Tag Archives: China Headhunter

Get Rid of Dependence, Use Digital Language of Business – RMG CEO on CHO

摆脱依赖,用数字语言说业务

HR最大的问题就是不能提供一些量化的数据给CEO,所以CEO对他们不感兴趣。同时大多数CEO都不会出自HR部门,他并不知道HR们每天都在做什么。

周末同一位就职于中国国内知名IT公司的人力资源经理吃饭,问他如何看待自己在公司的“地位”,大家都是长期合作的老朋友,他也没有修饰什么,给我娓娓道来一个例子。他说:“中国‘饭局文化’你是知道的,我们行业尤其特别严重,平时甭管午餐晚餐,跨部门的聚会,八成都会叫上我,有时迟到会儿,大家都等你,即是其他部门领导也一样。 其间无论谈论哪类话题,我这边也基本是主力之一,不是爱说,别人自然会给你搭台儿。上周一,我们部门总监不在,让我临时替他去参加公司高层的发展大会,整个会上基本没有我说话的机会,几次想说话,各大老板半真半假地装作没有看见。最后把讨论结果中需要我们部门配合的,招人啊、考核啊和我一一交代, 结束。这就是地位。” 这就是我觉得中国企业人力资源部门最有意思的地方。一方面,人力资源部门在中国备受尊重,几乎被认为是最不可“得罪”的部门。这很大程度上市因为人力资源作为一个掌管人的部门,是搜集公司内部各类消息和公司机密信息的重要渠道,工资福利人事任免HR都能提前略知一二,所以人人都有些“敬而远之”。 但另一方面,人力资源部不是生产部门,相对其他部门,它没有直接创造利润,从各个角度来说都被当作是“附属产品”。 根据最近罗迈国际(RMG) 的电话调查发现,70%被调查的企业都不认为人力资源是一个战略型部门;在中小型企业中,甚至有高达40%~50%人认为人力资源部是作为类似行政的部门而存在的。所以一般在公司战略管理等重大会议上,它根本沾不上边。

不惧怕被独立 明确了人力资源部门在企业中的位置,再来谈人力资源总监们在公司战略会议上的位置就不难理解了,对于中国目前的状况来看,首要一点是认清在战略作用中人力资源部门是一个“I nte r d e p e n d e nt”的部门。所谓Interdependent指的是一种既独立又相互依存的关系。人力资源部更多时候就认为自己是一个依赖型部门,HR又会把自己自觉不自觉地放到“关系”之中,很难做到独立发言。 所以,在高端会议上,一定要表明并坚定自己“不惧怕被独立”的态度。公司中大量的信息综合在HRD手中,比任何其他单一部门更可以将问题分析得全面透彻。如何发挥人力资源总监们独一无二的Interdependent地位,主要遵守以下3个原则。第一,不要混淆视听。人力资源部门掌控着一个公司内部的福利、薪酬,以及人事变动和人员背景,在这种情况下,HR要做到不要滥用这些信息,去试图控制一些局面。明确人力资源部是服务提供者,而不是企业操控者。 第二,只做对这个公司正确的事情。这句话说起来很简单,但需要HR将每个问题都要思考好多遍,从所有不同部门的角度思考,将任何有可能对任何职能造成损失的行为措施及时制止或改善。第三,要为自己设立好底线,机密的、不可靠的、有可能造成不良争议或不良影响的,坚决不能泄露,无论私人关系和部门关系如何。

