Being the link between businesses and the job seeker, People Search, a job placement company, recognizes the number one need of their clients: to be understood.

With a group of professional consultants from different industries like banking, engineering and healthcare, the needs and skills required by different companies are matched with job seekers who fit the requirements. Having many years of recruitment experience and expertise, the consultants understand the clients’ needs.

Seeing this need for jobs in the present economic crisis, People Search aimed to reach out to both business clients and job seekers during the SME Marketplace Fiesta held from 10 to 12 April 2009.

“We realised that the Marketplace Fiesta was an opportunity to reach out to clients looking for candidates, and we know that there are some out there who are looking for jobs. What we do is, depending on the kind of position, the consultants will match the candidates’ positions and skills to the jobs,” said Peggy Toh, a Human Resource Manager at People Search, which has been established since 2000.

To ensure that the job seekers are matched with a job that fulfills all their needs, a short questionnaire on their work preferences and skills had to be completed.

“Depending on the type of positions that you could be looking for, you could find a job in days or weeks. Sometimes, the company could just be looking for a contract staff, and if you do specify that you’re open to other job types, you could find a job easily,” explained Toh.

People Search goes beyond job placement services — talks and workshops are also regularly held to empower the public. For example, an upcoming leadership workshop will be held in May.

“During this time, there are also individuals who want to learn about leadership. It is also a chance for them to network and to share experiences with other people from other industries. They can get to see things in a different light,” said Toh.

Over 200 people from YK Zone, comprising cell group members and new friends, went for an afternoon of bonding, good food and music at Roland Seafood Restaurant on 19 May 2009.

Popular and highly recommended, Mr Roland Lim, Managing Director of Roland Seafood Restaurant, dons a motto, which is to offer his customers a culinary experience that they will never forget. Truly, Mr Lim did not disappoint.

The fun-filled afternoon kicked off with an exhilarating game, titled “City Harvest Church”. Each table was required to spell out “City Harvest Church” with the first letters of individuals’ names, or objects within their possession. The table that achieved this in the shortest time would attain a $50 Coffee Bean Voucher for themselves. The game promptly brought the house down through the squeals of excitement and laughter generated.

Whilst nibbling away at the tantalizing entrees, the audience was treated to a live jazz performance comprising a trio on the bongos, electric guitar and tenor sax. Rousing applause filled the air as the trio showcased compelling renditions of classic oldies such as “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong and “La Bamba”, a famous Venezualen folk song. Other notable genres included a good mix of jazz, such as “Sway” by Michael Buble, pop rock, such as “Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley, bossanova and reggae.

Appetites were whetted as the aroma of exquisitely prepared dishes wafted through the air. Each specialty, impeccably crafted, represented a gem of ingenuity. The diners rated stewed Shiitake Mushroom with Leafy Vegetables and Teochew Style Steam Fish the best amongst all the courses.

The highlight of the event was undoubtedly the appearance of Taiwanese Pop Star, Wing. He shared that his life was heading down nowhere before accepting Christ into his life. However, his life took a turn for the better when he gave his heart to Jesus at New Life Church, a local Taiwanese church. Under the mentorship of Liu Geng Hong and close friend JJ Lin, he found confidence in himself to pursue his passion in making music for God and people. Wing’s personable and friendly nature wooed and won the audience as he performed some of his famous hits such as “Good Day” and “Ai Qing”.

NSF Terence Lee, 19, sums up our reflections on the event, “I think that these follow-up programs are a good way to build relationships with the new friends and to help them feel at home”. Indeed, both members and friends alike shared an enjoyable and memorable session of feasting, laughing and singing together.

On 20 May, a group of six City Harvest Church (CHC) staff travelled to South Korea to visit the world’s largest church — Yoido Full Gospel Church (YFGC). The five-day trip may have been short, but it was certainly impactful.

YFGC was founded by David Yonggi Cho and his mother-in-law, Choi Ja-shil in 1958, in a living room, with just six people. It has since grown exponentially into a congregation of about 830,000, making it the world’s largest Protestant church.

PHOTOS: Tan Kim Hock

The Singapore team was invited to Hansei University for a theological symposium. The University was founded in 1953 to nurture leaders in the Christian faith. Besides offering courses in theology, humanities and social sciences courses are also available.

The theme of the symposium, presented by Dr Cho, was “the understanding of social salvation”, which is the sharing of love and happiness with others.

Cho believes that when one loves his neighbor as himself, love will extend to oneself, society and the nation. He explains that this is substantiated in the Bible (John 3:16).

“It was a really enriching experience to hear the professors from various universities espousing their views and writing theological papers in response to Cho’s understanding of social salvation,” said Lee Yi Lun, part of the Singapore team and a zone supervisor with City Harvest Church.

