Over the last year, I received regular career inquires from (non-Asian) foreigners about job prospects in Advertising Agencies in Mainland China.
Clearly, many Agencies have switched to localization as their primary recruitment strategy because of high employment costs associated with foreign staff. However, these Agencies will still continue to hire foreigners because the local talent pool is too small and Agencies have demonstrated a strong reluctance to invest in and develop the local talent. Consequently, a gap and opportunity exists.
As a result, the odds of being hired are positive. But, there are several issues to be aware of:
1. Foreigners are seldom employed in positions lower than "Director" level. Thus, candidates should have enough experience and expertise to join at least at the level of an Account Director or Creative Director.
2. Multi-Media, Digital Marketing, and Integrated Campaigns are the current key words of the Modern Advertising World. So, if you are passionate about digital and have completed excellent digital work in the past, then highlight these points in your CV.
3. Foreigners are hired primarily because of their unique professional skill set and not their Mandarin fluency. Hence, starting to study Chinese should not be your "unique selling point" in your application. It will make your everyday life a lot easier in China though.
4. Almost always, hiring managers worry about an applicant’s lack of knowledge and experience in the Chinese marketplace. So, if you have already worked and/or lived in another country for some time and have shown flexibility and adaptability and proved intercultural awareness and interpersonal skills in the past, then emphasize these points. At the same time, you must allocate time to research, read, and learn about Chinese culture and the Chinese market; advertising campaigns, the players, etc.
Other things to consider include:
1. "Make a mark at home first" until you are in a higher level position and then look into being transferred within your Company to Mainland China as an Expat; it will be less frustrating and more financially rewarding.
2. Target smaller and faster growing international newcomers in Mainland China who do not have the budget or time to grow local talent and instead prefer to tap into a pool of highly qualified international talent.
3. Connect with Recruiters; introduce yourself, hear first hand current hiring trends, and get a few leads.
4. Arrive in Mainland China for a "trial period" and take on a few freelance projects. This approach will provide an opportunity for you to show your skills in practice and get a taste of what life is truly like here.
5. If you are a Creative, try to meet with a few Creative Directors for an informational interview and use this opportunity to show them your portfolio.
Lastly, if you have the desire to show up in Mainland China early in your career, then go for it but expect to receive dismal replies or minimal interest because of lackluster concern for green foreigners. Be also aware that compared with your home country, companies in Mainland China will likely offer you less mentorship and training opportunities and compensation. This is why you must consider the impact of coming here on your long-term career and personal goals. Finally, be willing to sacrifice on more than a few points to fulfill your dream of working here and have the endurance to stick around long enough until an opportunity opens up.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Critical Talent in Advertising Agencies
Critical or strategic positions are positions that are essential for delivering the firm’s strategic capabilities. Critical talent therefore refers to the people who create the value that an organization needs to succeed. For example,
• In large pharmaceutical organizations, it is the researchers and clinicians who drive the development of “blockbuster drugs”.
• In the oil industry, it is the geologists and petroleum engineers who find and extract oil.
• In manufacturing, it is the machinists who perform precision manufacturing to Six Sigma standards.
• In retail, it is the inventory managers who get the right goods into the right stores at the right time.
• In a courier organization, it is the couriers who pick up and deliver packages.
• In a Disney amusement park, it can be the street sweepers who are in touch with millions of customers every year.
According to Becker, Huselid, and Beatty (The Differentiated Workforce), the process of identifying critical positions begins with two questions:
1. How will we compete (the firm’s strategic choice)?
2. What must we do exceptionally well to win (the firm’s strategic capabilities)?
For Advertising Agencies, the strategic choice (operational excellence, product leadership, and customer intimacy) tends to be unclear whereas creativity is the most frequently referred to strategic capability.
Hence, for an Advertising Agency, Creatives (Copywriters, Art Directors, and Creative Directors) that are particularly exceptional in originating new concepts and ideas are the critical talent.
As a result and in line with Becker, Huselid, and Beatty recommendations, Creatives enjoy differentiated access to resources, development opportunities, and rewards. A few examples include:
1. When resources are short, there is usually an extra budget for a Freelancer to join a Creative team.
2. Account professionals are often told to keep Creatives' happy, inspire them, and make their jobs easier.
3. Creatives get to go to international Award Shows.
4. A Creative Director may receive as much as twice the money that an Account Director or Planning Director.
Do you know any Agencies that would perceive Strategic Planning or Account Servicing as their strategic capability? Are there any Agencies that would view their Planners (who devise the strategies for clients' brands) or Account Service staff (who have direct contact with the customer and must make continual decisions that impact not only the client's satisfaction but also the efficiency and effectiveness of the project's delivery) as critical talent?
• In large pharmaceutical organizations, it is the researchers and clinicians who drive the development of “blockbuster drugs”.
• In the oil industry, it is the geologists and petroleum engineers who find and extract oil.
• In manufacturing, it is the machinists who perform precision manufacturing to Six Sigma standards.
• In retail, it is the inventory managers who get the right goods into the right stores at the right time.
• In a courier organization, it is the couriers who pick up and deliver packages.
• In a Disney amusement park, it can be the street sweepers who are in touch with millions of customers every year.
