Working with a Recruiter series.. Part One

I come from a country where the term recruiter conjures up images of a sleazy fly-by-night operative of someone who’s out to con you. Sadly there are still those who take advantage of people who don’t know any better and it makes my blood boil that these people tarnish a respectable profession and make things a lot harder for us headhunters who take pride in what we do.

I’m here for 2 reasons, one to show that not all recruiters are con-men, there are a lot of us who find pride with our chosen profession, and we do follow strict standards of morals and ethics when dealing with our candidates and clients. And my 2nd reason is to give some tips and advice on how to best navigate the chaos of a labour market, and how to choose the right person to lead the way for your benefit.

First part of this series is probably the best and most important advice that I can give anyone. Always find a recruiter that you feel most comfortable with. Someone you can trust and depend on to help you with your career.

You wouldn’t go to just any corner lawyer or banker to get advice on your legal issues or financial matters would you? I’d bet a million bucks that you go to that particular banker or lawyer because you’ve developed a relationship with them, they’re someone in your professional network that know you and in turn they’re someone you trust and you can turn to for advice.

Same thing with your recruiter, this should be a person that you can depend on to help you with your career. You need to be able to trust this person with your dreams, your goals and ambitions. This relationship is not a one time meet and greet and hope for the best. You need to take time to get to know each other and connect once in a while to give updates on what’s going on from your end.

Working as a recruiter for a number of years now, I’ve developed a lot of professional relationships within my network where I can call on people when I have a new position that comes my way because I’ve met them, I know what’s important for them and with their profiles I can make the best match.

It’s such a humbling experience to hear that I’ve helped someone find that right position for them in their career development, 99% of the time they’re the people that I’ve met, people I’ve created a relationship with and I took the time to know what they’re looking for and what motivates them. And like I said it works both ways, they’re the type of candidates who took the time to get to know my style of work and strategize on what’s right for them. Between a star candidate that I’ve met and some person that I talked to on the phone, I always, ALWAYS remember the people that I’ve met and prioritize them with any new opportunity that comes my way.

Go ahead, take 20 minutes of your time to go and meet a recruiter, find the right one that works for you and believe me, those 20 minutes will pay in dividends for years to come.

Ps. Don’t you pay your lawyer and doctor when you go to them for advice. You get advice from your recruiter for free and if you play your cards right

Change is here...

The US Elections are done.. Thank God!! I was getting over-saturated with politics. 2 years with 2 major elections in 2 countries is a lot and a long time to be too focused on something. But what a change, kudos to our neighbors down south for proving to the world that yes you can and most importantly to President Barack Obama, congratulations to you Mr. 44th, hopefully you’ll be able to bring those changes you promised.

Speaking of change… I’ve been contemplating about changes that can happen in my life, I had the weirdest of epiphanies last night. I’ll be 30 in 9 months and I feel like I haven’t lived to my fullest potential. I love my job, my life is great… but is that it? Is it about all work and no play at this point in my life? Why do I feel that there’s nothing to expect, I don’t have anything of substance to look forward to. Is that bad?

Whatever things that are going on in my life, I know that it will always originate from me, I guess that if I do need to do something, if I’m still looking for that something to look forward to, then maybe the change has to come from me..

Change is here, yes I can..

Book Review: Eunoia by Christian Bok

Eunoia is the shortest word in the English language that contains all 5 vowels and it means “beautiful thinking”. It’s also the title of what I think is a literary masterpiece of Christian Bok. He is Canada’s own experimental poet of univocalics. Each chapter is dedicated to a single vowel and all the words used in that chapter contains that dedicated vowel. In his own words, he mentions that his book shows that each vowel has its own personality and he delves into the personality of each letter. Here is an excerpt:

Chapter A

“Awkward grammar appalls a craftsman. A dada board as daft as Tzara damns stagnant art and scrawls an alpha (a slapdash arc and a backward zag) that mars all stanzas and jams all ballads (what a scandal).”

I’m not the biggest fan of poetry, my prose experience is limited to “that darling buds of May”, but I heard about this book when I was kidding around with my officemate about how a lot of books out now are either man-fiction or chick lit. He then told me about a book that in turn was recommended to him by his friends (classic workings of word-of-mouth) and he told me that it was an experience reading this book and its definitely worth every penny.

Admittedly I had low expectations about Eunoia, as much as the enthusiasm of my colleague was infectious, I couldn’t bring myself to get excited about a book with weird words dedicated to a single vowel.. well that is until I started reading the first page. It was brilliant, funny, thought provoking and all the characteristics I like in my favorite fiction books. What seemed like random words actually tells a story, and although it’s the kind of book that you do have to read a couple of times to really appreciate the cleverness of the writing, its an easy enough read that it doesn’t take that much of an effort to read again. I found myself chuckling on how witty the stories where concocted. And I’m in pure awe on the brilliance of the author.

