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007 Seconds to Impress the Recruiter

Your resume is a snapshot of your qualifications, achievements and yourself. It showcases who you are: your skills, background, relevant experiences and accolades. In the competitive job market, a solid resume is essential to be considered for a position within a company.

The daunting truth, however, is recruiters usually take only SEVEN seconds to screen through your resume. Think about this: when promoting a job position out there, the recruiter receives hundreds upon hundreds of resumes from individuals who believe they are the best fit for the job. Regardless of what is in there, the recruiter’s time is limited and will only select the ones he or she deems to be worthwhile candidates.

That means seven seconds is all you have to make an impression on the recruiter to consider you for an interview. You may have the best qualifications or experiences, but if you do not catch their attention within those seven seconds, your chance to get to the job interview is slim.

So, what do you do now? You have to make yourself stand out from a sea of applicants from different backgrounds, age, and qualifications in that short time. You need your resume to advertise and demonstrate why YOU are the best fit for the role.

Here are 3 hacks you can take to make your resume stand out and catch the recruiter’s attention within seconds:

#1 Sell the Sizzle, Not the Steak

Sell your achievement & skills and NOT your day to day responsibilities. This essentially means you should be selling the benefits of your product instead of the features, or selling people what they want in contrast to what they need.

When writing your resume, you want to show the recruiter why you are the best candidate for the role as directly and as succinctly as possible. You should not treat your resume like an essay where you elaborate and highlight each job experience with deep details. Instead, use bullet points – about two to three points would suffice – to highlight the role you had in previous job positions.

Show them the wins, achievements and accolades you received in the past to emphasize your qualifications. In that short time span, give the recruiter all the reasons they need to know that you will be an asset to their company.

A smart tip: quantify relevant achievements and skills. Use dollar amounts, timelines and percentages to illustrate the wins you had. Avoid giving unnecessary information. Remember: 7 seconds is all you have.

#2 Design it well, but do it right

Creating a visually pleasing yet professional resume can help stand you out from the crowd. Sometimes people skim over the best content just because the appearance did not catch their attention.

To go about this, use online resume templates from websites such as Canva that provide nicely designed templates that are free and easy to use. With the endless options of templates online, select ones that are clean, organised, simple and symmetrical. For the creative ones, use colours to highlight your experiences and skills, but be mindful to not overdo it. Express who you are professionally and match it with the job you are applying for. When designing your resume, approach it with the intention of making it easy for the recruiters to spot your achievements, not confuse them. Also, remember to match the design with the industry you are applying for. You should leave those quirky and intense designs for your portfolio when applying for a creative role.

Useful tip for those applying to large MNCs: Don’t overdo the design of your resume because most MNCs use an applicant tracking system (ATS) in their recruitment process. An ATS is a system that helps organise job applications by screening resumes before it arrives at the recruiter’s hands. So, if your design is too fancy, not in the right format or unrecognisable font, it may not be recognized by the ATS system. So avoid fancy formatting such as excessive use of tables, columns and less common fonts and make sure to use keywords to fit the context.

#3 Put a face to the story: Attach your photo to your resume

Putting a photo of yourself, the applicant, in a resume is more common and acceptable in Asia than it is in other countries. By doing so, it helps recruiters put a face to the experiences listed on paper; inadvertently creating a personal brand for themselves. When selecting a photo, choose one that is professional and friendly, and insert it onto the top left corner of your resume’s front page. Be mindful to choose a photo that is relevant and appropriate too. If you are applying for a corporate role; look smart and professional in how you dress and set your hair. Attaching a photo to your resume helps the recruiter “know” you better and then with the support of your qualification, may just believe that you are the perfect fit.

Here’s bonus tip #4 – Study the job well before starting your resume. We know times are hard now, but do note that not every job opening is right for you.

The great news is that there will be a job position that IS the right fit for you. You have to connect and match the basic requirements of the position to your qualifications and skills. Remember: your resume is a snapshot of you, so follow the hacks above and be yourself. Show them who you really are!

