There were a lot of Star-Jobs staff in bright green t-shirts ushering the guests and speakers. At the registration, each guests were given a box of small, cute little people in various colours (HP) and a bright red pen (Star-Jobs). The hall was like a GSC cinema with descending seats and a stage at the front. The talk started after 10am and in between that time, there were replays of Star-Jobs advertisements and talk show clips where only the talking host was animated with expressions while other hosts remained motionless facing the camera.

Star-Jobs Find the right shoes

I like the funny ad with “Finding the right shoes for you” where the construction worker was bored out of his mind clicking at the mouse (Secretary), the chef wondering how to paint and the nurse (?) pouting as she tried to paint the wall.

The talk started with TF Chong with the facts on HP in the world and locally based on the PowerPoint slides. HP is divided into 3 groups:

1. Technology Solutions (TSG)
   • consultation & integration
   • outsourcing (managed) services like Ericsson’s tech support is outsourced to HP
   • company products like servers, storages, etc
2. Imaging & Printing (IPG)
   • printers
   • scanners
   • all-in-one, etc
3. Personal System (PSG)
   • handheld devices like IPAQ
   • pc (personal computer)
   • noteboook, etc

HP is looking for people to fill up:

1. GCM (Global Center Malaysia) @ HP Towers, which supports internal issues in HP
2. HP Global Application Dev & IT Support Centre @ Cyberjaya, which supports HP’s customers

Originally, TF Chong was going to talk about “A day in his life” but he asked the audiences, “Do you want me to ramble about my day or ask me questions?”

Among the questions asked were, “What are the challenges that you are facing?” and “How do you go from Technical to Sales/other line?”

TF Chong replied, “Let people know that you are good. Have a value system and be articulate. Return trust. Don’t bullshit.”

He also said, “But (I did it in) 10 – 20 years. So you must be consistent and passionate. Give your best and have good attitude.”

HP Malaysia corporate info

According to him, the challenge for him was to generate growth and profit to cover the inflation and prices going up for a lot of things (petrol again!). To do that, HP would have to take competitors’ slice.

He talked about some job seekers, “Straight out of education and I want 2.2K. My friend gets 2.2K so I want 2.4K.”

On why companies cut people, “60-70% of a company’s money goes to employees salary.” Imagine that.

“You’d be surprised that the female staffs are among the most hard working people in HP.”

I am not surprised and it’s not because I’m a female. Just because IT was predominantly geered towards males, it doesn’t mean females are not good in IT or IT companies.

HP Clips – little Happy People

I had problem listening to Eric Ikeda (HP US) and Jim Soo (HP Shanghai, China). Maybe it was the sound system or their slang. Both were here to setup the Cyberjaya team. Jim explained the meaning of his name – something about commitment :)

Eric talked about the Keys to Successful Career:

• Be prepared to excel and not just show up
• Be a contributor, not just a critic, make commitments (to achieve)
• Find the opportunity and stay
• Highest integrity

Jim talked about Technical and Management’s career path but added there was another, “Project.”

The brunch break had egg and tuna sandwiches, fried fish balls, cheese (?) and chocolate cakes and hot coffee. Everyone queued up for their turn. If only it was the same in train and bus stations..

The HR guy, Adrian talked about how to apply jobs in HP:

1. Go to www.hp.com/go/jobs
2. Click Search Jobs in HP
3. Select Malaysia

To apply, you have to create a profile first (register). HP’s HR matches the criterias and your profile with keywords to the job. Since the job portal doesn’t have an option for you to select which field/department, you may have to check updated periodically. It also doesn’t have auto update email functions for new jobs available.

In the Q&A session, 6 guys were invited on stage and the audiences remained quiet at first. One of the managers informed, “Even if we may not be the right person to answer you, we’ll try out best.. we know some.”

Someone asked, “What are the benefits and perks in HP? Does HP have something like Google where employees are encouraged to do their own projects and maybe incorporated into Google’s features?”

The answer was, “HP… is not Google.” Laughter in the hall.

“Don’t look at perks and salary as a reason to join HP. Think about the experience, you can learn a lot here. Robert Kiyosaki mentioned that you must invest in yourself. HP does have.. we have a lab of servers for people to play around with, test.”

Google allows staff to work on their own projects which maybe taken into full launch in Google. HP has “Projects” where staffs can participate on generating new ideas and implement them only for HP.

Google also invest a lot in the sports, food and activities room. Watch Google’s office in YouTube here.
Let’s face it. Even TF Chong said that he made a change from Technical to Sales because he was so good at technical, his customers talked to him and not the salesperson but the salesperson got the commission.

Robert Kiyosaki also encourage people to stop being Employee and become Investor and Business because employee does not have financial and freedom as much as I & B.

There were 5 printers for free in the Lucky Draw. After the talk ended, some left and others rushed to the HP managers to ask more questions.

The one that I rented was the outdated 2001 edition. It boasted to be The Best-Selling Job-Hunting Book in the World!

