Jorbb gets Jobs for You! Bringing Employers and Job Seekers updates on Singapore Employment News. Productivity related Tech Toys & Web 2.0 Sites will also be covered. Singapore's 1st freelance / casual / part time / contract job blog. Visit http://www.jorbb.com to join today!
Singapore - OCBC employees will now be able to telecommute more easily with access their corporate emails through the iPhone 3G, all paid for on the company's dime. This is the first of such corporate plans in Singapore's banking industry that revolve around the iPhone 3G.
Having access to real-time information on the go is becoming increasingly important, says Peter Koh who is head of technology infrastructure, group operations & technology of OCBC Bank. And with the iPhone's rising popularity, Koh says the bank thought it would be a good idea to leverage it as an office email device as well.
Doing so would also allow employees who already own other web mobile devices to merge into one singular device for their voice calling, web browsing and corporate email use.
Under the initiative, employees in the bank's Singapore, Malaysia, China and overseas branches will have to pay for the device and cost of the voice plan. However, the company will pick up the cost of the data plan, which is directly routed to the bank. Through this, employees will be able access their office email and sync their contacts, notes and calendar and carry out online banking transactions while on the move.
"Our employees can continue to enjoy the features and contents available on their iPhone without the need to carry another device in order to access office email," says Koh.
Furthermore, Koh says this is a win-win initiative for the bank and employees, as "the iPhone's subscription charges are lower than that for the BlackBerrry (by more than 50%)".
While Koh says the idea of using the iPhone for office emails was first brought up before the device was launched in Singapore, the company had to check its feasibility and compatibility with the office email systems to ensure data security. So far, Koh says the bank has received positive interest from employees and has received three application submissions within the first week of its launch.
SINGAPOREANS have long been suspected to be a dissatisfied bunch - and now there are numbers to add to that view.
In Robert Half's latest survey of finance professionals, Singapore ranks second-lowest worldwide for job satisfaction, with only 53 per cent of local respondents claiming to be satisfied with their job.
Ironically though, their dissatisfaction may stem largely from their uncertainty over being able to keep their job.
Ranked third-lowest worldwide for satisfaction with job security, only 54 per cent of local respondents said they were satisfied with job security in their current position.
'As job losses continue to mount, concerns about job security, career prospects and the ability to maintain a work-family balance as workload increases are heightened,' said Tim Hird, managing director of Robert Half Singapore.
'During these tough times, managers must demonstrate strong leadership in managing their staff, to not just allay their concerns but also to motivate and encourage them and keep overall employee morale high.'
Other Asians are not much happier in their jobs than Singaporeans, forming a regional theme of dissatisfaction. Bringing up the rear on the job satisfaction front, Japan ranked the lowest globally at 47 per cent, while Hong Kong was third-lowest at 54 per cent.
Worldwide, finance professionals in Dubai were the happiest job-wise, with 85 per cent claiming to be satisfied.
Singapore's finance professionals also scored low on company loyalty, with 59 per cent of them saying they felt 'very loyal' or 'rather loyal' to their firm.
The only other countries in the survey that ranked lower than Singapore on this count were Hong Kong and Japan with 42 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.
Not surprisingly, only 11 per cent of local respondents said they plan to stay in their current job for the next 12 months, the smallest proportion worldwide.
Forty per cent are either actively looking for another job or plan to do so in the next 12 months. In Hong Kong - the only country to outrank Singapore in this area - 45 per cent of respondents plan a job change.
In Singapore, the main reason cited for a job switch was an increase in pay, for which 35 per cent indicated they would walk. A better work-life balance came in a distant second, with 21 per cent of respondents citing it is the reason for a job change.
'Especially in these uncertain times, we are advising both our clients and candidates to focus less on monetary compensation packages but more on the content and scalability of jobs,' said Mr Hird.
The survey was conducted by the consulting firm in October last year. It involved 3,556 finance professionals globally, 200 of whom were in Singapore.
IF YOU take good care of your associates, they will take good care of your customers, and the customers will keep coming back - such is the philosophy of Singapore Marriott, as spoken by its founder J W Marriott Snr.