Making your resume stand out from the crowd can be a daunting task because recruiters receive a lot whenever they release a job opening. But with these three simple hacks, you can make yourself more distinct from the sea of applicants and increase your chance to get a job interview.

But what if there is someone who can guide you through the job searching process, whether it is prioritizing which jobs to apply for or how to make your resume stand out? Check out our previous blog on how working with a recruiter can help you find your dream job.

PentagonPlus has been in the recruitment service for more than 12 years and aims to connect the right people with the right jobs. Our recruiters provide the honest advice and valuable career guidance you will need for your success.

So, do not fret but instead have someone from PentagonPlus assist you through this process of making you a star candidate to get a spot for the interview, and on to the job interview. Just drop us an email at werndi@pentagonplus.com to get started!

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5 Job Search Strategies for Job Seekers in 2023

A new year calls for a fresh start. If you’re reading this article, you’re most likely in search of a fresh career opportunity. But the question remains: how or where can you find work these days? The pandemic has caused the job market to constantly shift, but it is also brimming with opportunities.

Whether you’re considering a career jump or a career switch, the team at PentagonPlus has got you covered! Here are five career strategies that can help job seekers like you, find the right job in 2022.

First things first, do your research!

Set aside time daily to check job recruitment Malaysian boards, connect with recruiters and learn about what type of industries are hiring. Not seeing job opportunities in your field? Maybe it is time to broaden your search.

Instead of just searching for what you want, you should also look at what the market wants. If these companies are still hiring in a post-pandemic era, this is a green flag that they are sustainable and are likely to provide long-term career growth for you.

Can’t seem to find these companies? Just head on over to the ‘Hot Jobs’ section on our website to search for companies that are actively recruiting!

Identify your transferable skills

Reflect on your current and/or past work experiences. Have you picked up any skill that is likely to be transferable? Employee talent assessment is especially important if you’re planning to make a career switch to fit the demands of the post-pandemic era.

For example, if you’re an engineer planning to switch to digital marketing; skills such as multitasking and problem-solving would be examples of transferable skills. During your job application, highlight the projects where you demonstrated these skills and explain how you would utilize them for the next job. If you have a portfolio, that would be even better.

Start investing in your personal brand

Do a quick Google search on yourself and see what you find. Are you impressed by the results? If not, what makes you think that your future employers will be impressed by your application? Essentially, having a personal brand answers the golden question: “Why should I hire you?”

Don’t know how to start a personal brand? Pro tip: Create a LinkedIn account! LinkedIn is one of the most effective platforms to build your professional presence online. Make sure to update your profile with your latest experience and share your career story. Doing so would help make you more discoverable outside of your circle and beyond your resumé.

Network, network, network!

Did you know that networking is actually one of the most effective ways in landing a job? In fact, the odds of someone getting a job are considerably higher if someone within a company recommended them. What does that mean? You’ve guessed it. Network, network, network!

Physical meetups may be on hold for now, but you can always expand your network online. Join a LinkedIn group that fits your profession, get a talent coach or simply connect with industry experts through the comments on a post. You can also check with your local coworking spaces for networking groups to participate in or search up on Eventbrite. If you want to expand your network, you need to put yourself out there.

Workforce Readiness

If there’s anything the pandemic taught us, it is to be ready for change. Whether you’re considering switching careers or seeking better opportunities, you want to keep an open mind.

Speaking to recruiters is a great way to stay up-to-date about the market. There’s no harm in getting industry insights that would help you make the right decision towards your next career move.. even if you’re not actively looking. Don’t be rash to close the door on potentially good opportunities. Who knows? Maybe those opportunities could even lead you directly to your dream job. You don’t know what you haven’t experienced.

The pandemic has changed the job-seeking game with its own set of challenges than before. But despite all the uncertainties, don’t be discouraged in working towards your dream job. You won’t get to your dream job without taking any risks.

Our team of career executive search consultancy firm are ready to support you in your career hunting journey. Just drop us an email at andrea.prisha@pentagonplus.com to get started and we’ll assist you in finding the right job in 2022. At the end of the day, trying is more important than failing, at least you already know the outcome. Happy job hunting!

