kreme Consulting Pte. Ltd.

Is it a norm to ask for a pay rise of 20% to 30% increment when you change a job? A candidate asked me this question earlier today. My reply to her, "It depends." So what does it depends on? 1. The market condition (Economy, employment rate and demand of skill set) 2. Your current compensation. (If your current compensation is much below market rate, then possibily. If you're already above market rate, then highly unlikely.) 3. The seniority of the role 4. The fit role (Does your current role or experience value add to the role that the company is hiring you for? If they really want you, then maybe yes.) 5. Your interest level (By asking for 20% to 30% increment, will you place yourself out of the range?) While some time it is good to state your expectation but many at times the employer may not be offering you at your expectation as many candidates use this opportunity to ask for a lot more. This may turn off the potential employer unless you have good justification on why you're asking for this improvement. I'd highly encourage all candidates to do your homework prior to negotation of package. What is your take on this? If you have any questions around offer negotiation or market rate, please feel free to reach out.

I enjoy been a Recruiter as we get to meet different people everyday and everyone comes with a different story and experience. Life of a Recruiter: Today I met up with Diane Teo for coffee catch up. We met 8 years ago and I remembered I was looking for candidates to fill the roles that I was working on. We had an introductory call over the phone and I thoroughly enjoyed our chat. Although she wasn't suitable for the role I was working on hand, I requested to meet her in person as I felt there was something very special about this candidate. The in-person coffee's meet-up was awesome. I got to know her so much better and she shared with me that she was taking a career break as she just recovered from her illness. She was a single mum of 2 young kids and one of them has special needs. Although it was pretty tough on her, she was all so positive and upbeat about finding her next role. I was really motivated by her and I told myself I must help this lady find a good company and role. Within 1 month, I placed her into a new role in a new area. All along she was from HR Tech. I placed her into a FinTech company and the only transferable skill was her sales skill. With her determination, great attitude in life and personality, she aced in the job and was promoted to lead a team in ASEAN. I'm super proud of her. After 5 years with the company, she decided to take a break and again, I placed her to another company and she did well again. Our relationship started as candidate, became client and now become friends. I attended her wedding 2 years ago. Now, with her FinTech experience, she has decided to be a full time Financial Consultant. The reason on why she picked this industry was because as a beneficiary of her insurance's claims when she was hit by the critical illness, now she is on a mission to help others mitigate health and wealth risks with her real life experience. One event leads to another door open. I'm sure again with her determination to help people, outgoing personality and positive outlook in life she will continue to do well. #relationshipmatters P.S: I've shared her story with her permission. :)

Part 1 of my entrepreneurial journey kreme Consulting Pte. Ltd. was my first business in my entire life and I've never started a business before. Not sure where did I get the conviction from, I just quit my corporate job after working for 14 years in the corporate world. When you start your own business, it's quite interesting. On one hand, no one will tell you what to do but on the other hand, everyone (solicited or unsolicited) will have something to say about what you should do. Does that make sense? Anyway, every business owner will go through this and you'll try to figure a way out yourself or with your Co-Founder/Partner if you have in the business. Most people who have worked in the corporate world will fall back on our training/experience from there. We will come up with business plan, targets, timelines, datelines and goals for the business. AND this is a real problem! We set goals/targets that we pluck from the air as there is really no historical data of our business to substantiate this set of number. (Year 0) Yet, we hold ourselves accountable to it as if it measures our success in the business/life. End up, we feel so miserable base on the fact that we can't reach the goals that we set for ourselves. I must admit I'm one of them. I was lucky. I got out of this cycle pretty early. Randomly, I attended a religious seminar and I had an enlightenment. The monk was sharing about how one should climb a huge mountain? Many at times, people will look at the peak of the mountain and start walking. That is not the right way to do it because as you walk further, you will find that your head is tilting higher and higher and soon you may start to trip and fall. Thus, the correct way to climb it is to look at your starting point so when you're half way to the peak of the mountain, you tell yourself you have come so far and you will definitely reach the peak soon no matter how hard it is. My biggest learning was not to focus on the goal that I set but celebrate all the little milestones that we made along the way. That makes the journey so much more enjoyable and easier. Hope this sharing gives you an enlightenment to the tough idea, decision, career path or business that are in now and keep going! 😊

Where did the 10 years go? Today marked the 10th Year Anniversary of kreme Consulting Pte. Ltd. I still remember vividly the day I left LinkedIn and some of the colleagues were asking me 'how do I feel quitting a job to start your own company' and my reply to one of them was 'I don't have much feeling now, try asking me 5 years down the road if my company is still around.' It was hell of a ride. Being an Entrepreneur is definitely not for the weak heart. In our first year, somehow we were very lucky. The day we started our business, we had roles running already. I had a big client who was looking to hire 10 headcount. The first 4 months was 'walking in the park'. However, as you know, things will not be so easy for all businesses. My relationship with the client turned south after 4 months as he only wanted the placement's outcome but it clashed big time with our values on how we should close on the candidates. We decided to part way. The real journey started for us, we were on draught for 9 months. Trying to find new clients, getting companies to use our service, etc. I remembered at that time we were near to closing a big placement 9 months later and I really wanted it to happen but in the end the candidate rejected the offer. I CRIED! I was feeling desperate as I wasn't sure when the next placement would come in and we need to pay rent, salary, expenses and all. This was just a glimpse into our journey in the first year and I'm glad that we survived 10 years. In these 10 years, beside growing our employees' headcount, we also grew our 'internal family headcount'. When we first started our business, me and Gale Chan (my co-founder) were both single. Now we have a happy family of 8. This is definitely one of the happiest and biggest milestones for us to celebrate. Never imagine that this business gives us so much flexibility, control and satisfaction that blended so well into our personal lives. I'm so glad we started this business together and we are still in these together. Thank you for the partnership! Finally, thanks to our clients, candidates, friends, partners, colleagues, ex-colleagues, followers and our network for supporting us. Onwards to the next 10 years for kreme! P.S: I think this picture sum up our 10 years together. 10 years ago when we were free of worries, now 10 years later we are full with responsibilities and still happy.