Interview result ask

[treb]

I'm a bit confuse about my interview result.
Last month, I've an interview request from an job agency on Singapore. I've been told to make a call to their client (IBM Singapore) that wants to hire me.
I called that company and being interviewed.
Few days later, I asked that job agency about my interview result and been told that they haven't recieved any result yet.
Until now, I have never been contacted again by that agency. I tried to call them again twice, but unfortunatelly the answer is still the same.
Is this usually happen during job interview?
How long can i wait for the result of job interview?

Thanks Folks

[perplexsheep]

Depending on the position, you will usually know the outcome within 1 week, 2 weeks max. Anything beyond, dont pin too much hopes.

[ringo100]

Agencies here are not great. I am quite surprised by lack of industry knowledge and care of the applicants.

Similar to property agents i've met; not worth the money they charge.

[perplexsheep]

Agencies here are not great. I am quite surprised by lack of industry knowledge and care of the applicants.

Similar to property agents i've met; not worth the money they charge.

I agree with ringo. Unless they are representing a big company or investment bank (which they will try to make themselves look really professional), they tend to deal with applicants like mass production. They probably lack the training, and tend to take on too many applicants instead of being selective. They probably go for quantity rather than quality. Same as property agent.

[Sharon Tay]

I'm a bit confuse about my interview result.
Last month, I've an interview request from an job agency on Singapore. I've been told to make a call to their client (IBM Singapore) that wants to hire me.
I called that company and being interviewed.
Few days later, I asked that job agency about my interview result and been told that they haven't recieved any result yet.
Until now, I have never been contacted again by that agency. I tried to call them again twice, but unfortunatelly the answer is still the same.
Is this usually happen during job interview?
How long can i wait for the result of job interview?

Thanks Folks

I believe you usually in Singapore, it works like this... They only contact you when you are shortlisted, they don't inform you if you're not. Give them 2 weeks, if they don't get back to you, just forget it...

[treb]

After waiting for 2 months without any news, they contact me again with the result failed.
They proposed me another vacancy with the same company (IBM Singapore). Now, I've already been interviewed AGAIN
I'm still waiting AGAIN
Can anyone help me ? Is this always happen on Singapore job market ?

Thanks folks.

[spaul]

I don't think it has to do with the Singapore job market as it does with the agency/recruiter you are working with. Because of the hiring boom in Asian countries over the last 7-8 years, most recruiting agencies are staffed by inexperienced recruiters that are more interested in the money that can be made and not the service they provide to the clients and more importantly candidates.

The thing you have to remember is that you are probably working with a contingency recruiter so their fee is paid by the client when a placement is made and not by you. To them you are just a commodity that is only valuable if the client sees the value in you. Also, If you are considered a "hot candidate" meaning very marketable then you get more attention because the recruiter can sell you faster.

This isn't always the case as there are some very good recruiters out there that do a great job managing candidates expectations and careers as well as managing the clients. Most unfortunately don't fall in to this category.

Clients can make the process easier by making quick decisions and reporting back to the recruiter but in your case since you are trying for a major MNC like IBM, the decision process also probably takes a lot longer. They also sometimes don't call the recruiters back with the results because they probably work with so many recruiters so if your recruiter doesn't follow up, no one will.

The only difference to this entire process would be if you were a very senior candidate being actively recruited by a retainer firm that gets paid upfront and have a targeted list of people to go after. Retainer firms usually have very experienced recruiters that manage clients and candidates well but tend to only work on high level positions such as Regional Head of IT or something such as that.

Don't give up though. Not all recruiters are bad and not all clients are bad. You may have just run into one of those situations where things didn't work out for the best.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Some additional grist for the mill........

Most, if not all MNC's in Singapore are no better than local SME's unless it is a senior position (then it may take up to 3 or 4 months for a decision to be made (look how long it's takes to find a replacement for the younger lee at Singtel). If you stop and think about it, the MNC's HR departments are usually managed by locals and staffed by locals and have the same work ethics which aren't much different than the agencies that they are using. Soooooo.........

They have a potential position.....

They fax or email the requiremets to 15 or 20 kaki's in various agencies in Singapore (very few, if any, will pay retainers for middle or lower rank positions). The agencies & the majority of consultants in them have no professional training so they all run the same advertisements in the "Dire Straits" and 'JobStreet' and 'JobsDB'. The job seekers sends their badly written Resumes to all of them and the agencies then use the shotgun method of placement.......send the client 20 CV's and hope that you sent in the CV before the other agencies send in the same CV. (Don't forget, it's a very limited pool here!)

If all this isn't bad enough, after they client gets the CV's it just might be that the position was canceled or it was only proposed....... "we will probably need another Mech. Engineer for this project. Be on the lookout for one just in case we score and get the project" They don't get the project, the agency and the job seeker is left hanging out to dry. Then, the whole process starts over again for the next potential project.

I have spent 14 years as a specialist recruiter here in Singaopre and I am currently a Finance and HR Manager for a group of 6 companies. My company has recently sent out proposals for 11 government contracts, we are already advertising for an additional 40 staff just in case we get a couple of the Contracts. That's how it works here. It's a crapshoot at best.

Never put all you eggs in one basket.

sms

edited to add:

Additionally, if you think about it from the recruiter perspective (Not saying it's right!) if They have an average of 10 jobs a day (average) and they shotgun 10 CV's to each that's 100 CV's a day. Now, even if you assume that the clients get back - most do not - the recruiter has to call/chase down 100 people a day to let them know that they were not successful along with any other attendant questions that they may have to field from the job seeker...... Lets assume that each call takes 5 minutes......That's 8 hours and 20 minutes! In the local vernacular: Now How?

When to find the next 100 candidates to send?

[riversandlakes]

One things I've always believed in when job-hunting...

"Your job as a jobseeker is to garner as many job offers as possible."

Don't ever pin all your hopes on one "potential lead".