NEED a contact? A connection, a way to plug into a network that might mean a new job, a lucrative contact or a chance to dig yourself out of the recessionary mire? Then Mr Paul Lim is your man.
Mr Lim - his day job is regional business development manager for global distribution giant TNT - is the key man for many professionals seeking greener pastures in the logistics field.
And it all began as a lark when he knocked up an informal website about three years ago that has become the must-see forum for those in the huge industry.
It has spawned hugely popular spin-offs like a free career fair being held on Saturday at Republic Polytechnic. Mr Lim, 45, has assembled logistics heavy-hitters who will be discussing industry trends and answering questions on career opportunities for the hundreds of people expected to attend.
At least eight companies are recruiting staff for a wide variety of positions, and representatives from at least 40 other firms will be keeping a look out for talent.
'The supply chain and logistics industries offer lots of interesting career opportunities. Nothing in the world will move, without us guys,' says Mr Lim.
'Factories will stop because we move materials into their plants, supermarkets will close because we deliver their stocks, immigration will come to a standstill because we process passports.'
Yet for all the financial muscle the industry wields, Mr Lim does not earn a cent for his efforts. This is a guy who seems to know anyone who is anyone, prompting headhunters, companies and even competitors looking for talent to beat a path to his door. Retrenched industry workers, meanwhile, see him as a beacon of hope.
Mr Lim could have made a mint from all these connections but he does it for free, through the online platform Supply Chain Asia he built while working on a project in Thailand in 2007.
'I thought I would get all the contacts I have made in the supply chain industry to come to the website to network,' he says. 'That way, I could tap them for leads if I should need to look for a job later.'
He adds: 'We are all individuals working for companies. Tomorrow, we may be working for different companies. Why not talk to each other and be friends?'
Mr Lim, who has an MBA from Scotland's Stirling University, realised that he could not expect 'people from the industry to come to the website, I had to bring it to them'.
So he created a weekly digest, writing summaries and briefs of the news and happenings in the logistics industry and sent it to his initial list of 300 contacts.
'They found it useful, and I told them to send it to others,' says Mr Lim, who spends at least four hours every Sunday night working on the bulletin.
The list grew and the website now boasts 15,000 subscribers. Six months after the website was set up, Mr Lim - he is married to a human resource executive and has two children aged 11 and eight - decided to organise an event where Supply Chain Asia's members could network in real life.
To help underwrite the cost, he approached his contacts in companies that were recruiting to pay a nominal fee. Those looking for a job had free entry.
He also invited speakers to discuss the trend of acquisitions of smaller firms being gobbled up by bigger logistic corporations.
'One of the speakers I approached interviewed me instead. He asked me why I was doing it, and what I stood to gain from it,' says Mr Lim.
His reply? 'Nothing. I told him that I was doing it to help the industry and the community. I told him companies or speakers at the event could not sell their services, I just wanted them to share their knowledge.'
The event has since become an annual staple, a forum drawing some of the biggest, most respected names in the field.
Mr Phil Vaudin, who is in charge of supply chain strategy at Hewlett Packard in Singapore, describes Mr Lim as a man whose passion to help the industry is tireless.
'He has even started a young professionals group, where he encourages students and early career intakes into supply chain to network freely with senior professionals,' says Mr Vaudin.
Mr Lim says Supply Chain Asia's forums do not make any money.
'Any extras we raise from sponsors go into organising workshops and maintaining the website. All my accounts are audited, and I'm answerable to my council,' he says, referring to Supply Chain Asia's advisory council members. They comprise respected industry names, including Dr Robert Yap, chief executive of logistics firm YCH Group.
Several professionals told The Straits Times that it is 'a feat' to stage the forums for free. Registration fees for commercially organised ones such as the SCML Logistics World 2008, a key industry event, held last October, ranged from $1,696 for a post-conference workshop to $4,995 for a four-day pass.
Mr Lim laughs: 'These official organisers actually come to our event because they know our speakers are better.' He adds that an event organiser even offered him a six-figure sum to take over Supply Chain Asia's trademark.
'I said no. If I were in it for the money, I would have taken it commercial a long time ago.
'It is a communal effort the way it is now. And it is helping a lot of people, especially during the recession.'
Indeed, it has. Two writers in Singapore who lost their jobs with a publishing company last year are now running Supply Chain Asia's official magazine, which is distributed free to all its members.
'They came to me and said Supply Chain Asia would be a good platform for a magazine. They said they would put it together, get ads and distribute it free to all our members,' says Mr Lim, who agreed on the condition that the magazine will be distributed out of Singapore, not carry advertorials or be sold.
There are also plans for a Supply Chain Asia Training Academy to help retrenched veterans of the industry by conducting courses.
'We will be launching programmes to train industry professionals under the Workforce Skill Qualification scheme. And these guys, by virtue of their experience, are the best to do it.'
Mr Lim says that he has 10 retrenched veterans ready to run courses and the YCH Group has offered the use of its warehouse and training rooms.
'And the boss himself is ready to fund the development of the academy if it takes off,' he says.
Mr Lim introduced a career fair last year when he noticed a spike in the website's viewership because of the recession.
This Saturday's Supply Chain Careers 2009 will be run by the Young Professionals committee members at the Republic Polytechnic.
The event (details at www.supplychainasia.com/careers2009) costs $5,000 to organise. Sponsors contributed $4,000, with Mr Lim forking out $1,000 himself. The public, especially those who want to know if their skills could get them a job in the industry, are welcome to attend.
He acknowledges that the day may come when Supply Chain Asia becomes really big.
'When that day comes, I will walk off and leave it to the professionals. But I'm already happy knowing that I will always be the founder.'
- The Straits Times
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