'This is the bedrock of our success thus far,' says Greg Allan, the hotel's general manager. 'It identifies our main assets as our associates, setting us apart as an employer with a heart and an employer of choice.'
This belief has served Singapore Marriott well, for it has been deemed one of the country's Best Employers this year. It also won the award back in 2007.
Since it first opened back in 1995, Singapore Marriott continues to be steadfast in its commitment to training and developing its associates. With a staff strength of approximately 460, the hotel has a strong focus on staff welfare and career advancement.
'The working environment at Singapore Marriott is fair and dynamic,' says Mr Allan. 'We believe in providing equal employment opportunities and thereafter, development and training to all existing and potential associates.'
OFFERING employees the freedom to work fewer and more flexible hours could help companies trim costs and lift productivity amid the downturn.
Fewer hours - meaning lower pay - could help rein in salary costs. And offering more flexible hours to employees can also improve the bottom line, studies overseas have shown.
But perhaps what's best about flexi-work is that unlike retrenchment, it is likely to be embraced by young and old alike - with benefits that could well outlast the downturn.
At least three recent studies here have shown that flexi-work is a tempting carrot that would entice older folk from retirement and wean new mothers from baby bottles back to their Blackberries.
The latest, reported by The Straits Times last month, showed that 72 per cent of 1,000 workers polled would be encouraged to remain in the workforce for as long as possible in their senior years - if given fewer and more flexible work hours. Data for this survey was culled from a global study on the future of retirement by Oxford University.
Another recently released survey of 3,000 baby-boomers here, commissioned by the Government, yielded similar findings.
In yet another Government survey made public last July, more than 60 per cent of 25,000 unemployed older folk who planned to look for work said they preferred part-time work.
Same for mothers of young children. In a survey of 1,000 mothers who were either working or looking for jobs here last year, 85 per cent said flexible hours and results-based performance evaluation would best help them cope with the dual demands of children and career. The survey was commissioned by baby food company, Friesland.
But this groundswell of opinion has so far had little effect among employers.
Indeed, the Oxford survey, which interviewed 300 employers here as well, found that only 43 per cent of employers were willing to offer flexible work to older workers. The remaining 57 per cent, presumably, are against such arrangements - or at least undecided. Contrast that with Britain, where studies have shown that fewer than a tenth of all requests for flexi-work are turned down.
The Singapore working mothers survey, for its part, found that nearly two-thirds of the mothers were unable to re-enter the workforce after childbirth as they failed to find jobs that offered 'family-friendly' hours.
Figures from the Ministry of Manpower made public last December show that only 7.4 per cent of private sector employees here are on flexible work schedules, up from about 5 per cent in 2006.
If you include the public sector, the proportion of employees on flexible work arrangements in 2008 was 9.4 per cent.
While the numbers here are inching up, Singapore is still a far cry from countries like the United States and Britain, where nearly 30 per cent of employees work on flexible schedules.
So why the lag here?
The biggest hitch is that many employers still view 'face-time' at the workplace as an important criterion in evaluating staff performance and productivity, says Mr Josh Goh, senior manager for corporate services at recruitment firm GMP. They fail to recognise that there is little correlation between productivity and the number of hours worked, he says.
Chief executive officer of HR firm LifeWorkz, Ms Cheryl Liew, points out that many firms here have the misconception that the nature of their businesses is simply not conducive to flexi-hours.
Many small companies, for instance, equate telecommuting - that is, working from a computer at home - with flexi-work. They think that if they don't have sophisticated IT infrastructure, they cannot afford to be more flexible.
But telecommuting - ideal for desk-bound executives hooked up to office computer systems - is not the only type of flexi-work. There can be flexibility in both the scheduling and number of hours worked.
These include a 'compressed work week', where an employee works an extra few hours every work day, to be on a three- or four-day week. This is ideal for those in manufacturing.
Job-sharing - where two employees share one full-time position - has also proved to be useful to those in administrative or shift-based jobs.
Finally, there is the 'annualised hours' scheme where, instead of say 40-hours a week, employees are given an annual quota of the number of hours they need to work. Such a scheme is useful especially for organisations that have round-the-clock operations.