用数字说话 虽然表面上看起来,人力资源部门并不创造生产销售业绩,但HR们也可以有,并且应该有业务业绩。人力资源各模块也可以是业务导向型的,在这一理念下,人力资源最需要改变的观念是要用数字说话。一个我经历的案例是,某IT企业以销售为主题的战略会议上,销售总监提出方案使其今年一个新产品的业绩达到2000万元,需要销售人员共20人。 这时,人力资源总监根据新产品和其销售人员的特点提出了一项额外的培训方案,在描述其效果时他说到:“每个员工全年培训时间为20个小时,需要投入资金50万元,但是在总体上会给销售业绩提高到2400万∽2700万元之间。”结果自然不用多说,清晰明了,销售总监及CEO都非常喜欢这个提议。 这就是数字的力量。而人力资源作为Interdependent的部门,在各种决策的讨论中,最大的贡献之一就是成为数字与人之间的桥梁。 HRD往往都只是HR的专家,对其他部门的作业却不甚了解。其他每个部门如何工作?如何达成他们各自的指标?了解了人和业务的关系,找出关系中的关键数据点;增加自己的行业知识和技术常识,了解各部门的业务,从而理解企业整体现在和未来的需求,将需求和人结合起来,再把人放回到人力资源的各个模块中,用一种推导的思维思考战略。 操作方法上,一方面是熟悉其他部门内部流程使用的各类表格,将人力资源部门可以影响到的项目标出来,再将相关联的人力资源项目放回到本部门内部去开发解决方案。另一方面是加强对各种先进人力资源工具的应用,很多公司已经在使用的各种eHR系统就是很好的例子,还有一些常用于市场销售分析得模型工具也可以被人力资源部门所借鉴。最后,也是最重要的一点,就是人力部门对市场信息的收集。 很多时候,当我们提出一个解决方案时,比如一个培训计划,很难去模拟或猜测它的效果,这时就应该借鉴市场上其他已使用类似培训的公司的成果。人是最难预测的东西,所以在人力资源数字上,“经验值”是个重要因素,越早开始积累,越准确的效果就会呈现。 告诉CEO所不知道的从上一例子中我们还可以看出,HRD谈的既是人力资源又好像不是人力资源,对于销售部门,这正是他们关心的内容,也是他们非常容易理解的语言,这也是另外一点可以被广大HR总监们可以借鉴的“TALK IN THEIRL ANGUAGE”,即“用他们的语言说话”,见什么部门说什么部门的语言,对于多部门参加的高端会议最适合不过。 因为通常其他各部门都有非常独立的各部门目标,他们并不兼负协调其他部门的职责,他们的工作相对封闭,也并不关心人力资源这个问题。 人力资源部则是企业内部交流的主力,有责任有义务协调其他部门,如何让他人理解你,最好的办法当然是先去理解对方。就好比不同的国家之间,如果英国想去协调和中国的关系,最好的办法不是教中国人英语,而是自己讲中文。 归根结底,CEO们到底在想什么,想听什么?通常情况下,CEO主要看两个人的汇报,一个是销售部经理,他一般会告诉CEO“到现在为止我已经完成了多少任务,还差多少……” 这些是CEO很想知道的。另外一个人是CFO,他会告诉CEO,“以我们现在的资金状况来看,未来可以做什么,有什么发展,需要增加多少成本……”这也是CEO每天都在考虑的,他们都有数字。前面提到HR最大的问题就是不能提供一些量化的数据给CEO,所以CEO对他们不感兴趣。同时大多数CEO都不会出自HR部门,他并不知道HR们每天都在做什么。这就很有意思了,人们没办法知道自己不知道什么。这个悖论就是说,如果我不知道有大象,我如何知道自己不知道大象呢?所以,HRD首先是告诉CEO他们不知道什么,即人力资源管理和目前销售的关系以及人力资源管理和企业未来发展成效的关系,不要用一个程度的变换来体现,重点是放到一个一个其他部门的正在进行或计划进行的项目之中,将不同的人力资源管理上可以有的变化或可能出现的问题提出来,给出可预测的参考信息与数值,当然还有最重要的,人力资源角度的解决方案。 毫无疑问,中国的市场将会愈加开放,每一家企业都在面临越来越多的竞争,从人才、价格、成本、质量、速度等多个方面,人力资源总监们站在一个独一无二的聚合与交互的位置,拥有天时、地利、人和去观察公司全貌,若可以将自己放到总体业务咨询的位置上,摆脱以往的依赖,必会对企业领导力和市场力发挥独一无二的作用。

Read the whole article: http://cho.zhaopin.com/articles/3813_1.html

Read the magazine: https://www.rmgselection.com/images/rmg%20news_cho_apr_rp_1.jpg

"Naked" Resignation on the Rise in China – RMG CEO on CRI China

An increasing number of workers in China are quitting their jobs before finding new ones. It’s yet another indication that the attitudes of young employees are changing. Some are less likely to be attracted to jobs offering high salaries and more likely to accept positions that provide more equality in the job market and greater job satisfaction.

