Hays Singapore is bringing in Hay’s New Zealand’s Rahal Kansara as the head of its newly-opened IT Contracting Desk. Ms. Kansara carries years of consulting experience guaranteed to meet the department’s aim of supplying a consistent talent information technology (IT) talent pool for the country.

Ms. Kansara says, “Being from an area in which contracting is a common model for candidates with around one-fifth of the workforce involved, coming to a region where it is not so prevalent is providing new, exciting challenges,” recognizing that Singapore has had to rely on the contracting sector to fill gaps in information technology hiring needs.

“Of course, the Hays brand within IT has been very much identified with the permanent recruitment space, but now our client base is being introduced to the exciting contracting model, where talent gaps are bridged with workers who are able to hit the ground running, bring fresh perspectives, can make an instant impact and more importantly, are highly skilled with niche experience.”

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Ms. Kansara has more than 14 years of experience across different specialties, having launched several successful firms based on New Zealand’s model of contracting. Her victories can be attributed to her commitment to strong relationships with her clients, something she fully intends to replicate her in Singapore.

“One thing that is similar in all markets is developing a strong personal brand reputation built on trust with candidates and clients. This leads to how you deliver on your personal brand, how you build your own credibility; it is about your relationships and how you maintain those within your client organization as well as with your candidates,” she said.

Contracting is a fairly new sector in the country, which is causing Ms. Kansara to push for both explanation and education about it.

“There remains in Singapore a belief that contracting is primarily for the lower level positions, but nothing could be further than the truth, with candidates of all levels – from analysts all the way up to the c-suite – required.

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Candidates also have concerns over potential disparity between benefits that contracting may provide compared with a full-time hire, but fortunately I am able to assure them that not only are contractors eligible for the same annual leave, sick leave, and CPF, but contract lengths are guaranteed, and contractors often receive premium salaries compared to their full-time counterparts.”

Ms. Kansara outlined the advantages of contractors. “Contractors gain great knowledge, skills, and exposure by working with a number of different vendors that they can then utilize in different markets. This can broaden options for future opportunities, enabling candidates to negotiate benchmark salaries.

Furthermore, contracting opens up doors to prestigious companies at which candidates may not have otherwise realistically expected they could ever work for, and with this experience on their profile, their personal brand is enhanced.”

Firms that hire contractors in the IT sector have much to gain from Hays’ deep experience as well, particularly Hays’ rigorous screening.

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“Hays performs all of the background checks and face to face meetings. Our candidate sourcing methodology is very detailed, and contractors all go through the same exact process of being thoroughly interviewed, their CVs, backgrounds, and references checked. With this completed we present to the client, explaining why that individual would be right for them.

Once contractors are recruited, we provide a detailed, well-oriented onboarding service as well as continued support, so that contractors are ready to hit the ground running when they arrive and maintain that standard through the length of their contract.”

Ms. Kansara also shared her core principles. “And at the end of the day, for us, it is all about delivery. We will never over-promise and under-deliver, though we may under-promise and over-deliver. And that’s the motto I follow.”

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