Headhunted for corporate work into her 50s
Published on
19 Nov 2022
Published by
The Straits Times
SINGAPORE – Until a few years ago, Ms Tina Ang still received headhunting calls, asking whether she would return to a role in corporate human resources (HR). However, the 61-year-old prefers her project-based role as a career coach with Right Management from Talent Solutions, a global talent management solutions provider. It also allows her to run her own consulting business.
Extensive experience in HR consulting, including with top brand firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, makes Ms Ang an ageless asset to companies.
She considers herself lucky, especially as she works with clients who are senior in terms of position and age, often after their exit interviews. Some older clients found their jobs taken over by automation or outsourced to other locations.
“When they lose their jobs, there’s always this question of what’s next, and a fear of being disadvantaged because of their age or because they are branded as retrenched,” she says.
“Some candidates can be fatalistic. ‘I’m so old, it will be very difficult to get a new job. I’m so old, who will hire me?’ Or, ‘Hirers will think the worst of me as I was retrenched, and hence not pursue me.’” Such fears are understandable, she says, but can be overcome.
She adds that many clients can enhance their own value through upskilling. Part of her job is to help them identify areas for self-improvement.
Ms Ang is no stranger to learning on the job. She graduated from the National University of Singapore majoring in economics and statistics, but her first job in 1983 in the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation and SBC Enterprises was in HR. “I was lucky to get that job because of the tough job market in the early 1980s. I love people. Anything to do with people, I’m for it,” she says.
She went on to work in HR at accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand for three years. Her then boss took a chance on her since she had no industrial relations experience, though the role called for it.
She was then invited to join the company’s HR consultancy team, where she got to work with different clients on rewards and compensation, performance management design, executive search and other HR-related areas. She spent more than 12 years with that company, which later became the merged entity PricewaterhouseCoopers. She then joined executive search firm JC Howe.
She has also run her own consulting business for the past 13 years, but decided to take on project-based work at Right Management in 2017. “My other business wasn’t keeping me busy enough at that point in time,” says Ms Ang, who never married and likes to pack her days with activity. “Despite my age, I still have a desire to take on more work, as long as it’s purposeful and meaningful”.
She finds meaning in helping her clients chart new or redesigned careers. She says: “Many of my clients, formerly in senior positions, usually land jobs through their network of referrals. Those in mid-level or junior positions can land other roles, but have to adjust expectations in terms of the type of jobs they can choose and their salary. “
She cites the example of a bank teller, always in a customer-facing role, who is now retraining as a patient care associate. This client, she says, realised that being reskilled comes with a much lower starting salary, but finds value in the new career choice.
There are plenty of possibilities out there for anyone, regardless of age, she maintains. “One just needs to keep learning and exploring what is beyond that horizon for oneself.”
Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission.
ALL views, content, information and/or materials expressed / presented by any third party apart from Council For Third Age, belong strictly to such third party. Any such third party views, content, information and/or materials provided herein are for convenience and/or general information purposes only. Council For Third Age shall not be responsible nor liable for any injury, loss or damage whatsoever arising directly or indirectly howsoever in connection with or as a result of any person accessing or acting on any such views, content, information and/or materials. Such third party views, content, information and/or materials do not imply and shall not be construed as a representation, warranty, endorsement and/or verification by Council For Third Age in respect of such views, content, information and/or materials.