Listen to RMG: http://english.cri.cn/8706/2012/04/20/2661s694399.htm

“Naked” Resignation on the Rise in China – RMG CEO on CRI China

An increasing number of workers in China are quitting their jobs before finding new ones. It’s yet another indication that the attitudes of young employees are changing. Some are less likely to be attracted to jobs offering high salaries and more likely to accept positions that provide more equality in the job market and greater job satisfaction.

Listen to RMG: http://english.cri.cn/8706/2012/04/20/2661s694399.htm

Mock Interview – RMG HR Manager on 21st Century

上期面试问题由罗迈国际商务咨询的人力资源经理Sandrene Fu女士提出:

When it comes to working for a company what do you think is your biggest weakness?

And how do you plan to get over it

My weakness is that I tend to push myself too much. I might try too hard to make everything perfect in a project or task. This can put pressure on myself and be a burden to my co-workers.

Read the whole article: http://paper.i21st.cn/story/75717.html

Read the magazine:  https://www.rmgselection.com/images/rmg%20news_21st_c_apr_sf_1.jpg

China’s Next Top Scout – RMG CEO on China Daily

More headhunting companies are coming to the fore in finding candidates for domestic firms

Each time Li Yunqing, the director of human resources at Digital Leader Tech Co in Beijing, tries to fill a new position in the company, she struggles to find the right person from a list of candidates on the Web. Often, she finds that an Internet search for talent frustrating. What’s worse, she says that when candidates come in for an interview, most have not bothered to read the job description. “This is seriously a waste of time for my work as well as for the company,” says the 30-year-old executive at the high-tech firm.

But help is, and has recently been, popping up in greater numbers in China in the form of headhunting companies, which Li says has made her work much easier. As more and more Chinese companies strive to compete against multinational companies and find success in the global economy, more are using recruitment services as a way to find top-level talent and stay ahead.

According to the report for Executive Search Industry in China, in 2006 there were approximately 3,000 headhunting companies in major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. This year, there are currently 23,000.

Foreign headhunting companies first established offices in China 15 years ago but their practices initially focused on multinational companies, helping them find employees to work on the Chinese mainland.

In most cases, the recruiters gravitated toward hiring Malaysian Chinese, Singaporean Chinese, candidates from Hong Kong or Taiwan or Chinese returnees from the United States.

But during the financial crisis in 2008, as many multinational companies suffered and put a temporary halt to global recruiting, demand for talented employees from domestic companies grew. And as China surfaced from the recession as one of the most dominant players in the global economy, the need for local talent from Chinese companies skyrocketed.

“When we first entered into the Chinese market in 1998, 90 percent of our clients were multinational companies, but today we see half of our clients from multinational companies, and half from local companies,” says James Darlington, Asian regional director of Antal International, a global HR consulting firm. “This is very impressive as more local Chinese firms started to see how important it is to get the best people.”

Ma Rong, director of headhunting at Sam’s Party, a leading domestic recruitment firm in China, says she believes at least 50 percent of enterprises in China, such as Haier Group, Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co, Inner Mongolia Mengniu Diary (Group) Co, Midea Group and Gree Electric Appliances Inc, are using headhunting companies to find management-level talents to compete on the global stage.

“A few years ago, these Chinese enterprises were not concerned with using headhunters to find middle or top talents for their management team, but now they want to beat the multinational companies,” Darlington says.

Mark Carriban, managing director at Hudson, an international recruitment company that established offices on the Chinese mainland 11 years ago, expects a balance in their portfolio of international and local clients.

Currently, 85 percent of Hudson’s clients are multinationals in China, while 15 percent are domestic. “As many local companies internationalize and acquire business overseas, their HR policies will become more refined. Therefore they will demand more quality recruitment service from foreign headhunting companies,” Carriban says.