“I feel encouraged and comforted knowing that as we reach out to the lost and needy, we will surely be blessed by God,” she added.

After the symposium, the team also had the privilege of having dinner with Dr Cho and his wife, Dr Kim Sung Hae. During the dinner, Cho shared about his trip to Siberia a few years ago, where 20,000 people, who have never heard the name of Jesus, received salvation. Miracles took place: a man who was paralyzed from the neck down was healed and could walk by the end of the meeting.

Cho has had a burning desire to preach the gospel around the world for the last 50 years — and all that time, he has not taken a single vacation. To date, he has traveled and preached in 70 countries and over 400 cities.

Cho’s dedication and love for God moved one of the team members, Bobby Chaw, the dean of students in CHC’s School of Theology (SOT).

“I feel inspired to do more for the Lord as I see Dr Cho’s great love for the lost, poor and the needy. To preach the gospel in 70 countries and 400 cities is really phenomenal!” he said.

The trip was an eventful one: the team enjoyed the opportunity to learn the history of North and South Korea during a visit to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a strip of land that serves as a buffer zone between the North and South. They also attended worship services and prayer meetings at the 12,000-seater Yoido Full Gospel Church.

All in, this proved an unforgettable experience for the Singapore missions team, who came back to Singapore with deep impressions of Yoido Full Gospel Church.

Long-time friend of City Harvest Church (CHC), Mike Connell, Senior Pastor of Bay City Church in New Zealand is known for moving in the prophetic, deliverance and inner healing ministry. Many who know him speak of his strong love and sensitivity for God and His people.

CHC invites Connell yearly to minister in their weekend services. In May 2009, Connell devoted two weeks of his time teaching in the School of Theology, preaching in the four weekend services and on top of that, conducted a Counseling and Inner Healing Workshop together with his wife, Joy.

During the workshop Connell taught many invaluable principles on both the spiritual and emotional aspects of counseling. One of the points emphasized was the need to identify root issues to the cause of emotional problems, as well as how to effectively use the tools of the Word of God, the Holy Spirit and prayer on top of our human wisdom to minister to people. As Connell shared many of his personal counseling experiences and lessons learned in more than 25 years of ministry, he taught the participants how to connect with people, the importance of listening and understanding why God allows people to go through problems, among many others. He also emphasized that God’s people are called to bring God’s healing and hope to the hurt and broken.

PHOTOS: Maggie Chang

Said Susanna Wong, a 27 year-old real estate consultant and participant of the workshop, “I was greatly impacted by the fact that people are spirit, thinking and emotional beings and we must take these into account when counseling them. I feel more empowered to minister to people with what I’ve learned.”

During the weekend services, Connell moved powerfully in the spiritual gifts and demonstrated the love and power of God. In the midst of the service, he called upon 18 year old Desiree Peh, who was helping to minister at the altar call area, to lay hands and pray for people. Many fell under the power of God. Through this, Connell demonstrated how the power of God was able to move through anyone, no matter how young or inexperienced, as long as there is willingness and faith in Him.

This is a talent-filled week for Great Britain! The nation’s most talked-about show, Britain’s Got Talent, has packed prime time slots on national television this entire week, with the semi finals building up to the grand finals this Saturday night. The amount of buzz this show has generated has all but overshadowed the recent crowning of Kris Allen as 2009’s American Idol.

The first live semi-finals on Sunday evening was kicked off by Diversity whose incredible dance act shot them right into the finals. Another prominent contender who gained worldwide fame after the auditions is Susan Boyle. When asked whether she felt pressured to perform, the one they call the Hairy Angel (thanks to her bushy brows and wild hair) replied, ‘What pressure?’

Well. Boyle definitely will feel the pressure now as six more very promising finalists have been shortlisted. There’s 12-year-old Welsh boy, Shaheen Jafargholi, who wowed the judges so much with his singing that judge Simon Cowell, notorious for his mean remarks, commented that the lad is strong competition for Boyle.

Other finalists include 17-year-old singer, Shaun Smith, a dance group who named themselves Flawless, comedy dance act-Stavros Flatley, saxophone player Julian Smith and singing duo, 2 Grand. The last live semi-finals will take place on Friday 29 May at 8.30pm British Standard Time (Singapore: Saturday, 30 May, 4.30am).

Britain’s Got Talent, started in 2007, is a search for Britain’s next best talent act. The winner will receive £100,000 and an opportunity to perform at the Royal Variety Performance for members of the royal family, including the Queen. Previous winners are opera singer Paul Potts and street dancer George Sampson.