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Get it Right! 5 Ways to Explain Why You're Leaving the Job

You’ve finally decided that it is time to leave your job. But you now have to face your boss to inform your decision to resign.

Resigning from a job is like a breakup; just minus the romance. If you fail to do it right — not only would you offend your current employer, the ripples may have a negative effect because an informal call or an official reference check call can have an adverse impact on your future employer’s decision.

As recruitment consultants, we’ve encountered all kinds of excuses that candidates have shared when quitting their jobs. In this article, we’ve compiled the 5 worst reasons to resign, along with recommendations on how you can do it better.

#1 “I Don’t Have Work-Life Balance”

The excuse of the century: Work-life balance. Don’t get us wrong; it is valid to want a work-life balance. But if you are simply blaming the job for disrupting your life, this may imply that you have poor time management. That you only want to stick to the official working hours and are unwilling to contribute more when required.

If you’ve tried to manage time on your end but the workload was unreasonable, you can tackle this by being specific.

For instance,

“The job required me to work 12 hours a day and every weekend due to lack of resources. I’ve always been willing to offer my support but it was requested too frequently which affected my mental and physical health.

A response like the above will help employers understand your intentions better than just wanting work-life balance.

#2 “I Can’t Get Along with My Boss or Colleague”

Dealing with difficult bosses or colleagues can make your work-life challenging. However, if you present this reason as bluntly as such, you’ll be perceived as a high-risk candidate who might quit again if you cannot get along with your new colleagues. Employers tend to avoid hiring such candidates because “work chemistry” is a tough one to predict.

Instead of just complaining about the working relationship, explain how this has impacted the work delivery. Talk about your efforts in getting things done, however, they were affected by human factors which were beyond your control, though nothing personal. Hence, you are now looking for an environment where you are able to perform at your best.

With such a response, employers will see you as a mature candidate who is simply looking for a more suitable environment that will allow you to perform.

#3 “I Didn’t Get Any Performance Bonus or Increment.”

Wait.. but isn’t this a fair excuse to leave? Think carefully.

If you put the blame on the company for the bonus or increment, the employer may think that it was you who did not perform well; therefore not getting the financial rewards.

What you can do instead is to show the employer your dedication to performing and that you are ready to grow the company together.

“I am looking for a company where I can grow my career further,” followed by an explanation of the values you can offer to the company.

Bonus tip: Ask the hiring manager if the company has given a performance bonus or increment in the recent year, or if there is a KPI system for you to work on to achieve the financial rewards. A good way to phrase your question can go like “Can you help me understand what I should do in my job to enjoy a high company bonus?”

#4 “I’m Tired from Travelling to Office every day”

This would probably be the lamest way of resigning from a job. It is acceptable if your office was relocated only after you’ve accepted the offer. Otherwise, your potential employer will question why you took the job in the first place if you knew where the office was located. Did you accept the job out of desperation?

Instead of complaining about how tired you are, you can phrase it as such:

“I realized the 2-hours spent traveling to the office every day has taken up a lot of my productive time and energy, which could have been better spent for work.”

When you can explain how traveling impacts your work productivity, employers will better understand your intentions of quitting.

#5 “I Am Looking for A Better Opportunity”

It is undeniable that we all seek betterment in our careers. Instead of saying that you want something better — which is very vague —  explain what you mean by “better.”

What kind of opportunities are you looking for? Do you have a preferred role or industry? Perhaps you are seeking to grow from a local to a regional role. Or moving from an individual contributor to a managerial role. Be clear about your career goal because this can help your hiring employers identify whether the company’s career path is potentially a suitable fit for you.

When resigning from a job, try to sit in the shoes of the employer and understand their perspective in order to come up with a suitable response. Be transparent with your reasons; keep it short and clear so as to avoid any misconceptions.

If you are still concerned about how to best explain your resignation to your next employer, you should consult a career coach like PentagonPlus! As one of the top recruitment agencies in Malaysia, we can help you lower the risk of rejection in your interview given our 12+ years of experience dealing with hiring managers and candidates. You can simply drop us an email chailing@pentagonplus.com to get started.