He says that as the government shifts economic focus from exporting to increasing domestic consumption, Carriban says there will be more opportunities for Chinese companies to hire domestic talent.

“We have found there is a bigger demand from retail and the luxury sectors as people’s living standards in China get better,” Carriban says.

According to Hudson’s January figures on recruiting in China, 66 percent of companies in the country said they would increase hiring in the first quarter of 2012, an increase from 64 percent the previous quarter. Sectors such as automobiles, healthcare and life sciences, green energy, retail and industrials in China are showing a picture of health and growth this year.

The big question with recruitment services in China, however, is how quickly will a country based on the traditions of using guanxi – which translates to relations and is the central Chinese idea of personal networking – accept recruitment service companies? Is there any room for headhunters in a country where the right guanxi makes all the difference in ensuring that a business venture is successful or a job position is filled?

Robert Parkinson, founder and CEO of RMG Selection, a recruitment consulting company based in Beijing, says Chinese companies will take a long time to truly embrace the concept of recruitment services because guanxi still plays an important role in Chinese society.

Liu Qinghui, a 28-year-old engineer who specializes in designing in antennae for electronics, found his current job through the recommendation of his tutor at college.

“I know I was qualified for this position, but there are so many people out there. Without a recommendation from my tutor, I might not able to pass the resume screening,” he says.

Often it is acquiring the right guanxi with the right people that will determine whether a company is successful in China. Moreover, the inevitable risks and barriers entrepreneurs encounter while doing business in China will be minimized when they have the right guanxi.

“It will take five or 10 years for Chinese people to use headhunting companies for outsourcing,” says Parkinson, 34, who has been in Beijing for almost seven years.

Nonetheless, it is clear to many recruitment consultants like Parkinson that more Chinese companies are finding that the best way to be successful is finding the right personnel.

“I think we are seeing two trends in the Chinese side: Some companies are trying to build a stronger local management team with individuals who have international work experience. So for them, they are looking for more returnees,” says George Fifield, managing director of Korn/Ferry International’s Beijing office. “On the other side, I expect to see a lot of demand from Chinese companies to help them find people in Europe, Australia and North and South America as they start overseas operations.”

“By using these headhunting companies, we could find candidates more efficiently, and most importantly, they are very focused and the candidate they find for us very much meets our requests,” Li of Digital Leader says. “It’s good to use headhunting companies as they have a bigger database of the talent pool.”

Li says many headhunting companies in China provide candidates for their clients until the client is totally satisfied with a candidate. If a candidate is not up to par, the person will not be hired full time after a three-month probation period.

Despite the need for managers among Chinese and multinational companies, there is one major challenge for all of them: a dwindling supply of talent.

Francois de Yrigoyen, deputy general manager of Manpower Group China, says “because (more and more seniors are coming into the period of) retirement and (because of the) one-child policy in China, there is not enough talent for this booming market”.

“The challenge here I think is to build supply – a supply of people who have years of speaking foreign languages, who have lived overseas, studied overseas and have some understanding of what it is like to work in different companies,” Fifield says.

Carriban says they are facing a shortage of high-performing candidates who can make a difference at companies. He also says there is a certain shortage in candidates with leadership skills, sensitivity to multiple cultures and strong English language proficiency.

Many foreign recruitment consulting companies in China have addressed this shortage by offering training courses in English and leadership programs for their clients.

Today, the hottest sector looking for talent is in research and development. According to China’s Ministry of Commerce figures, there are now 1,200 foreign multinational R&D centers in China, representing a $12.8 billion (9.3 billion euros) investment. There are no fewer than 353 such centers in Shanghai alone. Top level talent will clearly be in high demand over the next 10 years.

“When I came to China seven years ago, mostly our practice in China was predominately with multinational companies and very little work with Chinese companies. Today, one-third of our business is with Chinese companies and two-thirds of it is with multinationals in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou,” Fifield says. “But I hope that ratio will flip because we are in China, so our practice should be China-based or China-oriented.”

Read the whole article: http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2012-04/06/content_14992467.htm

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