Will excitement Boyle over? Tune in to the finals happening 30 May, Saturday 8.30pm BST (Singapore: 31 May, Sunday, 4.30am). You can watch the videos nearly instantaneously on http://talent.itv.com or www.youtube.com.

What does it take to attract a non-Star Trek fan to watch a Star Trek movie? This must have been the foremost question on director J.J Abram’s mind as he crafted the eleventh installment of the biggest sci-fi franchise in modern cinematic history. He need not have thought very hard, because he’s no Trekker himself. Hitting the nail on the head by introducing a lot more action and a whole less talking, he gives the beloved series a makeover deserving of an entire generation of new fans while rekindling the craze among its legion of followers.

The plot is somewhat simplistic — all the better for newbies to catch on. It charts the start of James T. Kirk’s journey from a free-spirited bar-brawler to captain of the U.S.S Enterprise, and also delves into why Spock has always been just Mr. Spock, despite his unsurpassable intellect and wisdom. Both leaders in their own way, they must find a way to work together aboard the Enterprise to quell the vengeful threats of the Romulan villain, Nero. In between, there are some bits about parallel universes and time-travelling which we admittedly don’t really get, though.

Helming the lead is a fresh-faced Chris Pine, who easily channels that rebellious-yet-prodigious streak a la Harry Potter into his Captain Kirk role. A supporting cast of Karl Urban, Zoe Saldaña, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin and John Cho do a good job of reliving the key characters, aided by some slinkier, souped-up uniforms. But while Spock is likewise nicely reintroduced by Zachary Quinto, we still have trouble getting Sylar, his psychotic super-villain character in the TV series Heroes out of our minds every time he comes onscreen. Watch out also for a still cute-looking Winona Ryder making an appearance.

In the midst of inter-galactic shootouts and multiple Armageddons, humor abounds in the form of running gags and wisecracks. Also, there’s never a still moment — even if you walk into the show without knowing what the term ‘Vulcan’ means, you will be kept on the edge of your seat. The visual effects are stupendous, as befitting a movie set in an era of hoverbikes and warp propulsions. Who would thought Star Trek could be so much fun?

Rating:

Silken-voiced veteran songstress Tsai Chin took her fans down memory lane on 23 May at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. She showed more than amply that she is still the legendary Tsai Chin, full of charm and talent.

The 51-year-old Taiwanese songbird is famed for her rich vocals and witty persona. Tsai invited the audience to journey with her through her career, as a multimedia presentation of her albums and photos was shown, marking the milestones of her three-decade-long career.

Tsai Chin 2009: The New Endless Love picked up where her last sold-out concert left off in 2007. A chronicle through song, it traveled from her rise to fame, through her prime in the “80s, to her tough period in the “90s. Some of the songs performed included ‘你的眼神’ (‘Your Eyes’) and ‘被遗忘的时光’ (‘The Forgotten Time’), which was featured in the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs.

There were moments during the concert when Tsai choked back her tears, recounting how she found herself being unwanted by record companies.

She said: “The years between 1990 to 2000 was the toughest point in my life. The old singers were ushered out for the younger talents. I was very sad as I thought it was just the beginning for me.”

Tsai’s warmth and personality shone through as she punctuated her songs with personal anecdotes and witty humour throughout the show. It was literally a one-woman show: There were no hosts, no extravagant costumes, no dancers or stunts — it was just her personality and rich vocals that shone through.

She poked fun at herself and had the audience laughing along with her.

“Look at me, I was 17 then, but I looked like 70. My hair was so short that everyone thought I was a boy. That was when I first started out,” laughed Tsai, as she pointed to the screen that showed an unsmiling picture of herself with a boyish crop.

Dressed in a gold dress with her famous coif, she swayed from one end of the stage to the other, and encouraged the audience to clap and sing together. The audience warmed up quickly as she prompted them to wave their hands in the air.

“Nobody is old here! Put your hands up! I know everyone here is mature, but I think we can all clap,” she encouraged.

There was resounding applause and the concert goers sang along to ‘读你’ (‘Reading You’), one of her most popular hits. When the song ended, Tsai clutched a side table trying to catch her breath, and remarked, “Why did I try to act young?”

When things slowed down, as with the simmering ‘不了情’ (‘Never Ending Love’) and ‘新不了情’ (‘New Endless Love’), Tsai seemed in her element. She broke down and shared that before she arrived in Singapore, she was told that she had been nominated for her second Golden Melody award.

“In my marathon singing career, I’ve experienced the industry”s generational changes. It is so thrilling to be able to be on the circuit with singers of various genres, and to allow the new generation to evaluate her performance,” she said.