But companies here remain apprehensive about heavier administrative loads on managers in terms of communicating, supervising and scheduling the working time of employees.
This needs to change, say some experts on productivity. There is increasing evidence that flexible hours are not just a boon for employees, but for the company's bottom line too.
A 2006 study by Georgetown University in the US, for instance, cited several cases of companies that raked in more revenue even as they gave their employees more freedom in how and where they did their work.
Chubb, a Fortune 500 insurance company which implemented various forms of flexi-work in its claim services department, found a 40 per cent jump in claims processed, and a dramatic reduction in overtime costs.
Global IT giant IBM, for its part, saved US$20 million (S$30.6 million) in operating costs annually and over 500,000 sq ft of real estate by allowing employees to telecommute.
While Singapore companies watch and wait, the US and Britain are both beefing up their flexi-work mechanisms.
On Jan 30, days after being sworn into office, US President Barack Obama announced the formation of a task force to find ways for overloaded parents to better balance their work and family lives.
And from next month, a new British law will make it a right for all working parents with children under 16 to ask for flexible working conditions.
There is no need for legislation here yet, but clearly it's time to delve deeper into flexi options.
As work slows and morale dips, giving employees a choice on when and where they work could be the cheerful upside of this depressing downturn.
The timing of this first-of-its-kind product in Singapore is perfect given rising instances of early terminations as global economic conditions worsen.
'This is something you can find in Australia. We talked about offering it here a year ago and it is now ready,' said Institute of Estate Agents (IEA) president Jeff Foo. 'From feedback gathered from our members, there are more people breaking their leases early this downturn compared with the previous downturn. Landlords are not really protected.'
Landlords can buy the insurance, endorsed by the IEA, from their agents.
Details are a bit hazy at the moment as feedback on the product is still being gathered and tweaks may be made.
Basically, the insurance - for a lease of at least 12 months - protects against a loss of rent under certain circumstances, such as rental default and the tenant absconding.
The premium will be fixed at a certain percentage of a month's rent, for instance at 15per cent. And there will be a deductible period, which means the insurance kicks in only after a certain period of zero rental income for the landlord.
With the gloom in the economy, the office could be a place where people are working like dogs. You can bring energy and charm to your office environment to help with building morale.
A fun filled office environment will encourage your employees to do their work in a contented state of mind. You could also be relieving stress on your employees by letting them enjoy what they do. This does not mean that the employees are free to do whatever they wish but rather they can work in a place that encourages them to do what they wish.
1. Install a music kiosk at an upper department and employees moving to their department can hear the music for a few minutes for relaxing themselves. Music has the ability to calm and soothe the minds of your staff. They would thus be very energetic through out the day.
2. Casuals on Fridays are boring, you can encourage your employees to work in casuals on weekdays too, and you can fix the timings for that too. Your staff can change their clothes in the middle of the day and continue working in their casual dress.
3. Official victory celebrations have also become traditional and more formal. You could take your team for a movie after the lunch for celebrating the success of the project. If your staff is spending more time with you at the office then there is nothing wrong in celebrating your success with them within the office premises itself.
4. Apart from spreading professional emails, you can pass humor and jokes to your employee’s personal mailbox. In the middle of their work, they will open the mails, burst into laughter, and then resume the work with joy.
5. You can arrange for theme days asking your team to dress themselves based on a theme. During lunch, you can compare yourself with the other teams and have fun filled dress competition based on themes. You can also encourage your team members to bring a theme lunch and have a party time during the short break.
6. Above all, be open to appreciate the work of your employees. Gift them with gift certificates and other inexpensive gifts and motivate them to work more.
Here's a cheat sheet to help you search on Google more effectively.
When you enter:
holiday jobs - search the words holiday and jobs parttime OR part-time - either the word parttime or the word part-time "holiday job" - the exact phrase holiday job job –fulltime - the word job but NOT the word fulltime +freelance - Only the word freelance, and not the plural or any tenses or synonyms ~study loan - loan info for both the word study and its synonyms: education, course, etc. define:freelance - definitions of the word freelance from around the Web. get * job - the words get and job separated by one or more words. I'm Feeling Lucky - Takes you directly to first web page returned for your query.
site: - search keywords in specific site e.g. freelance site:jorbb.com
Mashable.com has gather a list of 85+ tools covering time / expenses, invoicing, stock image libaries, freelance sites and more...