According to Becker, Huselid, and Beatty (The Differentiated Workforce), the process of identifying critical positions begins with two questions:
1. How will we compete (the firm’s strategic choice)?
2. What must we do exceptionally well to win (the firm’s strategic capabilities)?
For Advertising Agencies, the strategic choice (operational excellence, product leadership, and customer intimacy) tends to be unclear whereas creativity is the most frequently referred to strategic capability.
Hence, for an Advertising Agency, Creatives (Copywriters, Art Directors, and Creative Directors) that are particularly exceptional in originating new concepts and ideas are the critical talent.
As a result and in line with Becker, Huselid, and Beatty recommendations, Creatives enjoy differentiated access to resources, development opportunities, and rewards. A few examples include:
1. When resources are short, there is usually an extra budget for a Freelancer to join a Creative team.
2. Account professionals are often told to keep Creatives' happy, inspire them, and make their jobs easier.
3. Creatives get to go to international Award Shows.
4. A Creative Director may receive as much as twice the money that an Account Director or Planning Director.
Do you know any Agencies that would perceive Strategic Planning or Account Servicing as their strategic capability? Are there any Agencies that would view their Planners (who devise the strategies for clients' brands) or Account Service staff (who have direct contact with the customer and must make continual decisions that impact not only the client's satisfaction but also the efficiency and effectiveness of the project's delivery) as critical talent?
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
A, B, and C Players (The Differentiated Workforce)
Adding on to my previous post on A, B, and C positions, here are some thoughts on the concept of A, B, and C players.
1. People believe that they give their best effort and deliver good performance. While self-confidence is abundant in China, self-awareness is scarce. As a result, staff has difficulty to realize that their performance is simply not good enough and hence often revert to blaming their Managers for partiality.
2. People prefer to be treated better than others or at least equally. Usually, high performers are proponents of high performance management systems, while low performers are against them. Nonetheless, when ambitions are incommensurate with skills, employees still expect healthy rewards. So the story goes, if you give one person a one month bonus, another person would expect a one month bonus as well. If you decide to recognize the two good performers out of three employees working in the same role, then you have a problem on your hands in China.
3. People will resign if they feel disappointed about the lack of appreciation/recognition or dissatisfied with staffing decisions. Resignations are an opportunity for the Company to upgrade the skills of their workforce. Though, in industries where most companies pursue stealing talent over training and developing it, one can find themselves without many Candidates to choose from. As talent is hard to find, it may be still better to have a poor/mediocre performer onboard instead of a vacant position. Then, a job done slower, less efficient, or with less quality is still better than no output at all.
4. People tend to be very protective of one another. Employees tend to be immune toward the weak performance of colleagues, particularly if they maintain a close social relationship. Thus, for some staff, execution alone and showing up to work already constitutes good performance. Consequently, performance-based terminations are viewed as a display of lack of sympathy toward the fired individual and not a result of their poor performance.
Finally, several questions arise regarding the implementation of A, B, and C positions:
• As real people, individuals have a high self-concept. How do you go around labeling someone a C player?
• Top talent wants to team up with top talent. Do A players really want to collaborate with B or C players (since A players in B and C positions are not affordable)? How do you keep A players motivated when you ask them to work together with B or C players as in this example, Creative Director (A player) works with relatively junior Account Service team challenged by high turnover rates and low professional capabilities?
• Can your company outsource all of the C positions?
1. People believe that they give their best effort and deliver good performance. While self-confidence is abundant in China, self-awareness is scarce. As a result, staff has difficulty to realize that their performance is simply not good enough and hence often revert to blaming their Managers for partiality.
2. People prefer to be treated better than others or at least equally. Usually, high performers are proponents of high performance management systems, while low performers are against them. Nonetheless, when ambitions are incommensurate with skills, employees still expect healthy rewards. So the story goes, if you give one person a one month bonus, another person would expect a one month bonus as well. If you decide to recognize the two good performers out of three employees working in the same role, then you have a problem on your hands in China.
3. People will resign if they feel disappointed about the lack of appreciation/recognition or dissatisfied with staffing decisions. Resignations are an opportunity for the Company to upgrade the skills of their workforce. Though, in industries where most companies pursue stealing talent over training and developing it, one can find themselves without many Candidates to choose from. As talent is hard to find, it may be still better to have a poor/mediocre performer onboard instead of a vacant position. Then, a job done slower, less efficient, or with less quality is still better than no output at all.
4. People tend to be very protective of one another. Employees tend to be immune toward the weak performance of colleagues, particularly if they maintain a close social relationship. Thus, for some staff, execution alone and showing up to work already constitutes good performance. Consequently, performance-based terminations are viewed as a display of lack of sympathy toward the fired individual and not a result of their poor performance.
Finally, several questions arise regarding the implementation of A, B, and C positions:
• As real people, individuals have a high self-concept. How do you go around labeling someone a C player?
• Top talent wants to team up with top talent. Do A players really want to collaborate with B or C players (since A players in B and C positions are not affordable)? How do you keep A players motivated when you ask them to work together with B or C players as in this example, Creative Director (A player) works with relatively junior Account Service team challenged by high turnover rates and low professional capabilities?
• Can your company outsource all of the C positions?
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