Working indoors may not be as boring as it seems.  New and interesting people are constantly cycling through the office, and the phones are always ringing.

This is especially true for companies in the human   resources business, an industry that is just beginning to develop in Cambodia.

Vat Srey Voat is a 22-year-old recruitment consultant with one such firm, Great Alliances Co Ltd.  In an interview with Lift, she confirmed that there are not many recruitment service companies in Cambodia.

Great Alliances,  a company in the human-resources sector, employs eight staff, all of them female.

Questioned about this anomaly, Srey Voat giggles and says: “Of course, we are thought of as a girls’ alliance, but we are not prejudiced against male staff.
“I find it very comfortable  to work with the same sex.’’

During the interview, Srey Voat shared some of the challenges of working in the recruitment industry, not least of which are dealing with complaints from clients and selecting the right candidates, both undergraduates and graduates, for a diverse array of positions.

When a client is not satisfied with the candidates Srey Voat and her team have short-listed for a job, they have to go back to the drawing board and find a new crop    of applicants.

Srey Voat admits her young age can also cause problems, especially when she has to give advice to clients who are her seniors. “They assume they have more experience, and thus don’t always respect my decisions,” she explains.

“The trick is to act as professionally as possible.”

Srey Voat begins a typical working day by checking her email and following up with various clients.

In the afternoon, she usually screens applicants’ CVs or consults and interviews them over the phone.

Srey Voat concludes by stressing that: “This work takes patience.”