"Deciding to become a freelance worker can be a scary proposition. Sure there is an allure to picking what projects you work on, but it can also be stressful not knowing where your next paycheck will come from. Luckily there are numerous resources out there that not only help you find more work, but also loads of tools to help you do your job more efficiently with a professional edge.
We’ve gathered over 85 tools and job sites for a variety of freelancers and web workers. While a lot of these items are focused on web design elements such as photography, programming and writing, we made sure to include something for everyone."
Despite the challenges in a tough economic situation, CEO of MSIG Holdings (Asia), Alan Wilson, says it is now a "perfect opportunity" to pick up talent for the future.
According to Wilson, 2008 profits for MSIG remain in the "comfortable" margins. However, the recession will throw up several new challenges for the organisation which include an increase in the number of cashflow problems and bad debts from clients, a spike in the number of dubious claims and a smaller return on investments during the next two years.
But there are opportunities to be tapped into during this downturn, Wilson adds, as MSIG is using this downturn to pick up talent that have been laid off from their struggling competitors and from regions such as North America and Europe.
Despite the industry's technicalities, insurance is still a people-based business where the capacity and capability to move ahead depend on the "quality and quantity of people that you have", Wilson says.
"Although times may be tough, it is a time for us to say, 'Are there areas of business which we are not in or strong at the moment where we can retool or tool up on?' And we can acquire talent which is available right now, and it is a perfect opportunity to do so."
For an insurance provider where labour and rent are the two biggest costs, will there be any cost-cutting action taken? While the company is "looking to be sensible about its costs", the focus is how employees can work smarter and more efficiently. Some of the initiatives now revolve around looking at conducting business in a more cost-efficient way, and introducing a standardization of best practices across the various 11 operations in the region.
"Although it is an expense, we are also looking at how we can invest in the future. It is not just running today's business, but also investing in tomorrow's business. We are investing in various areas such as new IT systems, new ways of doing business, and building the brand to make sure that we are well-positioned for the future."
In almost all firms there is a need to measure recruitment to find out if the way Human Resources handles manpower is fit for the needs of the organization. It is a sad fact of reality that not all people who are hired will succeed in the job. This has something to do with profiling the right kind of people that will fit the role of job.
To begin with, one must look at the minimum skills requirement of the employees that need to get hired. The issue with many recruiting teams is that they never really bother to filter applicants. They think that as long as the applicant has a similar experience with the job he needs to fill in, he is qualified. This is a mistake that needs to be addressed as it will always turn out that employees who do not pass the minimum skills requirement will not be productive.
How should recruitment effectiveness be measured?
There are a lot of ways to do this - three types of yield, so to speak.
The first type of yield is the first pass yield. The way this is calculated is simple. Divide the number of people who for hired by the number of people who were interviewed. Example: if there are two hundred people who got interviewed and only 50 were hired, the first pass yield is equivalent to 25%.
The second pass yield is calculated by the number of people who passed a second test by the number of the people who passed the first test.
And the last kind of yield is the RTY or roll through put yield. This is equivalent to the first pass yield percentage multiplied by the second pass yield percentage multiplied by the third process. This is part of measuring process capability.
The Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR) was implemented on 1 December 2008. Riding on the encouraging response from employers and workers, and taking on board feedback from companies and unions, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) have expanded the list of courses under SPUR to enhance its relevance to employers and workers, with effect from 1 January 2009. The new SPUR-approved courses include:
a. More Workforce Skills Qualifications' (WSQ) courses by quality training providers in addition to the original SPUR WSQ courses by CET Centres, e.g. in Human Resource, Healthcare Support, Precision Engineering, Aerospace, Information and Communications Technology. With this, all WSQ courses will be covered under SPUR.
b. Nitec and Higher Nitec courses for adults under the Institute of Technical Education, e.g. Nitec in Information Technology and Higher Nitec in Electronics Engineering; and
c. Diploma, Advanced Diploma and Specialist Diploma courses for adults provided by the Polytechnics, e.g. Diploma in Technology, Specialist Diploma in Arts & Events Management, Advanced Diploma in Process Control & Instrumentation.