My only rude awakening is that it put my own articulate knowledge or lack thereof front and centre when there were more than a couple of words I’ve never heard before and I constantly had to bring out the dictionary to find out what it meant.

So for fans of text twist, word whomp, for those who enjoy “artsy” book, or to book worms like me who are always game on reading a new genre at least once.. this is for you. I highly recommend it.

I give it 5 out of 5 stars..

“…Enfettered, these sentences repress free speech. The text deletes selected letters. We see the revered exegete reject metered verse: the sestet, the tercet – even les scenes elevees en grec. He rebels. He sets new precedents. He lets cleverness exceed decent levels. “

playing catch up

It’s a relatively light day at work and this is when I steal a couple minutes to catch up on today’s news or look up anything random that’s been lingering in my mind the past couple of days. Today is no exception, I was reading about the newly elected president of Maldives, the Immortal Beloved Letters and checking out my guilty pleasure of various entertainment websites. This day, however is one of the few days that I checked out news that’s going on in the Philippines. Ok, its not as if I’m trying to distance myself from the Philippines, but to be brutally honest I HAVE been away for over 8 years and whatever news that’s going on in the RP unfortunately doesn’t affect me as much.

So I googled Philippines to see what interesting websites come up and 2 glaring headlines popped-up. One was about the return of Undersecretary Joc-Joc and another is about the kyboshed Spain-RP labour plans.

It’s so interesting to have these 2 headlines side by side because the return of Joc-joc was heralded as a triumph of the judiciary process and the truth about the multi-million peso scam of transferring agricultural funds to the campaign war chest of President Macapagal will finally be revealed. And surprise, surprise yet another step in the impeachment of a sitting president. (Really people, when did we ever have a time since President Marcos when there wasn’t a call for impeachment for a sitting president… I know it’s the whole 2 minutes after a new president gets sworn in and after that it’s a free for all.. It’s getting old and frankly boring!)

So anyway I was reading through the article and both sides of the parties are shouting from the rooftops that the truth will finally be revealed. (Like I said, same old stuff!) Then I switched to the business news about the labour migration pact of Spain and RP being halted that led to the interesting news of the visit of UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon for an economic summit. He was talking about the risk of having only labour migration as the only means of an economic survival. Since labour migration is the biggest asset of the Philippines, raking in millions of dollars, euro, pound, yen, Riyadh, etc etc for the country due to the blood, sweat and tears of the millions of overseas workers sent abroad each year, it’s worth asking that with the global financial crisis affecting every country in the world including those that import “professionals” from the Philippines, how is it going to affect the country when this demands slow down or God forbid, stops.

While I was reading this, I had the sudden urge to write Baguio’s congressman and mayor and ask them which is more important for their political career. Really finding out the “truth” behind what Joc-joc has to say that may or may not lead to an impeachment case against President Macapagal (yawn!) or what steps are they going to do to protect the citizens of Baguio and what are they going to do if the demand stops for cheap labour, what plans do they have to make sure people eat at night? Sheesh, do they even care.. ( geez i'm sooo incensed right now.. maybe its the UP in me) But whatever!!


On a side note, the one thing that I did learn today is that we have the Order of Sikatuna, from the Ancient Order of Sikatuna created by President Quirino. The order was derived from the sandugo between Datu Lakan and his Spanish conquistador. It was so interesting because they use really deep tagalong words that nobody uses today like Maringal na Lakan, Katangiang Ginto. I know random, but then again that what I was really looking for.

The Cupcake Shoppe

When you’re hit with a craving, there are only two things you can do. Either ignore it and do something else until that craving pasts and you forget about it. Or you throw caution to the wind and just say yes and allow yourself to enjoy the moment. Hmm but then again it depends on the craving..

I had this ridiculous need for some cupcakes yesterday, and not just any kind of cupcake but it had to be the uber-moist, crumbly, with real butter cream kind of cupcake. And what does any logical, intelligent girl do when hit with an intense food craving but go hunting for the real thing, wherever it may take her.

So I did my research and scoured through countless websites until I found “the one”. The cupcake shoppe at Yonge and Eglinton (www.thecupcakeshoppe.ca) This was no ordinary trek to satisfy a food craving. Yonge and Eglinton is more than an hour’s drive east from where I work in the peak of rush hour traffic and another 20 minutes north of where I live. Driving almost 2 hours to satisfy an urge is admittedly absurd but no one could talk me out of it, I just had to have it..



And boy oh boy I’m soo glad I did.. The Cupcake Shoppe knows their cupcakes and it was one of the most yummilicious cupcakes I’ve ever tasted. It was moist, it was crumbly and it did what it needed to do, satisfy an illogical craving. They had such appetizing flavours like “Yonge and Eligible”, Creamsicle, and “Naughty n’ Spice”. Think chocolate and/or vanilla cake with either vanilla, orange, nutmeg and cinnamon spiced and of course chocolate icing.

