Finding leaders, one career match at a time

With close to 2,000 employees and at least 60 client companies, Alex Genil is sitting on top of a human resources empire. What's surprising is that the current vice chair and CEO of ZMG Group actually did not study or take the traditional career route to become a Human Resources specialist.

- By ANETH NG-LIM

A licensed chemical engineer, his first job was in glass production and furnace operations as a process control engineer. But with his openness to embrace opportunities as they came, challenging his left and right brain, Genil made many successful career pivots despite one attempt at retirement, maybe his only unsuccessful move.

As head of one of the country's leading talent recruitment firms, what's your typical day like?

I look at the placements we made the previous day, especially the most senior roles. The ZMG Group has three direct recruitment businesses and amongst them, at any given day, we are working to fill up hundreds of roles requested by client companies. The rest of the day are filled up with meetings about sourcing strategies, with top contacts and clients, and interviews with senior talents. I also attend town hall meetings and business reviews, plus general membership meetings of industry and business associations.

I spend many hours each day reading: from general news, economic briefs, socio-political developments, industry reports, to developments in the human capital space. While the value we offer to clients is to find the best candidates for their business, we are most often consulted on people and business challenges that they face. Our understanding of current events makes us ideal partners in addressing organizational challenges.

You're a chemical engineer who moved to sales and marketing then switched to human resources. How do you decide on these career changes?

The short answer is I just took any challenge or opportunity to learn and progress in my career.