The courses included under SPUR are those that are recognised at the national or industry level, and which enhance the employability of workers.
So it's that time of the year again and blogs / forums are posting their most plausible product launch at this year's Macworld, also known as Apple's last Macworld, also known as, No Steve Jobs Keynote Macworld.
So here's our list:
1. New Mac Mini (highly likely) 2. New Mighty Mouse (with multi touch) (unlikely) 3. iPhone Nano (likely - someone posted a case making site taking orders for Nano casing) 4. iPhone Pro (unlikely) 5. iPod Touch (up size - 7") - this we like! We reckon that this would be Apple's foray into the netbook market. (likely)
We thank you for your support over the past 4 months, since our launch in Sept 2008.
Jorbb.com has grown to almost 450 registered Jorbbees and 125 Jorbbers in this short period of time.
To build on our mantra, "Jorbb gets Jobs for you!", we will be launcing new tools in early 2009, including integration of Jorbb's job search engine with our friends at Widgeo.us so that you can search for jobs via email / msn / widgeo.us device and eventually sms. (What is Widgeo.us? Daniel from YoungUpstarts did a post on them a while back and in the words of Ridzuan, the CEO - Widgeo.us is a web-based universal cross-channel communications platform that allows application developers to create applications that work seamlessly across multiple channels such as email, instant messaging, microblogging, text messaging etc. Of course this also means that end users can have applications that “follow” them wherever they go. No more being tied down to a single software client and all.)
We will also provide widgets for you to embed your profile onto your website / blog, and in return, earn credits for doing so, to exchange for great gifts (movie tickets, food vouchers etc).
We, at Jorbb.com, wish all members a Happy and Safe New Year.
Building a wining team requires a mastermind and it is a tough process. If you are successful in this step, you can find success in every project you undertake. A team consists of a group of working persons and each of the team members may have a different perspective. Just because they are in a team, you cannot expect them to have the same opinion and views. A team is always successful when it has an efficient leader with skilled members.
1.Start constructing the winning team. You have to spend time in forming a proper team to taste success. Bring together people with different skills and assemble them into a team.
2.For any team, purpose and goals are necessary. Discuss with your team about the purpose of the team and formulate long term and short-term goals that are to be achieved within the time frame.
3.Talk to your team members and understand their strengths and weakness. All your members will have some weakness and it is your responsibility as a leader to boost their strengths and decrease the weakness of your team members. If you are able to allot the right job for a right person, your team will be successful but for that you need to know about the members personally.
4.For a winning team, communication is very essential. During the team formation phase, you have to talk a lot and solve the disputes among the members. After the team is formed, you need to arrange for frequent meetings to share views and fine-tune the performance.
5.The communication between the team members should not be in a single direction. Two-way communication is highly essential. You have to talk and listen to others when they talk. A decision should be taken collectively by the team and not by the leader alone.
6.Celebration is what brings liveliness to the team. You can take the team for an outing for a long lunch and the reason can be nothing more than just thanking the team. You can also arrange for a themed lunch and encourage your team members to bring food from their homes and you could all eat together.
At least 20 establishments - from big-name supermarkets and foodcourts to retail shops - have been singled out by members who have come forward to share frustrating experiences at these outlets.
Started in August by undergraduate Kavita Devi Thamilselvam, 22, the group has drawn many non-Chinese as well as Chinese who are not fluent in Mandarin.
'It's as though non-Mandarin speaking customers are not valued. It makes us feel like foreigners in our own country,' Ms Kavita told The Sunday Times.
Another member of the group, Ms Nor Hafiza, 28, said she once had to approach four different sales assistants at a supermarket before a Singaporean employee was able to answer her queries.
The early childhood educator was surprised one of them even asked if she could speak Mandarin.
'When you are serving a multiracial community, it's important to have employees who can speak English,' she said.
Most members in the group said they are not against hiring foreigners, but are frustrated at the lack of English training given to them.
Ms Kavita said she had initially set up the group so that like-minded customers would have an outlet to vent their frustration.