PHOTOS: Daniel Poh

As the concert drew to a close, the audience refused to leave and continued shouting for an encore, which Tsai obliged happily, closing a great show with the song that catapulted her to fame: ‘恰似你的温柔’ (‘Just Like Your Tenderness’).

IT engineer Lily Yong, 40, enjoyed the concert very much.

“Her songs really brought me back to old times, and her voice was very good. These are the evergreen songs that will never lose their popularity. I believe 20 years down the road, these songs will still be popular,” said Yong, who bought a top-price ticket.

“I like her songs, and I don’t mind paying for a ticket to watch her. It was worth it. There were no special effects but yet she was able to hold everything together.”

Housewife Jenny Kong, 52, agreed that Tsai’s confidence and friendliness was what connected her with the audience.

“She may be popular but she isn”t proud at all. She has this natural ability to excite the crowd. I really like the old songs that she sang. I am very satisfied with the concert,” she said.

Tonight proved that Tsai Chin only gets better with age, just like a good wine — she will remain, for many, a favorite forever. ‘’

This week on City News Style File, it smells like teen spirit. It feels like 21st century kids are going to start a new fashion movement before they are even done with high school.

With teen fashion blogs like Sea of Shoes and Style Rookie being touted as the fashionistas of tomorrow, City News also looks to Singapore youth to uncover true street style.

Korean Christopher Oh is instantly eye-catching. Who can miss his Pantone chart of a tee? This 17-year-old’s overall appeal can be expressed in one word: Neat. His eco-friendly bag (which he owns in different styles) gives him a quirky edge to his otherwise pristine style.

On Christopher
Top: Bugis Village
Bag: Korea
Pants: Korea

Nothing looks cuter than this pinafore dress on 15-year-old Rachel Lim. She is living proof that one should dress for one’s age. This Methodist Girl’s School student tells City News that her mother got her the dress (great choice, Rachel’s mom!) Her clean and unfussy look is the sure way to go for any teen who’s fresh 15.

On Rachel
Dress: Cotton On
Bag: Pull and Bear
Sandals: The Philippines

Nicolas Ghesquiere’s floral dress for Balenciaga’s Spring/Summer 2007 collection was such a major hit, floral prints and dresses remain summer essentials even today. Gwendolyn Tan, 17, is clad in a mini floral dress — a wise choice for Singapore’s humid weather. Just slip on a couple of bangles or a char bracelet and necklace like Gwendolyn, and you are ready to go!

PHOTOS: Bob Li

On Gwendolyn
Dress: Topshop
Shoes: Prima Vera
Bag: Nike

PHOTOS: Isabel Ng

Contributed by Jaromel Gee

On 19 April, a cell group of about 50 people in YK zone gathered and had a mini version of the hit variety show “Don’t Forget The Lyrics”.

Each participant was called out to sing a song on the karaoke set until the point where the lyrics disappear and the participant has to guess the remaining lyrics.

Despite the competition amongst the 4 teams, eventually the different team members helped out with each other from opposing teams to guess the missing lyrics, all in the name of good fun and camaraderie. It was an exciting and enjoyable session for everybody. Even the most shy of them warmed up after a few rounds of laughter shared.

Many first-timers mentioned that they would be happy to join the cell group for more of such activities in the future. Truly, it was a fun time of bonding and getting to meet and know new friends.

Contributed by Peggie Toh

On 18 April 2009 at 3pm, City Harvest Church’s premises at SIngapore Expo, Hall 8 Conference Room 3 was bustling with activities and excitement as members from Chan Yah Lan’s zone and their new friends gathered for The Great Reveal.

The Great Reveal was a makeover competition where members had to create a brand new and improved image for their new friends. Members had to work within a budget of S$50 for each person.

Another event highlight was a live demonstration on basic make-up skills for the girls and hair styling for the guys. Makeup artists from the zone were called in to showcase their skills. At the end of the event, each friend got to take home a generous goody bag containing L’Oreal products.

Zone Supervisor, Chan Yah Lan, spoke on her growing years at City Harvest Church and will share on how she and her husband met at the following week’s event. That certainly caught the attention of Florence Grundywarr, 19 who said she wanted to come back and listen to Chan’s romantic story.

PHOTOS: Lam Hui Ching

The event saw the involvement of 10 cell groups and a total of 150 attendees. The new friends certainly enjoyed the fellowship and at the same time had a great makeover done.

Ong Shu Qing, 15, said “I enjoy being with the people in the cell group and I feel happy when I come for church service and cell group meetings.’’

Everyone were treated to sumptuous refreshments after the event wrapped up. The new friends also left with a brand new image and a desire to be involved in future church activities.