Eyeing a dream job? Maintain your online professional profile

Eyeing a dream job? Maintain your online professional profile

About 46 per cent of Singaporeans say they maintain their CVs frequently but not so their professional social media profiles, according to Hays.

SINGAPORE: Almost 50 per cent of Singaporeans say they update their CVs often, but only 29 per cent say they keep their CVs and professional social media profiles up to date, said recruiting firm Hays.

In a statement on Tuesday (Aug 12), the company said that in its poll of 736 Singaporeans, 46 per cent indicated that they update their CVs most frequently. About 25 per cent only update their professional social media profile, while 29 per cent update both.

Comparing these results with job seekers around the region, Singaporeans who update both CVs and social media profiles are equal to those in Malaysia and slightly ahead of Hong Kong (25 per cent) and Japan (27 per cent). They are behind their Chinese counterparts (38 per cent), however, Hays said.

Commenting on the findings, Ms Christine Wright, Managing Director of Hays in Asia, said: "Job seekers need a dual approach in today's job search. They need to recognise the power and relevance of social media and put their best self out there by updating their online profiles as well their CVs regularly."

Hays also suggested the following for those looking to update their online profiles:

Audit Yourself: Take a subjective view of your current online profile by searching for your name. If you do not like what you see, change it.

Strengthen Your 'Brand': Use a professional looking head-and-shoulders profile picture, as it humanises you and is important since people are unlikely to connect with an anonymous profile.

Write A Compelling Bio: Make sure potential employers can learn from the bio what sets you apart.

- CNA/kk

- wong chee tat :)

Online banking thefts hit Japan firms

Online banking thefts hit Japan firms

[TOKYO] Hackers stole nearly US$2 million from the online bank accounts of Japanese businesses in April, a surge in theft that has prompted some banks to curtail online services and rethink compensation policies, executives and regulators say.

In April there were 50 cases of theft from online accounts held by Japanese businesses with nearly 200 million yen stolen, according to a person with knowledge of the industry-wide tally, which has not been made public. That was more than the entire previous year.

Japanese businesses reported 34 cases of online banking theft for the year ended March with a total of US$1.8 million stolen, according to data released by the Japanese Bankers Association.

Earlier this month, a senior official with Japan's Financial Services Agency told regional bank executives that regulators were concerned that online theft could cause a chain of small business failures and bankruptcies, according to participants who attended the closed-door meeting.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group said their corporate customers had been hit by online thefts. Top regional lenders such as Fukuoka Financial Group and Bank of Yokohama also said their clients had also experienced losses.

Corporate users of online banking in Japan tend to be small businesses and family-owned firms. In a typical theft, hackers trick owners into surrendering passwords or gain control of poorly protected computer systems to make transfers out of their accounts, industry officials and security experts said. "This has become a serious problem," Masaaki Tani, president of Fukuoka Financial Group, the largest regional bank, said earlier this month.

It was not clear why cases of such theft had increased so rapidly although bankers elsewhere have warned of a growing threat from hackers. "Cybersecurity attacks are becoming increasingly complex and more dangerous," JPMorgan Chase &; Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said in a letter to shareholders in April.

Japan's banks are divided on how to respond. Promising compensation might remove an incentive for businesses to tighten security, some executives say. At the same time, tightening security too much could kill the convenience of online banking.

In April, many regional banks suspended a service which allowed clients to transfer money on the spot to accounts that were not pre-registered. Chiba Bank reduced its online transfer limit to 10 million yen, from just under 100 million yen.

Until now, the question of whether to compensate businesses for online theft has been left to each bank. Most offer fewer protections than they do for individual accounts.

Resona Bank has said it will compensate business clients for Internet losses of up to 50 million yen when customers have taken appropriate security measures.

The lender is part of Resona Holdings, Japan's fourth-largest banking group by assets. Resona's pledge is part of a push to build its business, including lending, to small- and medium-sized businesses at a time when overall loan demand remains weak.- Reuters

- wong chee tat :)

Online retailers confident of brisk sales during GSS

Online retailers confident of brisk sales during GSS
    By Vimita Mohandas
    POSTED: 01 Jun 2013 8:15 PM

The Great Singapore Sale (GSS) runs from May 31 to July 28, and already some online retailers are gearing up to give their brick-and-mortar counterparts a run for their money.

SINGAPORE: Retail store tracyeinny in Bishan Junction 8, which started out as an online platform in 2007, expects business to be brisk during the upcoming two-month-long Great Singapore Sale.

In fact, the company expects online sales to increase by as much as 300 per cent, compared to the previous year -- and it is banking on social media.

Jeannie Pang, director of tracyeinny, said: "We use social media platforms to inform customers of the design of the products that are coming out. We do it the week before. We use Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, so there's kind of an anticipation for the product. And as per every year, we are going to have 50 per cent off storewide sales which will run for two weeks during the GSS period."