This book is revised every year with feedback from readers. Get this – it’s A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters & Career-Changers. He has a website JobHuntersBible which is to be used with the book because the book covers more. Aha. The book and website have insights from the employers, headhunters and job hunters.

The book is filled with drawings from old times publications like those from pictorial Jane Eyre, Oliver Twist. It has strips of modern comic and standalone drawings. There are 2 font colours – red and black. The updated versions have website links throughout the book.

There are 6 Chapters and I’m reading Chapter 2 now. Yeah :)

Chapter 1: A Hunting We Will Go is a curvy poem and a lady.

Chapter 2: Rejection Shock

Rejection Shock is what happens when after brushing up your resume and cover letter, applying jobs online, newspaper, go to agencies for a long time and you are still unemployed. Oh. Me. *smile with head shake*

It’s not exactly the shock as in sudden realization but bad energies creeping into you. You think there’s something wrong with you, else why wouldn’t they want to hire you? You try to avoid hanging out with friends and other #8 (busybodies) who ask, “How are you? Got job already? Where are you working now? Aiya, go find work lar!” Or the worst, “When are you going to find work?” As if you never take the effort to find work at all!

There are people who think about suicide because of this, Bolles wrote. A Mensa member did apparently. Too smart till sot from too much shock, couldn’t think positive.

Internet job search is good but not effective

Bolles also doesn’t believe in the internet job search – it is slapped in the 2nd Chapter! There are too many demand for vacancies (too many people looking for job) and not enough jobs supply. Of course! There’s even a table of Jan 1998 statistics from Wall Street Journal. Depressing, indeed. Because not every person looking for job is suitable and selected to be suitable or discarded. But that can be good news too – not every job there is suitable for each job hunter, vice versa.

Page 17

I like the comic of a miserable guy with downturn mouth, reading What Color is the Hole in your Parachute? That’s the latest self help book for pessimists. LOL and thought of a friend.

The Neanderthal Job Hunting System

It shows the way a typical employer prefers to fill vacancies and job hunters look for a job. From opposite directions. ¹

How relevant is a resume in sorting the right person for a job?

Resume: An ingenious device that turns a human being into an object (paper) which is often used to try and convince people we have never met to invest $ in us by hiring us for a job we have not yet specifically identified.

- Michael Bryant quoted in this book

According to Bolles, employers eliminate instead of selecting the right people. Bad, crumpled, dog-eared paper? Not enough ink? Sorter doesn’t like the typography? Spelling and grammar mistakes? DELETE.

Rules for Answering Ads:

• The goal of your response is to get an interview (a foot through the door)
• Keep it brief – quote the ad’s specs, list whatever you are/have that matches the specs and that’s all.
• If you don’t have the mentioned skill, respond at least with interested in blah blah. (if it’s true).
• Salary requirements – do you tell?
• Put the control in your hands – you’ll contact the company to ensure your resume reached them and request for interview. You’d be surprised that there are HR / headhunters that are shy in calling candidates!

Things to be Aware of in Ads:

• Fake ads – for positions that don’t exist so that job agencies get your resume to call you for other real jobs. Some use it to get your personal details. I suspect some use to spam us, sell to advertising and marketing companies, use it as survey, etc.
• Blind ads (no name, just a POB or number) – it could be your own company! Dang!!!

Fast Company – What Happened to Your Parachute? Interview with the author:

How do you advise individuals to respond to all these changes?

When people change jobs so frequently, their learning curve accelerates. They get the chance to learn more — and in less time. If I have one job for two years, and I get bounced out of it, or I decide to leave and go to a new place, I have to start learning new stuff — a whole new set of skills that I didn’t need in my last job. This makes me a more valuable employee, wherever I go. ²

¹ All right then, for the record, what has remained constant?

Human nature. It doesn’t change. Rejection. People don’t like rejection, never have, never will. And the job hunt is still basically done in the same way as it was done 30 years ago, despite all of the technological changes. For “Parachute”, I created a diagram called “Our Neanderthal Job-Hunting System.” It’s a large pyramid, segmented by different job-hunting techniques. Employers start at the bottom of that pyramid. They try to fill vacancies by looking internally and hiring from within. Only after that do they go up the pyramid to other methods, such as contacts, employment agencies, unsolicited résumés, and ads. But the job hunter takes exactly the opposite direction — exactly the opposite! The job hunter starts by mailing résumés and looking through ads, and only then moves down the pyramid to the strategies that employers prefer. The job hunt hasn’t changed one whit in 30 years. It’s just as Neanderthal today as it was then.

² Now I can quote from Bolles if/when interviewers ask, “Why did you change job and industry so fast?”

Another friend of mine replied with eyebrows raised, “I dare and did do that. Can you?” He was met with silence. Let me ask if he was hired.

The latest cover for 2008:

Read other reviews and buy @ Amazon.com – Richard Nelson Bolles – What Color Is Your Parachute?

I rented this book from Book X-change (or something like that) in Bangsar. The lady was proactive at work but didn’t stick to you – which was great.
Deposit RM36, Rental RM6 for 1 month
Not many rental bookstore stock good self improvement books. Got any idea where else?

* pictures from Amazon.com