And I saved the best for last.. luscious dark chocolate cake topped with frosty peppermint icing, what a way to end a “healthy” lunch.. sigh! I want some more.. maybe on my next cupcake hit.

Cough.. Cough... Blech!!!!

Argh this has been one of the worst weeks ever. I’ve been hit with all kinds of nasty germ-like substance the past days.. My eyes are red and watery, my nose is reminiscent of Rudolf the Reindeer, my throat feels like sand paper, my chest has this 10ton something stuck in it and every part of my body has some sort of ache emanating from it.

I’m a walking junkie with 10 different cough, cold, throat, allergy medicines in my system. I’ve waded through boxes of Kleenex, Puffs with lotion, Puffs with Vicks and I’m still not better AND IT SNOWED YESTERDAY!!! I hate this feeling….i hate this weather.. I want my bed.

Cooking 101

I wanted to tell a story about my progression into being infatuated with food. Don't get me wrong, the eating part has always been there. I'm talking about loving the entire process from buying raw produce to creating scrumptious dishes ready to be devoured at the dinner table.

Throughout my university years and with the exception of the couple of months being fed at my relatives' respective homes in the US, I've lived off frozen entrees, canned food, ramen noodles, and my all time favorite takeout/delivery. It served its purpose of me being full at the end of every meal. But I wouldn't call it an obsession with food. When I took it up a notch and started being adventurous with food, I would keep it within the cookie cutter chain restaurants. I ventured into the Applebees, Cheesecake Factory and Moxies of the world, where you can get a decent meal for $20, $30 if you throw in a cocktail or two. Call me a neophyte foodie but at that time I thought that was the be all and end all of the food experience. As the years progresses I tried a couple of restaurants where it was easily a $100/person for a gourmet six course meal. It was amazing to say the least and really heightened my appreciation for good food but certainly not ignite a passion.

It was a little over a year ago when I fully experienced a true gastronomic experience, it was when Chris treated me to Susur, this is Toronto's premier restaurant and from the time you walk in to the time you leave it's a food adventure to say the least. The sound of glasses clinking and cutlery being moved around the table, the military style and precision of the servers walking around the restaurant and the great Chef Susur Lee himself walking out of his kitchen and gazing across his mini-kingdom to check on his guests was a delight to watch. But the food, OMG.. The presentation was a delight, the smells divine and I've never, never tasted any dishes like that in my life. Deliciously orgasmic doesn't even justify each bite that I took. I had to savour each delectable taste as best as I could to prolong the experience. One of the best experiences in my life hands down. $350/person is no joke but it was totally and completely worth it.

I fell in love with food, I wanted to experience the sensation of pure contentment when you bite into a delicious dish. I doubt I'll be going back to Susur anytime soon, unless I want to be walking to work for a year, but I wanted to take that same palatable sensation and bring it to my own dinner table. Yes I know, it will never be as grandiose, or as elegant, or as divine but to be inspired to create something deliciously beautiful is simply lovely.

So I started cooking. It sounds so simple but I'm one who's always dreaded the kitchen. It was such an alienated place in my apartment. I had all the basic pots and pans but that was more for show than being actually used. After Susur, I started reading about food, learning about different recipes, experimented with different flavours and using Chris as my guinea pig to do the taste test. I’d go to the farmers market and started picking unknown veggies, various fruits and different cuts of meat. I started filling my shelves with different spices and I even planted a tiny garden in my balcony filled with basil, dill and mint. (Sadly the mint never grew). So I cooked one disastrous dish after another, until finally success the dishes started looking palatable, the flavours came together and Chris doesn’t have the look of death every time I call out that dinner is ready.

We'd still go out once in a while and venture into the many different cuisine that our city has to offer but more often than not we find so much happiness in sitting down with a glass of wine and eating a good home cooked meal.

Here's one of the simple yet yummy dishes that I modified and tweaked until I was completely happy with. I call it Sweetpea's Alfredo Sauce.


Sweetpea's Alfredo Sauce

2 cups heavy cream. (Usually says, "heavy whipping cream")
1 can cream of mushroom
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks) (DON'T USE MARGARINE!!!!!)
3 Tablespoons cream cheese
1 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, Romano and Asiago cheese
(GOOD QUALITY CHEESE, not the Kraft kind of cheeses)
3 cloves freshly minced garlic
2 cups chopped button mushrooms (or try baby bella's for a more earthier flavour)
Bacon (optional)

DIRECTIONS

In saucepan combine butter, heavy cream and cream cheese
Simmer until melted (do not boil), mix well. Add the Parmesan cheese and garlic.
Simmer for 15-20 minutes on very low heat
Add mushrooms on the last 10 minutes of cooking
Season with salt & pepper, if desired
Fry Bacon in a separate pan to desired crunchiness and crumble bacon on top of hot pasta and sauce.

Serve with garlic bread.

Dinner is served