CAREER BUILDER - ON CRI
提到LinkedIn(领英)职场精英们可能并不陌生，从2002年底成立到2006年，这个以在线商务社交为主导的网站在短短4年的时间里就吸引了2000万用户。根据领英官方数据统计，截至2013年底他们的注册用户已遍布200个国家且用户数量高达2.5亿。如果说乔治索罗斯是一条金融界的巨鳄，把LinkedIn 喻为社交职场届的大亨并不为过。不久前我的LinkedIn 邮箱里收到了一封中文版领英的试用邀请，毫无疑问领英最终还是进军中国市场了。在这个拥有14亿人口且经济发达的国家，中国职场精英是领英涉猎的首要目标。但如果精英们因为不了解LinkedIn平台而错过了这场社交盛宴中，岂不是非常遗憾？因此，我想和各界职场人士分享一下如何利用好这个求职和社交利器，我总结出了激活个人LinkedIn平台的十条建议。
News
Are You Ready for the Pre-interview
- Thursday, 20 March 2014 01:22
EXCITED about your first interview with a big Chinese manufacturer? Trying on outfits in the mirror? Are you imagining yourself suavely conversing with high-level managers, delighting them with your sharp wit? Time to wake up! The bad news is that overconfidence can torpedo your chances in an upcoming job interview. I’ve laughed my way through dozens of lackluster interviews and could share quite a few stories with you. But more importantly, I want to share some practical tips about pre-interview preparation. First things first, a good first impression is half the offer. Lots of foreigners do not really take their interviews with Chinese HR people seriously. Some show up dressed in T-shirts, jeans or even flip-flops. Others appear in wrinkled […]
Are you ready to perform?
- Wednesday, 19 March 2014 09:00
HEARING the keyword “performance,” you might think about your favorite drama show, TV series, or key performance index. But our topic today is a different type of performance. Here, what I mean is how you perform in interviews with Chinese HR professionals. Having advised you how to prepare for the pre-interviews in the last article, this time I will go through the interview process to give you more practical tips. Hopefully, you will find them useful when you take to the interview “stage.” First things first, I have always believed that nonverbal communication issues are important in the interview process, not because HR professionals will judge you based on your looks and deportment, of course, but things like eye contact […]
The candidates in Asia who spam 50 identical emails to 50 recruiters at the same firm
- Monday, 17 March 2014 08:36
Mainland China is still a candidate-led job market in which finance professionals are frequently enticed to change companies. But job searching in the PRC is by no means straightforward, especially if you’re more used to how things work in mature markets. Having spent nine years recruiting in China, I’d like to share some home truths that candidates need to know. Many employers don’t like to advertise their jobs A great many jobs go unadvertised in China, and this is particularly true for the type of high-end roles that non-local candidates are typically suitable for. This might be for reasons of confidentiality (if someone is being replaced, for example), or perhaps cost (the concept of paying for a recruitment service is […]
Jumping off the gravy train
- Monday, 17 March 2014 07:38
The government’s anti-corruption drive has partly resulted in a decline in the number of people willing to work for the civil service Dai Qiming’s memories of his first day as a civil servant are as fresh as those of the day he left the service. Dai gazed across at a vast space in Xintiandi, Shanghai’s most cosmopolitan district, where he spent seven years overseeing expat communities, and the rows of 40-story commercial towers that radiate in every direction. The area is proud of its record as a heavy taxpayer. It houses the headquarters of about 50 multinational corporations and is home to flagship stores for top-end luxury brands, including Vera Wang and Harry Winston. “I thought I’d become glamorous along […]
China Insight: Get the mind-changing project started in job changing
- Thursday, 13 March 2014 06:33
During the period of the so called ’golden September’ and ‘silver October’ in the Chinese proverb, which means a good time for people to look for new job opportunities, the job market in China is full of vitality and vigor. Back to the 1960s, most Chinese took jobs that they prepared to do the work for their whole life. The perseverance and sense of responsibility have built a solid generation. The senior generation now describe the young generation as quite unsettled and ‘picky’ about work. It makes sense to some extent for the old generation in China to place a high value on stability. However, to view the issue in modern China, I think it’s time for people to refresh […]
Panasonic offers China workers pollution compensation — RMG CEO quoted in the Financial Times
- Thursday, 13 March 2014 06:19
Panasonic has become the first international company to declare it will pay employees it sends to China a premium to compensate them for the dangerous levels of pollution in the country. The Japanese group announced the changes on Wednesday, citing the high levels of PM2.5 in some urban Chinese areas. Particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrograms or less can enter the human blood stream through a person’s lungs and contribute to asthma, cancer or heart trouble. Employees sent to China by Panasonic typically receive a more generous remuneration package because it is classed as a “hardship posting”, but until now no explicit mention has been made of growing concern over the dire air quality in the country. Unrelenting smog has become a focus for public discontent, particularly in […]
References: Not to be forgotten!
- Thursday, 06 March 2014 08:44
‘References available on request’ is the footnote of most CVs written in English, yet all too often the ‘final hurdle’ of the hiring process is either forgotten altogether or given only cursory attention, yet a quality reference checking process is not merely a disaster prevention practice, it can unearth vitally important information required to manage and develop the new hire. In this article, I explore some of the less obvious reasons to properly check references with a specific focus on hiring in mainland China, as well as uncovering some of the reasons it’s so important for us, as employees, to remember that with the web 2.0 our behaviour can be referenced [almost] 24/7. Firstly, looking at China, which places a […]
Getting right fit is harder than it looks
- Monday, 03 March 2014 05:04
International fashion brands need to cut their cloth to suit the Chinese market As world-renowned consumer goods companies enter China, a series of problems has sprung up in the Chinese market for international fashion brands. Fashion brands such as Zara, C&A, Uniqlo and H&M bear striking similarities. Although they come from different cultural backgrounds, the brands will inevitably confront difficulties that international fashion brands face in China. Mango, a Spanish brand, entered China at an early stage but was forced to shut shops after posting dismal sales figures, and gradually faded out of the market. The first difficulty that the fashion companies face is fierce competition among international brands. Esprit and Mango are among the brands that have faced serious […]
你的员工幸福吗？
- Tuesday, 25 February 2014 01:36
节后跳槽一直是各行各业求职者心照不宣的事情，此时的猎头们也会比其他月份要忙得多。在中国生活工作了近十年的时间，我发现其实无论是企业还是个人，在这个人才流动高峰期招聘和求职都不易。二月初，中国LED行业的业内人士宣布了“高端人才用工荒”新闻，我确实有些惊讶。第一次听到“用工荒”这个名词，还是在2012年做第一期《罗迈国际中国人才流动调查报告》（TFS）的时候。通常北上广节后的“用工荒”体现在第三产业服务行业和传统制造业的流水线上，因此听到LED行业高端人才竟稀缺到用“荒”来形容，我认为惊讶之余，我们也要反思这其中的问题。 我相信为了解决节后招聘难题，各大企业都会拿出最佳招聘方案。有些企业开出优厚物质待遇，购买补充商业保险，还有一些企业提供食宿补助，保证愉悦的工作环境，为员工购置娱乐设施。尽管企业使尽浑身解数，其中不乏引人注目的条件，但招聘情况仍不容乐观。此时如果HR们认为是求职者们的挑剔增加了招聘难度，那我要反过来质问你们，你们是否真的了解求职者的需求？你们考虑过员工工作时的幸福感吗？如果企业开出的优厚条件并非求职者们真正所需，那么再优厚的条件也不能让你的员工幸福地工作！就在几天前，我的朋友和我分享了一个术语Gross Personal Happiness （个人幸福指数）。