Another blogshop, Mich Sara Online Boutique, expects a 40 per cent rise in sales. It will also have storewide flash sales, voucher giveaways, as well as private sales for those on its mailing list.

Both stores said the advantage of shopping online is that it is fuss-free, without having to jostle with the crowds. Besides its prices being generally lower, shoppers can browse hundreds of designs and make their purchases with the convenience of just a click of their finger.

However, profits do not naturally come easy for online stores -- those we spoke with said some budding entrepreneurs have the misconception that e-commerce equates to easy money.

Ms Pang said: "You set up a site, you stock up your database with products, you have a good shopping cart and payment options and boom you start an online store and you think you will generate a lot of sales.

"For customers to want to go into your site, they must click it and they must want to enter and its very different from foot customers -- like when you go to a mall or cafe and you walk past a store, you like the item in that store and you walk in. But online customers, you have to get the customers to want to go to your site, to visit your site."

The Orchard Road Business Association said physical stores should offer more personalised services to maintain their competitive edge.

Steven Goh, executive director of the Orchard Road Business Association, said: "A physical shop will offer the touch and feel. I think the shop assistant could offer style services like consultancy and advise on how to match the colour, and try different kind of outfits to suit the particular image.

"I think that can be differentiated from the online shopping, which is basically me and the computer screen."

- CNA/ac

- wong chee tat :)

国大一名奖学金得主被指上载猥亵录像片段到互联网

Updated: Sunday, 06 January 2013 07:21
国大一名奖学金得主被指上载猥亵录像片段到互联网

新加坡国立大学的一名奖学金得主，被指上载猥亵录像片段到互联网，这名学生已经对此向警方报案。

较早前，本地报章报道，这名国大男生上载了长达14分钟的短片，裸露身体对着镜头手淫，而且还用尺量他的下体。

国大发言人答复本台的询问时说，这名学生告诉校方，短片中的人并不是他，而他在去年6月已经报警。

发言人也说，校方已经和男生面谈，发现没有证据断定录像中的人是这名学生。

国大也重申，校方不会纵容学生做出具冒犯的举动，并会对任何违反学生守则的人采取纪律行动。


- wong chee tat :)

Festive cheer for online shopping sites

Festive cheer for online shopping sites
Posted: 01 January 2013 1953 hrs
     
SINGAPORE: More shoppers are buying online during the festive period due to its convenience and wide range of products.

Many have skipped the trip to the malls and avoided the crowds by visiting web stores.

One online bookshop said sales for 2012 jumped by about 40 per cent, compared with the year before.

Its customers are mainly between 30 and 50 years old. It also has a mobile application. Customers need only scan bar codes on books to check the price on the web store.

The store has also introduced electronic gift vouchers.

Group-buying websites are also enjoying brisk business.

Customers visit the websites to buy coupons which will be redeemed for items at the store.

One site - Groupon - said its sales increased by about 30 per cent during the festive period and more than 2,000 people go to its shop every day.

Its best-selling items include electronics and branded accessories.

Groupon's chief operating officer Adrian Tan said: "We've increased the manpower by 40 per cent and at the same time, we extended the operating hours from 7.30pm to 8.30pm now. This is to cope with the increased crowd and increased number of people redeeming items."

- CNA/fa

- wong chee tat :)

Is This the World’s Most Beautiful Woman?

Science suggests 18-year-old Florence Colgate just might be.
The ratio of the distance between her ears to the distance between her pupils is nearly 2:1 — the scientific ideal. Furthermore, the distance between her eyes to her mouth is just under a third of the distance from her hairline to her chin — another measure of perfect pulchritude.



The Deal, Kent native and her nearly symmetrical mug were recently named winners of "Lorraine: Naked" — a "natural beauty" contest organized by ITV's lifestyle program Lorraine. To win, some 8,000 entrants had to rely on their God-given good looks: No make-up or cosmic enhancements of any kind were allowed.
In addition to being crowned "Britain's most beautiful face," the Dover Grammar School senior and part-time chip shop employee will be featured in a nationwide ad campaign for beauty and health retailer Superdrug.
"Florence has all the classic signs of beauty," said Carmen Lefèvre of the Perception Lab at the University of St Andrews' School of Psychology. "She has large eyes, high cheekbones, full lips and a fair complexion. Symmetry appears to be a very important cue to attractiveness."

[photo via Facebook]


- wong chee tat :)

US breaks US$1b for first time in online Black Friday shopping

US breaks US$1b for first time in online Black Friday shopping
Posted: 26 November 2012 1034 hrs
     
NEW YORK: US shoppers spent heavily online on the crucial Black Friday shopping day, for the first time topping a billion dollars in online sales in a single day, analysts and retailers said.

The four-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend is the kickoff to the US holiday shopping season, and Black Friday has long been considered the critical day that turns retailers' books from red to black.