But she now wants to take the group's feedback to the establishments. Industry watchers empathised with such sentiments.
'This sends a clear signal to the operators that it is important to ensure the competency of their service staff,' said the president of the Consumers Association of Singapore, Mr Yeo Guat Kwang.
Singapore Retailers Association executive director Lau Chuen Wei felt that English tests may be a good idea to ensure a minimum level of English proficiency.
'If such tests can be implemented for domestic helpers whose contacts are largely confined to the families that they work with, what more for those whose contacts are with the larger community?'
First-time maids have to sit for an English entry test to ensure that they have basic numeracy and literacy skills to do household tasks and adapt to life here.
When The Sunday Times did its own tests on five big businesses listed on the Facebook group, three - Giant, Kopitiam and Food Republic - did not fare well, while two - Haagen-Dazs and Takashimaya - passed with flying colours.
When contacted, all except Takashimaya said they have already been conducting some form of English classes for staff.
Companies explained that recruiting English-speaking service staff in both F&B and retail industries is already challenging enough, as many people shun such jobs.
Most added that employees from China form barely 10 per cent of their total staff strength. Service-sector companies are allowed to employ foreign workers on work permits - up to 50 per cent of the company's total workforce.
Said a spokesman from supermarket chain Giant: 'It will take some time for them to learn a new language...We hope the Facebook group can give our staff a bit more learning time.'
88 per cent of companies in Singapore are open to the idea of hiring senior contract finance professionals, according to a survey by global human resource consultancy, Robert Half International.
With manpower costs accounting for about 40 per cent of a company's total expenses, the firms see this as a viable alternative to optimise human resource costs amid the current economic downturn.
In comparison, only 29 per cent of companies in Japan, 64 per cent in Australia and 68 per cent in Britain will consider hiring such specialists.
The survey also showed that 48 per cent of the Singapore companies polled said hiring contract finance professionals would allow the firms to gain access to specialised skills.
Six in 10 local companies said they would hire these contract staff for their expertise in strategic projects, while 34 per cent of the companies needed them for support on core business activities.
52 per cent of local companies considered short-term hire as a staffing solution to the slowing economy.
Nearly half of those polled said they expected the trend of hiring contract professionals to increase going forward.
Businesses which provide outstanding service will now get a special mark of accreditation from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).
The Singapore Service Star was launched by Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang on Thursday. The scheme rewards businesses with good service, in order to inspire the industry towards service excellence.
Mr Lim said Singapore now ranks 10th out of 134 countries in the Global Competitiveness Index's "Degree of Customer Orientation", which measures a company's responsiveness to customers' needs.
This is an improvement from the 17th position three years ago.
A Singapore Service Star decal will be given to nightspots, F&B joints and retail outlets that have achieved better-than-average scores in mystery shopping assessments.
Surveys conducted by the Tourism Board showed that 90 per cent of tourists feel confident in patronising stores recognised by a quality scheme. Service quality is also ranked as a key factor in gauging customer satisfaction.
Neeta Lachmandas, director, Service Quality Division, STB, said: "It's very, very important for businesses to remember that service quality is really linked to a business' bottomline. Service quality can be the differentiator and it can breed a very loyal set of customers as well."
Currently, more than 300 establishments have joined the scheme – a number which the Tourism Board hopes will grow to 2,500 by end-2013.
Members under the scheme include Larry Jewelry, Haagen Dazs, Marks & Spencer and 211 Roof Terrace Cafe.
STB will provide updated information on customers' expectations and perceptions, based on regular surveys and mystery shopping results, to help Singapore grow as a premier tourist destination.
Andrew Carlson has an good guide on how to write that Classified Ad.
1. It must invoke in your readers that they indeed need the thing you are trying to sell. Design it in such a way that it arouse their interest and act accordingly.
2. Keep it short and sweet. A long ad is tiring for the eyes and do not exceed the word limit for you would risk your ad being cut off.
3. Your ad should have plenty of empty spaces, clear fonts and pictures to avoid appearing cluttered.
4. It must have a powerful heading to attract attention. It must be visually appealing and professional looking to your viewers.
