Alvin Lim - The Dreamer

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Are you going to attend an interview soon? Or are you actually planning to apply for a job in a certain company? One way or the other, it is very important for you to find out about the new company.

Why?

2 reasons.

• Worth a try? You need to know whether the company’s financial result is okay in order to decide whether it’s worth it. No point jumping into a company with serious cashflow problem. Besides that, you also need to know whether the company’s culture is suitable for you. What’s the point of joining a company with a culture which does not suit your personality? For example, if you know the company will make you work 12 hours a day but you don’t fancy such working culture, then no point wasting your time going for the job.
• Information for interview? By knowing the company profile, their history and what they do, you can actually use the information to your advantage during the interview. Nearly all the interviews I’ve been to (especially the big companies) will ask what do I know about their company. And if you’re able to impress them by saying something they don’t know (like saying the Fortune ranking of the parent company in US), you will most likely impress the interviewers. It also shows that you know the reason you want to join the company. You’ll be surprised that some people just go for the interview without knowing what the company is doing.

That’s why before you go for an interview (or even before you apply for the job), always find out about the company. It is one of the most important things to do.

Remember that to join the wrong company and then quit few weeks later, is a very bad record for you especially if you do that too often.

All the best and hope it helps.

How many times have we heard about companies changing their names especially those established ones? And how much do you think they have to spend to do that? Thousands and maybe millions.

Well, unless you are just a small company or a startup who nobody knows.

Otherwise, it’ll cost a fortune with all those new logo design, advertisements (radio, newspapers, TV, etc), renovation (to all the concerned shops or branches), etc.

If they know they are going to spend so much, why do they want to do it? Is it because their previous brand stinks or already has bad reputation? If so, what makes them think the new branding will make people forget about them?

If it’s not about bad reputation, then maybe it’s to give a better image or better “feel”? Or is it because they’ve consulted some Feng Shui master?

For example, just few months ago, our Bank Pertanian changed name to Agro Bank. It sounds terrible but maybe it’s important for them to have an English name in order to go international.

What about those companies which have changed their branding only to change the brand BACK again after few years? In my opinion, that is a very stupid move especially during such critical period of time. They can actually use the money on some other things.

That’s why before a company decides to do any rebranding, it is very important to check whether the existing name is good enough or not. If it is good enough, save those thousands or millions of dollar for something else. If your existing brand is bad, then make sure your new brand is good!

Last food for thought - Google, Yahoo, eBay, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and most major companies hardly do any rebranding before. And for Google, they hardly do any branding or marketing stuff.

A friend of mine complained to me about her idiotic colleague few days ago. She’s the HR executive in her company. This idiot is a loner in the office due to his unique characteristics - tai chi master, boastful (quite extreme, according to her), childish, loves to laugh at people’s weaknesses, and other things you would expect from an idiot.

To be honest, I pity her because I have quite a similar experience as well.

I then threw her one question “Why don’t you find a way to force him out?”

She replied “My colleagues and I have tried isolating him. But he’s still the same! Our HR policy does not allow us to terminate someone due to their idiotic behavior. And so far, he didn’t do anything which is against the policy of the company (aka misconduct).”

She’s right. If there’s such an employee in your company who doesn’t do anything against the policy of the company and still do his job (pretty good too), there’s no good reason for you to terminate him unless you want the company reputation to go down the drain.

But the fact that this guy is bothering nearly every single employee (except the bosses) in my friend’s company doesn’t help either. I’ve seen such cases before in my previous companies and the idiots actually left soon after the isolation. Guess the case with my friend’s company is that the idiot does not want to leave. There are already few good people who left because of him and this is not good for the company.

And to be honest with you, I can’t think of anything to handle this guy - except for isolation from colleagues and if possible, bosses.

Maybe that’s why people always say prevention is better than cure. Always recruit people carefully. It’s true that it’s never easy to recruit good people, but I feel that it’s even harder NOT to recruit idiots. Reference checks? Those are useful but they are not 100% accurate. But it’s better than nothing at all.