Consumer spending makes up more than two thirds of US economic activity. So the short but busiest consumer sales season has a huge importance to the US economy for the whole year.

This year, online shoppers spent a grand total of US$1.042 billion on Friday, surpassing last year's Black Friday haul by 26 per cent, according to the consulting firm Comscore.

Another study by IBM Benchmark Digital Analytics saw an increase of 21 per cent in Internet sales, with a surge in orders of mobile devices and tablet computers, in particular.

But the new record might be short-lived.

Coming next is "CyberMonday," the day Americans go back to work and online retailers launch heavy promotions to reel in more shoppers.

"According to norms we've observed over the past three years," retail analyst ShopperTrak said, the Monday after Thanksgiving "should be the heaviest online shopping day of the season with sales approaching US$1.5 billion or even higher."

Across the four-day weekend, US shoppers spent US$59.1 billion, a jump of 13 per cent over the previous year, the National Retail Federation announced.

"It's phenomenal," NRF director Mathew Shay told reporters at a press conference, saying the numbers bode well for the holiday season despite the still-struggling economy.

American consumers spent an average of US$423 this weekend, compared to US$398 last year, the group reported.

However, the NRF did not revise its prediction for the US holiday shopping season as a whole, keeping it at a 4.1 per cent increase year on year, arguing that consumers remain cautious about the economy.

The looming threat of the "fiscal cliff," which could send taxes soaring if Republicans and Democrats do not reach a compromise on reducing the deficit before the end of the year, also had the retailers worried.

And despite the good numbers overall, sales at brick-and-mortar locations were sluggish on "Black Friday:" in-store traffic increased by 3.5 per cent on Friday with more than 307 million visitors, but total sales actually went down compared to the previous year by 1.8 per cent, according to ShopperTrak.

Some of the biggest numbers went to the stores that opened early on the Thanksgiving holiday itself -- a growing trend, especially among large chain stores, that is turning the traditionally family-based holiday into a commercial event.

"Opening on Thanksgiving was a big win," the NRF's Shay said, noting that 35 million people went shopping, a 40 per cent surge over the previous year.

Comscore also noted a jump in online Thanksgiving day sales, up 32 per cent over 2011, with US$633 million in sales, though the IMB Benchmark Digital Analytics survey saw a more modest gain of 17.4 per cent.

But ShopperTrak noted that the Thanksgiving day shopping may have undercut spending usually meant for Friday, without increasing the overall numbers.

- AFP/ck


- wong chee tat :)

Banks expected to enhance e-banking experience with new gadgets

Banks expected to enhance e-banking experience with new gadgets
By Yvonne Chan | Posted: 07 November 2012 2317 hrs
 
SINGAPORE : Consumers may soon have more options for mobile banking and making online transactions.

This comes as Singapore banks are expected to come up with more innovative gadgets to boost the "e-banking" experience.

But industry watchers have said developments in cloud computing may provide significant challenges in this arena.

Banks are expected to set aside more money to ensure peace of mind for customers when carrying out online transactions.

This comes after industry-wide measures introduced by the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS), which called for additional authentication features on a security token to maximise security for online and mobile banking transactions.

Next January, Standard Chartered Bank Singapore will be introducing a multi-function token card which combines both the security token and credit card features.

Subba Vaidyanathan, regional head of Retail Banking Segments (Singapore and South East Asia) at Standard Chartered Bank, said: "Our big focus is to keep building on the digital bank and provide that service, because that is where we see Singapore banks and Singaporeans moving.

"We have continued to have 30-40 per cent annualised growth on payments online and we want to sustain that pace."

So far, 170,000 Standard Chartered customers have opted for the card, and its rollout will start in January 2013.

The multi-function token acts as a debit, credit and ATM card. It also doubles up as a security token to facilitate online banking. And with banks projected to increase their spending on technology next year, analysts said customers can expect more innovations wrapped up in one device, such as being able to check one's bank account balance while on the go.

Meanwhile, Citibank has just launched a new service that allows its customers to pay their credit card bills via SMS on mobile phones.

Earlier, DBS Bank also introduced the DBS One.TAP, Singapore's first virtual credit card on a mobile phone.

But banks do have other kinds of competitors to contend with.

Edison Chen, investment analyst at DMG & Partners Research, said: "We do see the effect of cloud-based banking. There are third-party, non-bank parties that are offering financial services that bypass the banks in utilising the fact that cloud computing offers lower barriers of entry, and that is something that banks must watch out for.

"So they must constantly upgrade their facilities and offer the best of what customers really want. And we do see that happening, in terms of banks embracing social networking, having their Facebook closely linked with customers and analysing what customers want and need."

Some industry watchers said this may prompt banks to upgrade facilities and eventually utilise cloud computing elements.

- CNA/ms


- wong chee tat :)