Monday, March 9, 2009

Gilbert Goh's book: How to survive unemployment

Video of book launch. This is a useful book for people who are retrenched or unemployed.

SCMP: Former finance chief willing to testify about Lehman fiasco

9 Mar 2009
Former secretary for financial services and the treasury Frederick Ma Si-hang yesterday said he was willing to testify in the Legislative Council about the Lehman Brothers minibonds fiasco, but refused to comment on the proceedings so far. "You all know that I have always been very co-operative with Legco," said Mr Ma, who also served as secretary for commerce and economic development before he resigned for health reasons. "But since I am no longer an official, I do not have access to all the records {hellip} If I go, it will just be me and my brain." His successor, Chan Ka-keung, has told Legco that he did not know what a minibond was until the fiasco. Mr Ma refused to reveal how much he knew about minibonds, saying: "You will have to wait for the Legco hearing."

Tough Job Market

A first time job seeker said, "I am disturbed about threats from ridiculous employers during interviews. They said that this is an employer's market. Frankly, they are out to exploit fresh graduates with unreasonably low pay offers, e.g. $2.200 for 24/7 standby and plenty of unpaid overtime opportunities".

An employer said, "Our graduates are still not adjusting to realities. They still have high expectations".

Many businesses are finding it difficult just to survive. So, they cannot afford to pay high salaries. Even the businesses that are profitable are making lower profits compared to previous years. They are reluctant to pay high salaries.

What are your views? Survey.

Here are the survey results.