Recruitment in Singapore remains a big challenge with the stringent foreign labor quota system, small local labor pool and many employers. Whilst the government is pushing for automation, technology is still behind the actual work that needs. We rely heavily on our network of friends and customers to look for talent. Talen makes a big difference in our company and we’ve slowly searching and acquiring talent. We have done a number of project that help us find that fit for us. Here’s a short history of what we’ve done:
Project Name
Objective
Key thrust
Circa
Logo
Project Accelerate
Increase the quantity of applicants
Put in an online recruitment database
Interviewed our key staff and put their introduction on our recruitment page
Watershed strategy
2010
Project BigPicture
Introduce potential candidates to our culture
1-1 interview for shortlisted candidates with key staff
online advert on social media
Physical advert in Bedok Point, Cathay, Changi Village, Joo Chiat, Focus One
2011
Project Celcius
Find the hot candidate
Single location interview. Previously candidates can be interviewed in Focus One, Joo Chiat, Cathay, Changi Village, Bedok Point.
Candidates are interviewed in Joo Chiat instead of different locations.
This strategy improved the quality of candidates.
2012
Project Dallas
Find the candidate that sees the bigger picture
Team based recruitment. Instead of 1-1 interview. We moved to batch recruitment. We wanted to see how candidate relate to one another.
2013
Project Energy
Find the candidate that thinks on the feet
Candidates are put into a classroom environment with paying customers. They get to participate free in our baking / cooking class held every Wednesday.
We get to observe how well candidates who have never baked rise up to the ocassion.
2014
Project Finding Nemo
Networking session cum recruitment
The Nemo project is very successful attracting CEO’s to house wives. Instead of turning people away, we took the opportunity to connect. People come to our Nemo sessions for various reasons.
However the outcome is always the same: we make friends and fans of Gobi.
We tailored our training similar to Amazing Race where our employees are trained, tested and promoted. Those that failed are exited. Fortunately they are rare.
2016
Project Iwanna
Engaging our huge database
Over the 7 years, we have amassed a huge amount of resumes. Zifsoft our software company has developed Scheduler Engage a software system to help HR better engage our candidates by getting to know them better and keeping track of our A-list candidates.
