CEO Insights Magazine

Many successful leaders in the world of business came from humble beginnings, rising through the ranks to reach the top of their respective industries. These individuals serve as great inspirations for others, showing that with hard work and determination, anyone can achieve their goals. CEO Insights’ exclusive team engages in a conversation with one such inspirational leader, John Jonathan Paul (MD & Founder, JP Caliber), who started with nothing and worked up the ladder from humble beginnings to becoming an accomplished entrepreneur and HR solutionist.

Jonathan began his career at the very early age of 15 as a waiter (part-time basis) and moved on to becoming a business owner only because he never gave up hustling. His high value-based leadership, which is woven into the culture at JP Caliber, has enabled him to constantly build existing and new relationships with clients and empower leaders to bring out their best in them.

He has over 12 years of professional experience and as an entrepreneur (in the HR Industry) and six years in entrepreneurship and he is also a career coach, and servant leader Jonathan has won multiple awards in the recruitment industry. He is passionate about building careers for people, providing solutions for startups and loves to talk about tech talents while playing a crucial role in shaping people’s careers and professional development.

Let’s hear it from him.

Define JP Caliber as an organization and how it differentiates itself as a provider of specialized recruiting solutions in the staffing and recruiting industry.

JP Caliber is defined as a boutique recruitment agency that focuses on relationship-building with clients and candidates and also provides flexible solutions in the HR recruiting industry. Our main focus is on recruiting high-quality talent within the company and giving them a lot of training and development to ensure the top-notch quality of our service. We like to differentiate ourselves based on our relationship recommendations, flexibility, and services. Our services include permanent staffing solutions, financial hiring aid for startups, resource process outsourcing solutions, contracting which involves providing temporary staff solutions. Additionally, we also offer visa and immigration services simulation formulation and also provide market intelligence for our clients where we help them know the structure or the salary benchmarking of their competitors to help them set up their businesses across South East Asia.

Tell us about your leadership approach.

As I come from a very humble, tough, and driven background, I believe in carrying forward a very value-oriented leadership that fosters values of transparency, accountability, and responsibility for the business. Through this people-first organization, I am also empowering people to take their own decisions and guiding them based on those decisions. I do believe, one very important aspect of business is to make sure that people are always in uncomfortable zones in their career with the guidance needed. This will enable them to push boundaries and go above & beyond to learn and grow. I always focus on communicating the business’ goals and being a team player, I always put myself in others’ shoes to be able to help them to be better.

Where do you see yourself headed in the upcoming years? What is your future roadmap?

We aim to expand our business across a couple of states within Malaysia and also looking for opportunities to open offices in Indonesia, Singapore, and Dubai. Our business is focused on tech and digital talent, so we are constantly hiring tech talents from India, Philipines, Indonesia, Singapore, Dubai, and a few other countries and bringing them over to Malaysia to work with good remuneration and benefits in the tech space. Our government is focused on growing the digital sector and empowering tech businesses in Malaysia to hire more tech-savvy people in collaboration with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), a semi-government agency that supports the growth of hiring and growing tech talents in Malaysia.

What would be your advice to budding leaders who are aspiring to create a benchmark in the same industry?

To be successful leaders, not just in the recruitment industry but in any other industry, you must have Grit- Grit to learn , Grit to be resourceful, Grit to think like there is no box, and Grit to inspire. Once they are familiar with their goals, they can start taking baby steps toward accomplishing them. Throughout the journey, they must stay focused and resilient in doing what they need to do. Part of being an entrepreneur is to be very resilient, to anticipate and to think forward, making a simplified process oriented business and always putting your people first. Never stop learning. Know that nothing is impossible for you to attain. Work hard, hustle hard and also think big. Invest in your self-development and stay active. Be solution-oriented, and innovative in finding ways to provide better solutions. A business owner needs to think out of the box, be disciplined, and always prioritize people over the business.

John Jonathan Paul, MD & Founder, JP Caliber

Having a Master’s in HR Management from the University of Derby, Jonathan is the Founder and Managing Director of JP Caliber. He is an entrepreneur and career coach with a consulting background and expertise in the areas of technology, digital, finance and human resources and most functional roles from Middle to Senior Level Hirings.

• Hobbies: Football,Muay Thai, Salsa and Travelling
• Favorite Cuisine: Japanese, Indian and sometimes western
• Favorite Travel Destination: Bali, Germany and Amsterdam