5. Tell your readers what is exactly in your ad and avoid words like cash, save or money that is used all the time.
6. When possible, quote from a well known source such as newspaper, persons etc
7. Use words to pull in people such as Amazing, Fantastic, Now etc
8. Look at what your competitors are offering. If their ads is boring and non colourful, you can make your ads colourful and full of fun words. If their ads are too informative and wordy, you can try to make yours short and to the point.
9. Offer some freebies or trials to your customers.
10. Look at successful ads by others. Reflect on what is it that makes them interesting and apply it to your ads. Of course, remember that people have different tastes and try not to enforce your will too strongly.
11. Do not use all caps words. This appears that you are shouting and is very annoying and distracting to viewers who have to sieve through all the capital letters to understand your message.
12. Before you launch your ad, do some surveys with friends or relatives and ask for feedback. This avoids you getting to a situation where you have to pay for something that is ineffective.
Thanks to this great service by Odiogo, we have now incorporated audio feeds for our blog posts so that you can listen, in the background, to the relevant employment, entrepreneur, tech and web 2.0 news in audio!
Just click on the audio icon at the beginning of each post (see top of this post) or subscribe to the podcast on the right side.
DesignSingapore Council, SPRING Singapore, and International Enterprise Singapore have launched a S$12 million programme that will help local companies enhance their competitiveness through the use of design.
The Design for Enterprises (DFE) programme will have three main thrusts - Design Touch, Design Engage and Design Excel.
These aim to help local firms progress through the different levels of design capabilities, from learning about the value of design to skilful integration of design into their business strategies.
Under the Design Touch programme, a centre will be set up for companies who are taking their first steps at understanding the importance of design as a strategic tool.
Companies can learn about design and seek professional advice on relevant resources and programmes by visiting the centre or calling its hotline.
The Design Engage Programme is a three-year programme targeted to help companies understand the value of design and to build up their design capabilities.
Some 200 local companies are expected to benefit from adding design elements to their business strategy under the programme.
Design Excel is meant for companies who have successfully transformed and redefined their businesses by using design as their central strategy. It provides further mentorship and leadership programmes for them to continue to achieve design excellence.
These programmes will help companies to groom a new breed of creative leaders in their organisations.
Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts said design is an important tool for enterprises to create unique value and sharpen their competitiveness.
I would say that since Adobe acquired Macromedia (sob and then yay), one of the objectives has been to try and seamlessly integrate the work flow between the 2 companies offerings. The latest version of Creative Suite 4 really lives up to the slogan "Shortcut to Brilliant" and the apps work REALLY well together.
I attended Adobe's CS4 Launch Event today at The Rock at Suntec and got a cool water bottle as the door gift. So glad I don't have another notebook / sticky pad / post it / useless key chain / squeeze ball / not-ANOTHER-fat-plastic-pen to throw into the Abyss-Box.
There's really too many improvements CS4 has over CS3, but from the presentations / demos, I would say that the 4 software with major workflow / productivity improvements would be Flash, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Fireworks.
Here's my list of top 3 most AMAZING features of CS4.
1. Flash has animation macros to speed up / easily create animations. Effects which took 10-20 steps to do, now only needed 2-3 steps. And there's Inverse Kinematics (Bones) function to help animate your objects. IK used to be only found in expensive 3D software like 3D Studio Max / Maya etc.
2. Fireworks is CRAZY, with the slice, auto CSS generator and tab views of javascript etc in the same window. Edits to preview updates all related files on the fly. There's even a browser built INTO Fireworks so you no longer have to SAVE, Preview in IE / FF / Safari.
3. The most AMAZING feature is the interpolability between the apps, like from InDesign, to Flash. Or Photoshop to Fireworks to HTML (with CSS). Photoshop to Dreamweaver, and when you resize the image in Dreamweaver, it goes back to the PSD, saves a copy and updates the image in Dreamweaver AUTOMATICALLY! Same with making an image edit in PSD which has a referenced image in Dreamweaver, it updates dynamically. No more SAVE AS JPG, DELETE IMAGE, INSERT IMAGE. WOW!
Is it worth the upgrade price of $1000 ish (CS3 to CS4).
