How Job Hunting Haunts Me

At first, it was cool to receive many phone calls. I was laughing all the way whilst job opportunities were rushing its way to my mailbox. Most of you must be wondering how this could happen to a guy who meditated long enough in a same job spot. I will tell you how I was hunted without much job hunting.

Send resume to headhunters and you shall be headhunted

I find it hard to get connected to job headhunters, especially those well known ones. So when I paid visit to job fairs previously, my targets were only those headhunter companies, instead of multinational companies or Fortune 500 companies. I reckon getting candidates wasn't their concern, they were actually paying more attention in branding their names to the public (by giving free pens, notepads, etc.). The process was so simple - I just drop my resume in the database of those headhunters. *feels like contributing a donation*



If that spells too much hassle, you can do it online at home. Based on my extensive research (just use Google will do), there's a list of headhunters in Malaysia for everyone to mark their targets. Don't be overjoyed, some headhunter profile doesn't have email address, only phone and fax number. Throughout the time, I'm way too lazy to use a fax machine and found it cumbersome to send my voice over a phone. So I decided to click for headhunters in JobStreet's page instead.


They will 'buy' your resume with a scan through their bar scanner.

Focus on things you can control

Along the way, I was being discouraged whenever I thought about the stress of going through interviews and the amount of time needed for interview preparation. Worse, when I’m working late and I've only couple of hours left at night. By managing my time wisely, those are things within my control. Dinner/shower: 5 minutes, create interview script: 15 minutes, dinner for my brain: 50 minutes and sleep: 5 hours. I believe so. Do you?


Written words are sharper and easier to remember.

I could unstressed myself by looking on bright side. If headhunters give a phone or mail response, I'll just go thinking I’m possibly a potential employee in their lens, though my mind might put me in doubt whether I'm capable for the job. As I mentioned, I can make time to prepare and memorize interview scripts, so that it’s no longer appear to be a stress. Instead of wasting of time judging how things might go wrong, the remaining time should be utilized for improving yourself, or merely shop for a better looking attire for upcoming interview.

You need headhunter and headhunters need you

Whilst employers hire headhunters to get quality employees, they will still try to promote you in front of their clients, as long as you are qualified with their basic requirements. It is a win-win situation for both parties - they get paid and you get hired. Trust me you will even stand a concrete chance, if they are desperate and have no other choices in hand.


Smile! You stand a chance. Ermm, I mean that lady.

Ask properly and you shall receive properly

Long story short, I received phone calls by then - all the way from India, Middle East , Thailand and back in Singapore. After I've done with the first conversation, the subsequent ones were pretty much the same. First they will ask whether I am interested to attend to one of their clients' interview from bla bla bla country. Then I’ll be answering questions like how long you've been working, your current scope of work, expected pay and current pay. They even offered useful interview advices during my interview with them. Surprisingly I can't even take it as a headhunter's interview at the first place.

Expect the unexpected

Headhunter seldom reduce the amount of your expected pay (unless a ridiculous amount). You can go as high as 30% to 40% of your current salary. But when you meet the interviewer from their client, they will ask about your expected salary again. I usually answer them with a question - "How much would you pay someone with my background and experience?". This will get them to suggest a price on your behalf.



If you aren't satisfied with your employee-labeled-price-tag, you can scold them stupid reveal your honest amount with a solid reason tagging behind. For example, I would say something like "I’m currently being offered $4,000 by a Singaporean company, but I’m really interested to work for your company. Is it possible to work out a similar amount? I don’t mind to be bonded in this case". Case closed.

Beware of one missed call

As headhunters will be calling you in the morning, afternoon and evening, get yourself to charge your cellphone at night. This will avoid sudden conversation cut off during the day. But the last thing I expected to happen was this..



I received several missed calls from several headhunters while I was in toilet. My cellphone was left on my table catching numbers that were either ‘Withheld’ or ‘+60301’. The others were sadly listed as 'Unknown'.

Now tell me.. How I supposed to call them in return?



At that moment, she describes the exact expression of mine.

Related Posts by Categories