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4 Things to do with your LinkedIn Profile

So, you’ve created a LinkedIn profile and now you’re here looking for tips on how to make yourself stand out?

You’re not alone – LinkedIn remains to be one of the hottest platforms for professional networking and job-seeking with over 830 million active users on the platform daily. An estimated 50 million people search for jobs on LinkedIn In weekly, but that doesn’t mean everyone finds the success they’re looking for.

Don’t worry though, we’ve compiled the 4 most important tips to make your LinkedIn profile instantly better. Let’s jump into it!

Upload a Professional Profile Picture

LinkedIn is NOT Facebook – no pictures of yourself on a beach sipping on a cool drink!

Your profile picture gives your profile viewers a first impression of yourself, and the professional image you portray at the workplace. ln fact, research from LinkedIn themselves shows that profiles with updated profile pictures gain 14x more profile views than profiles without – yeah, that much.

We recommend dressing for the job you want, having your back against a neutral or simple background, and smiling! You want to come off as “professional yet friendly”.

Attention-Grabbing Headlines

ln case you’re unfamiliar, “Headline” refers to the section of your profile just below your name.

LinkedIn usually pulls your current title and most recent company to fill in your headline by default to look something like “Recruitment Executive at Pentagon Plus”. But with 220 characters to spare, you could fit plenty more about yourself in your headlines to better describe yourself at a glance.

If you asked us, you should definitely include some keywords that best describe your skill set or expertise because recruiters look for specific words when recruiting for talents. For example, an expert performance marketer could have the headline “Performance Marketing | Creative | Google Ads – I’m a professional at creating marketing campaigns, then measuring their success in numbers”

Get creative, there’s plenty of space to try!

A Well-Written Summary

This is essentially your self-introduction – a window into your personality and what it’s like working with you.

There’s some debate around using bullet points or writing an essay on your story and which is more effective – it honestly doesn’t matter very much. What really matters is if you’ve effectively communicated what makes you tick as a person and if you’re relatable.

What tends to work best is communicating personality genuinely to attract companies with a culture you’d actually enjoy.

If you like professional environments and dislike getting too close to colleagues – write in the third person and keep it professional. If you like a fun, young company culture – then write with your own flair and the fun people will find you.

Experience Gained Throughout Your Career Journey

If you’ve got your profile picture, headline, and summary done well, you should have recruiters hooked and excited to read about your professional experience by now. Time to really impress them!

This is NOT your CV, don’t list down every single thing you’ve done. You want to keep things short and punchy – less is more. You only need 2 parts:

1. A description of your current/past jobs and the scope of your duties/responsibilities to give them some

2. Key achievements/results you produced in those positions to make them want to give you a call to ask more about how you made it

Don’t be modest, share about that target you overachieved last quarter or that Employee of the Month Award you won for overperforming on your KPIs. That’s what recruiters are hoping to see on every profile they view – give them something to call you and ask about!

If you’re a fresh graduate or perhaps haven’t made any notable achievements yet, you could talk about the challenges you faced on the job and how you overcame them – that counts as a win too!

Bonus Point! Fill in Your Skills Section.

Because you’re the special one who read this till the end, we’ll let you in on a big tip.

According to LinkedIn, profiles with 5 or more skills listed are 33x more likely to be messaged by recruiters – that’s a massive advantage.

Just make sure the skills you’ve listed are industry-specific and reflect the skills you demonstrated on the job.

There you have it, you came for 4 tips but walked away with 5. These tips won’t be useful if you don’t apply them to your profile – so make sure you take action once you’re done reading this!

If you’d like more tips on how to be more attractive to recruiters on LinkedIn, we have a team of career coaches in Pentagon Plus! As one of the top recruitment agencies in Malaysia, we can help you become a star candidate for your dream roles given our 12+ years of experience dealing with hiring managers and candidates.

Drop us an email at siumei@pentagonplus.com to get started.

Connect with Us

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Pentagonplus | Employee Talent Assessment

•        Recruitment Company in Malaysia

PentagonPlus is a talent capital consulting and recruitment company in Malaysia formed in 2009 with the aim of connecting the right people to the right job. We do this by approaching talent capital from a holistic point of view, looking beyond paper qualifications to spot character and attitudes that are right for the job.