Rapid prototyping is the most common name given to a host of related technologies that are used to fabricate physical objects directly from CAD data sources.
Our subsidary service RPWorkshop.com provides Rapid Prototyping service in Singapore. Just email us your 3D CAD file and we will advise accordingly. You can easily / quickly convert digital files into physical models, for product testing, research, or presentation purposes.
These methods are unique in that they add and bond materials in layers to form objects. Such systems are also known by the names additive fabrication, three dimensional printing, solid freeform fabrication (SFF) and layered manufacturing. Today's additive technologies offer advantages in many applications compared to classical subtractive fabrication methods such as milling or turning:
Objects can be formed with any geometric complexity or intricacy without the need for elaborate machine setup or final assembly;
Rapid prototyping systems reduce the construction of complex objects to a manageable, straightforward, and relatively fast process.
This has resulted in their wide use by engineers as a way to reduce time to market in manufacturing, to better understand and communicate product designs, and to make rapid tooling to manufacture those products. Surgeons, architects, artists and individuals from many other disciplines also routinely use the technology.
Rapid prototyping isn't a solution to every part fabrication problem. After all, CNC technology is economical, widely understood and available, offers wide material selection and excellent accuracy. However, if the requirement involves producing a part or object of even moderately complex geometry, and doing so quickly - RP has the advantage. It's very easy to look at extreme cases and make a determination of which technology route to pursue, CNC or RP. For many other less extreme cases the selection crossover line is hazy, moves all the time, and depends on a number of variably-weighted, case-dependent factors. While the accuracy of rapid prototyping isn't generally as good as CNC, it's adequate today for a wide range of exacting applications.
The materials used in rapid prototyping are limited and dependent on the method chosen. However, the range and properties available are growing quickly. Numerous plastics, ceramics, metals ranging from stainless steel to titanium, and wood-like paper are available. At any rate, numerous secondary processes are available to convert patterns made in a rapid prototyping process to final materials or tools.
Meetings are always important in all types of businesses and companies. You might have participated in many meetings and sometimes, you may be obliged to conduct meetings. As a top performer, you have to know how to conduct meetings effectively. There are a lot of aspects that you have to consider while conducting meetings. The first thing you should consider is the necessity of the meeting. If the task can be accomplished without meetings, then you need not waste the resources. However, if meeting becomes very important, try to organize effective meetings.
Decide the start and end time of the meeting. Depending on the persons you are going to invite, you have to make this decision. You have to decide the duration of the meeting based on its purpose. If you have participants from other timezones, use World Clock Meeting planner to find a common time. Video conferencing is made easy with new web2.0 sites such as Orgoo, Vyew, Snapyap, TokBox.
Invite all the people for the meeting and communicate the timings to them. Ensure that the invitees will be present during the meeting. Try Vyew as it includes scheduling / ad hoc invites.
Use Google Docs to prepare an agenda for the meeting so that everyone can edit 1 single document online. You can also create an open agenda and stick to whiteboard. The participants can add their agenda but they should take the lead during that agenda. After getting suggestions, you decide on what is to be discussed during the meeting.
You have to take the lead during the meeting. Know about your audience and talk in their language.
Decide who is going to speak what during the meeting. This will help you in taking up the lead position and you can let the non speakers speak up during their turn.
For 1-2 hours meetings, do a time check at fixed intervals e.g. 15mins. If meeting is behind time, cover important matters first, and leave the rest to be discussed via email / next meeting. If you are arranging for longer meetings, make sure that you break the schedule for 15 minutes after 2 hours of meeting. The participants can refresh themselves during the break.
When you conduct formal meetings, the decisions should be made in the meeting with the opinions of the majority of the people. You can use online editors such as FineTuna and Skitch to allow participants to comment live on images / proposals etc. Vyew allows you to prepare and save slides for commenting before a meeting.
You must be ready for inclusions during the meeting. The participants may come up with certain new things that can be added to the discussion. You can add the program if it can be completed within the scheduled time. Otherwise, postpone it until the next discussion.
Use Google Docs or Business-in-a-Box to mantain the Minutes of Meeting live, during the meeting itself so that no additional time is needed to distribute / edit / proof the minutes.
