competing with you since many people cannot bear the thought of losing their bonuses (even when it’s not contractual and not knowing whether there is any bonus or not).

One thing to remember is that job hunt is not just about sending out your resume and hope for the best of an interview. The process should begin with you knowing what you really want and how you are going to get there, and keeping your networking going and alerting the head-hunters. Having a plan is crucial, mainly to reduce the mistake of applying and ended up in the wrong job.

So if you are waiting for the right time to hunt for the job, don’t wait. Start right away. The perfect timing is NOW.

Good luck!

Suggestion: You can start your job search here.