If I were the boss, I will take in an average guy as my new employee rather than an idiot - all the time. No point ruining the spirit of the entire company because of one person.

Remember, no one person is bigger than the company.

One of my earlier jobs was in local IT firm, working as a junior developer. At that time, I was pretty young and inexperienced. I signed the employment agreement without noticing that it is actually one-sided and unfair to the employee (me).

The notice period they have to give me if they were to terminate me during probation period is 2 weeks. On the other hand, if I were to leave, I would need to give them 1 month of notice period. This is unfair. I’ve also heard of worse agreements where the employer only needs to give the employee 24 hours notice period, but the employee needs to give the employer 2 weeks - 1 month of notice period.

Remember that employment agreement, if possible, should be fair to both employee and employer. Because it is the black and white document which will safeguard the interests of both parties.

The problem here is, most local companies are just too shrewd and cunning. They will always find opportunities to make the agreement one-sided. If they don’t want you anymore, they can kick you out very fast. But if you don’t want them, you can’t do the same. Funnily, there will always be people who agree to such unfair treatment.

That’s why I always told my friends to check the agreement properly before signing it. If it is unfair to you, then you will have to make the call.

Is the job (benefits/salary/prospect) really that good, that you are willing to ignore the one-sided agreement? Is it worth to take the risk?

If it is, good, make your decision and don’t regret if something bad happens. If no, then go out and find another job offer. Just be prepared because this kind of thing is quite common in Malaysia.

Good luck.

A friend of mine was actively looking for job recently and just few days ago, he told me he finally got an offer. And he has signed the offer letter.

I was happy for him but few days later, he told me he got another job offer which is much better in terms of pay, benefits and prospects.

And he started to worry because he has signed the offer letter. Can he still join the new company? Fortunately for him, the notice period for his new job (under probation) is 24 hours. What if it’s 1 month? I’m sure some of you might have encountered such situation before.

I’ve talked to few of my recruiter friends and even my HR who is a good friend of mine. They said that the new employee can choose not to turn up at all even after signing the offer letter. They have experienced many incidents such as this. The company does have the rights to file a lawsuit against this new employee since he or she has already signed the offer letter.

However, most companies will not pursue this. They will not spend time and money to sue one person which don’t turn up for first day of work. Furthermore, involving in a little lawsuit with a new employee who failed to turn up, is just a petty issue. It might actually ruin the company’s reputation.

I must admit though that I cannot guarantee all companies will behave like this. Maybe there are some companies which will pursue this case though I yet to know any.

That’s why the best solution which I can think of is to call the company up and explains. If your the HR of the second company knows, maybe you can ask them for advice. If they don’t, just call the first company and explain. If things don’t go well, you can either let the second company knows (and hoping they will help you) or you will just have to let it go and turn up for work in the first company.

Unless you are willing to take the risk of not turning up without informing.

But either way, you will most probably get blacklisted by the first company for at least a few years (either you resign within 24 hours or not turn up at all). Companies don’t tend to blacklist a new employee forever for something such as this. They will not be bothered too much with it, not for that long anyway.

To summarize everything:

1. You signed offer letter from company A.
2. You get a better offer from company B and decided to join.
3. You should call company A to explain. If they are okay, good.
4. If they are not okay, call company B’s HR and inform them. See if they can help you. This is the last resort.
5. If company B refuses to advise or help and company A refuses to back off, you have to let go of company B.
6. All the above don’t apply if you are willing to risk it and don’t turn up for company A. Just be prepared to face the consequences of being in a lawsuit (though the probability is very very very low, it is still a risk).

That’s why I always tell people not to sign the offer letter until the very last minute. However, things don’t always go the way we want it to.

And at the end of the day, the question will be, are you willing to take the risk? Is the new offer good enough for you to take the risk?

Hope it helps.