breakfastforthebestfood wrote:I've seen several great lists of headhunters in these forums. I've heard conflicting information regarding how important the use of a headhunter is in Singapore, but think it could only help. The one thing I haven't found is information on which headhunters are the best to use for a given industry. Though most of the headhunter's own websites claim expertise across a great many industries, I think that generally they tend to be rather specialized, and wouldn't be as successful outside they're network.
I was hoping someone could recommend a headhunter for the electronics development/manufacturing sector.
Therein lies the reason for dissing recruiters/headhunters here. They are all afraid to miss something so they try to do everything and end up being worthless at everything. I only knew of one niche type headhunter here and I gave up my license to operate here in Singapore several years ago, opting to only work outside Singapore and with non-Singaporeans.
I spent 14 years in the industry and it soured me so bad I left to operate on my own in my own field where I worked for 2 decades myself.
The big thing to remember here is that the agency gets their fees from the client looking to fill a position. It's at rare consultant that actively shops a job seeker to their clients unless there is already a need for that individual. The client companies are also partly to blame as they wait till the last minute to approach an agency and then sends the JD to up to half a dozen agencies. This create the shotgun response from the agencies as they have to get the CV to the client FIRST, as if the guy is selected, the fact that the client probably got the CV 4 times, regulations here put it as first past the post so speed is of the essence (rarely do clients give retainers here). This lead to shotgunning as many CV's as they think "might" possibly be okay, in the hopes of one getting a call back for an interview.
Me? I was always lucky in as much as I rarely submitted more than 3 CV's for any position and usually only one or two and my closing rate was nearly double then others in our agency. Again, I wouldn't recruit outside the industry that I had personal experience in.
So, yeah, submit to agencies, but don't expect personal service and do so with the knowledge that to them your CV is like a piece of fresh fruit on a supermarket shelf, e.g., it has a very short shelf life and only if you are very lucky will you get a consultant who will actually try to shop your CV for you.
sms