Above all, as a pioneer recruitment agency we believe in doing things with integrity and professionalism – we don’t cut corners, or push candidates just to make up the numbers. At PentagonPlus, nothing gives us more satisfaction than helping people and companies achieve their full potential and fulfill their ambitions.

•        Services

•       Executive Search

We offer permanent placement of middle to senior ranking candidates in specialised functions in areas of Technology, Human Resource, Accountancy & Finance, Engineering, Sales and Marketing.

•       Flexi On-site Recruitment Solution

Whether you are a startup or an established company, finding and attracting the best talent is always a challenge. We provide on-site talent recruitment service to you for a flexible period of time. Our skilled job consultancy work closely with you in an end-to-end recruitment process.

This solution is cost-effective, at approximately 50% of a traditional contingent search fee.

•       Workforce Readiness

Workforce readiness is crucial in defining the standards and performance levels of the employees and ensures the employees adapt to the work environment and respond to the new challenges. We prepare candidates for the workplace by guiding them in aspects of work prioritisation, leadership qualities, workplace management and effective time management.

•       Employee Talent Assessment

We offer online talent assessment tools that help companies match the candidates’ personal fit to a specific job. The talent assessment tools can be used for both recruitment and talent development. Our pre-employment test will help you assess whether the knowledge or skills of the candidate meets the job requirement.  The assessment provides a roadmap to identify potential employees and evaluates the performance of current employees.

•       Career Coaching

As a top recruitment firm in Malaysia, we assist aspiring candidates by arranging personal coaching sessions with successful senior managers in their respective fields of profession. Our Career coaches help candidates to achieve their career goals based on their knowledge, interests, and skills. Candidates receive honest advice and valuable career guidance to point them in the right direction when planning for success! 

•       Our Approach

Job Consultancy in Malaysia

PentagonPlus applies innovative recruitment strategies to ensure that we attract the suitable and right talent. Our job consultancy will ease the hiring pressure, enabling our clients to focus on their business objectives. We understand that no particular solution fits all organizations. That is why our job agency in Malaysia is well-equipped to provide tailored solutions around specific visions and priorities to meet the different business circumstances and requirements.

•       Client Consultation

As a streamlined job recruitment procedure, we first define what a client needs, taking into account various aspects such as the skills required, experience range and the personality fit.

•       Developing The Recruitment Strategy

Once the key attributes are identified, we formulate a strategy that is tailored to the client’s specific needs.

•       Candidate Sourcing

We scour our talent database to identify a small selection of profiles that closely match the client’s requirements.

•       Interview & Assessment

We interview candidates to assess their JOB FIT and PERSON FIT to ensure the right person is matched to the right job. We also help organisations in talent assessment to identify and develop candidates to fit the desired positions.

•       Offer Negotiation & Onboarding

Once the right person has been found, our job agency help facilitate negotiations between both parties, and prepare the candidate for his/her new work environment.

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Steps to Effective Recruiting

You’re on a job hunt, be it part-time, full-time or perhaps even an internship, but you’re finding it difficult to find a role that suits you. You have exhausted and even tried to find the ideal job on Linked In, but unfortunately to no use. Who could help you? The recruitment agency  

Job portals or recruitment firms are sites where you can advertise jobs and search for resumes. They are an integral part of hiring process and using them effectively will translate into qualified candidates for relatively low costs.

Here are a few tips from Job Recruitment Malaysia to ensure you get the most out of job portals for recruitment:

Know what you’re looking for.

Fill your talent pipeline like your life depends on it

Look for different sources..

Keep in touch with the recruitment firm.

Train your hiring managers.

Use your job posting as a means to boost your employer branding efforts and maximize the number of qualified candidates you reach. If you are looking for Recruitment Company In Malaysia, reach out to PentagonPlus.

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Here are some amazing tips from our career coach to boost your productivity!

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Employee Talent Assessment : Ten Questions To Ask When The Headhunter Calls