Everyone knows that Singapore is a booming multi-racial country with substantially numerous organisations’ from (small & medium enterprises) SME’s to multi nationals. Singapore has been enjoying such a privilege in peace and to maintain this peace, we must do our best not to discriminate against anyone in anyway. Who better to guide us than TAFEP (Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices)? At the 35 HR Sharing, Ms Jessie Wong graced the event and spoke to more than 40 HR professionals about being a fair employer. She started off with a few facts about our shrinking labour force and untapped women talent before explaining the benefits that businesses can reap from being a fair employer. Once this was done, she swiftly moved on to give various tips to adhere to for job advertisements, job applications and job interviews. Ms Jessie Wong then concluded by mentioning that employers can pledge themselves to practice fair employment. By doing so, employers are given access to TAFEP’s services and training.
The other speaker was C.J. Ng, who came down to speak about How to Measure Attitude in Interviews and Pitfalls to Avoid during Interviews. A recent study has shown that 46% of newly-hired employees will fail within 18 months, while only 19% will achieve unequivocal success. And by failure, we mean not being able to meet the expectations set when hiring them. He then talked about Suitability and Eligibility – mentioning that Eligibility, such as qualifications, is more tangible and easier to measure as compared to Suitability, such as attitude, is harder to measure due to the nature of the criteria. He then focused on how to identify suitable candidates by avoiding pitfalls in the conventional questions like “You have good teamwork skills, right?” and asking the right questions by Leaving it open and how to identify key words or phrases in answers that suggest the right attitude for the job. He closed by giving us some examples that will show certain characteristics of a person.
Besides having the speakers present their share, the 35 HR Sharing had an extra segment participants did not expect. Mr Martin Gabriel, the Chairman of HRmatters21 himself took the floor for a short period of time to highlight and discuss the changes that are happening in the Employment Act. The participants eagerly listened and gave their thoughts and shared with one another on the issues brought up. After the discussion, there was a short interval where refreshments were served and the participants took opportunity of this time given to network.
The 35 HR Sharing was very lively and is one of the biggest HR Sharing’s to have taken place since HRmatters21 started this event and can be summed up in a word: Successful!
By Darren Kang
