HeadHunt Pink Slip Party One - Review

Headhunt is proud to be one of the first companies in Singapore to host a Pink Slip Party – a party that brings together both job seekers and recruiters in a relaxed and fun environment. Pink Slip Parties were sparked off in the United States of America during the dot com crash era in cities like New York, Chicago, Seattle and Silicon Valley. Attending a Pink Slip Party is the new savvy way of networking, socializing and exploration of fresh job-matching opportunities.

As one of the most affected group of people in the current economic downturn is the PMETs (professionals, managers, executives, technicians), Headhunt’s Pink Slip Party was a platform to assist the middle to senior level executives to network and seek out good job prospects. This party was also a kick start to Headhunt’s “Keep Singapore Working” campaign. This campaign aims to inject a positive sentiment and most importantly, tangible action, in keeping the Singapore workforce hopeful and active.
 
The closed-door party, which was rocking at Harry’s Bar at the Esplanade on April 8, was deemed a success. About 200 job seekers and 60 recruiters from 30 companies got to interact over beers and laughter. Both parties felt that it was an effective and relaxed way of networking and hunting out for new job opportunities or candidates alike.

For active job seekers like ex-banker Daniel Lim, the party was an excellent channel to discover new vocation chances instead of attending job fairs. “Especially in my industry, they don’t advertise through job fairs. It’s always through word-of-mouth and networking,” he said.

Recruiters, like those from the executive search industry, also used this chance to provide job seekers insight into the current hiring trends so that they can be wiser in choosing their career paths. Alternatively, it was also a time to find out the present expectations of job seekers.

Recruiters at Headhunt’s Pink Slip Party were also pleased by the turnout and the quality of job seekers. In fact, Headhunt has received such an overwhelming response of participants that priority was given to those in managerial positions with at least 5 years of experience. Reasons were because the party venue had a limited capacity. Moreover, Headhunt would like to keep a recruiter to job seeker ratio of 1 is to 4 to allow quality networking time for both parties.

The job seeker attendees had an average relevant working experience of 13 years across various industries. 23 nationalities were represented with an average age of 41 years old. 43% of them have at least a masters degree and 50% of them have a seniority of director’s level.

Due to the hit of Headhunt’s first Pink Slip Party, the next Pink Slip Party is already in the pipeline. It will be held on an even larger scale in a more industry-specific manner, so as to extend to more job seekers with the involvement of more industries.

Headhunt would also like to take this opportunity to thank all participants and to seek the understanding of those who could not make it for the first party. Nevertheless, be still on the look out for Headhunt’s second Pink Slip Party. Get ready your updated resume, name cards, a friendly disposition and party spirit!