By Bharati Jagdish

Photo by Averie Woodard/Unsplash

“People can sense insincerity, so being insincere doesn’t serve us,” says Jaime Lim decisively.

As Group Business Leader of PeopleSearch Singapore, Jaime’s philosophy since she joined the firm 18 years ago has been to get to know potential clients to cultivate a genuine concern and care for their needs. It has allowed her and her team to build lasting relationships that go beyond dollars and cents.

“For me, it’s never been about whether I can make money out of the interaction. I think it’s important to really get to know your potential clients, not only with a view to closing the deal, but to get to know them as human beings first – their struggles and the pressures they face. It’s important to be their friend – someone they can come to for advice without having to worry about whether you’re going to try to sell them something.”

This has naturally led to potential clients feeling comfortable enough to be honest about their human resources needs and their constraints as well.

“When you listen to them with genuine interest and concern, you can come up with better solutions for their specific needs. Even when it comes to talking to candidates, it really helps. They know they can trust us with their career aspirations and we can then think of solutions to help them achieve what they want,” explains Jaime.

This also lends impetus to referrals which constitute a considerable portion of PeopleSearch’s business growth.

CONNECTING ON A HUMAN LEVEL

Group Managing Director, Lorencz Tay ascribes the ability of all consultants to embody this philosophy to company-wide efforts to cultivate minds.

“We believe in frequent interactions among staff so that we can share examples with each other about how truly caring about clients and candidates doesn’t just contribute to clients’ and candidates’ well-being, but also to your own emotional well-being and to business as a whole. This is why we have very regular meeting rhythms built into our daily work. It’s not just about sales training. It’s about sharing and learning together. It’s about connecting on a human level with each other so that we can connect on a human level with clients and candidates as well.”

Combining this approach with in-depth research has resulted in consultants being able to anticipate clients’ and candidates’ needs.

Jaime explains how she processes it.

“I would go back to the concept of sincerity. If you truly care about your clients’ business growth, it’ll push you to do the necessary research and analysis to figure out what types of talent they will need in the future even before they know it themselves. You must take the initiative to give them the right advice to achieve growth. If you truly care about candidates’ careers, you will do the same.”

OPTIMISM AMID CRISIS

The ability to anticipate needs has served Jaime and her team well.

During the current Covid-19 crisis, they have been taking the approach of future-proofing businesses and careers.

“We always choose to be optimistic. Staying worried and depressed doesn’t help anyone. Bad times will pass. I’ve always taken the approach of looking to the future and planning for better times ahead so that when recovery occurs, you are one of the first to emerge from crisis, even stronger than before,” she says emphatically.

Hear from other team members who’ve been instrumental in strengthening this ethos in future editions of “20 Years of PeopleSearch”.