Newbies in an Advertising Agency

Interview in Guang Gao Ren, June 2009

1. What selection processes do you have in place?
Each week, we receive around 100 CVs from 8 recruitment channels. About 20% of all applicants successfully pass the first screening. We screen out "job hoppers" with 4 or more jobs within the last three years.
A well-written, engaging, and creatively formatted CV in English always attracts our attention. It proves a candidate’s attention to detail, standards of excellence, self-promotion skills, organizational and preparation proficiency, and writing ability.
Shortlisted candidates are then invited to participate in our rigorous selection process that involves 3 interviews, a practical assignment, and a psychometric assessment that allows us to determine in what way the candidate can complement the existing team.
The interview portion is an opportunity for the candidates to talk about their background, previous successes, and ambitions. We ask relevant behavioral questions to explore each person’s personality, motivations, and natural talents. We are highly interested in candidates that are able to hold a conversation and maintain the interviewers’ attention, demonstrate creativity and curiosity with a questioning mind, and have a passionate and team oriented approach to work and life. We also pay close attention to whether the candidate has prepared diligently for this interview; what and how much they know about us, what sort of questions they have asked and prepared, etc.
For the practical assignment, we typically give each candidate a mock client brief and ask them to come back a week later to present their ideas to a team.
For positions in the Creative Department, we always review carefully the portfolios of the candidate's creative works collected over time.

2. What are your selection criteria for Newbies with no advertising experience?
We define "creativity" very broadly and believe that true creative talent comes from an inquisitive and critical mind, a passion for life, broad life and work experience, and a natural ability for connecting different ideas together. We welcome "out-of-the-box" thinkers and doers from various fields of expertise and career paths such as architects, designers, engineers, project managers, and more.
We are on the lookout for open-minded and ambitious talent with high integrity. We strongly prefer people with high English proficiency and transferable skills and aptitudes (e.g. time management skills, communication skills, organizational skills, teamwork spirit, initiative, etc.). Successful candidates also demonstrate a “can-do” spirit, an internal confidence rooted in a track record of past achievements, a positive attitude, commitment towards continuous learning, a strong work ethic, and a client orientation.
In addition to ensuring cultural fit, we base our hiring decisions on specific job and Agency-related criteria. As an example, for TBWA\, our Advertising and Strategy division that deals with large-scale project and retainer clients, we prefer talent who likes to cultivate a long-term relationship with one single client. However, in Agency.com, our Digital Marketing division that works on short-term projects, we need people who enjoy variety, are at ease with maintaining multiple client relationships, and thrive on exposure to various brands and individuals.
For these reasons, self-awareness is another important element for candidate’s to have in order to help both of us make better decisions.

3. What must Newbies learn at the beginning of their work in an Advertising Agency?
People interested in this industry should strongly consider joining an Advertisement Agency relatively early in their career life. It usually takes many years of on-the-job training and client exposure for one to get acquainted with the advertising craft and to later become an expert.
Newcomers to the industry need to quickly grasp an understanding of our Agency's processes, internal project management principles, and establish strong relationships with colleagues and clients. They also should become comfortable with our matrix structure, multidisciplinary nature of our projects, and working in large teams. The capability to adapt to and thrive in our fast paced, demanding, and sometimes ambiguous environment is also essential.
During the first few months at work, Newbies should concentrate on enhancing their professional skills (e.g. account management, design, research, etc.), learn to manage time, resource, and projects challenges effectively and efficiently, demonstrate high quality standards over and over again, and strive to understand the "essence" of the brands that they are working on.
All Newbies at TBWA\Group\China are required to learn and understand our language, our cultural glue, and our planning methodology - Disruption; and then be able to apply it to their work and way of working.

4. What kind of training do you provide to Newbies?
Training and development are strong pillars of our culture. All new hires at our Agency join our Orientation Program which aims to equip them with knowledge of all Agencies, Departments, and policies and procedures. During this program, new hires can also obtain a good grasp of our organizational history, mission, and values while meeting others. In addition, Line Managers are responsible for introducing newcomers to their team, reviewing our Agency manuals, going over performance expectation, and giving a briefing for the initial job assignment.
During the first three months, Newbies are trained on-the-job in all facets of daily project work; they may also attend all in-house training sessions and have access to our local and global training decks and self-study tools. After they successfully pass their probationary period, they become eligible for training programs organized together with TBWA\Asia Pacific and the Omnicom Group. For example, the Tiger Academy is our two-year training program geared to nurture leadership skills of our stars in the Account Service Department.
Last but not least, our multi-cultural and multi-national DNA provides employees a continuous flow of opportunities to enrich themselves creatively and intellectually and work with people from a wide range of cultural, educational, and geographic backgrounds.

HR Dilemmas

A high performance culture is sought after but promotions for key positions regularly arise because of politics instead of contributions.

Teamwork is encouraged and expected but the company operates in an individual-centric manner.

The company prioritizes promoting from within but there has been no succession planning with corresponding leadership and develop programs.

The company strives to minimize recruitment fees to search firms but does not develop adequate in-house recruitment capabilities.

The CEO pledges to provide 30-40 training hours annually per employee but the CFO institutes stringent guidelines to greatly minimize training expenditures.

HR staff is expected to shift from an operational expert to human capital partner but has not received additional training to learn new skills necessary to succeed in these new roles, i.e. translating customer expectations into employees’ behavior, executive coaching, data analysis, etc.

The company states "who we are" in all marketing collaterals but is unable to cascade this knowledge to all management levels; hence employees provide a lot of different answers as to what the corporate culture is.

The organization encourages staff to provide constant feedback but does not support application of tools (e.g. organizational climate surveys) to capture feedback systematically.

People are expected to think and act on-the-spot but there is a strong autocratic decision making process that does not empower people to take charge.

The company complains about the lack of talent but perceives any initiatives to enlarge the talent pool as too costly.

The organization recognizes Human Capital Management as highly essential and at the center of it all but places the HR team in some odd corner of the office with minimal visibility.

The HR Director is under every increasing pressure to demonstrate quick manpower results but does not have the authority to reward/penalize managers who exhibit exceptional/pathetic people management skills.

The HR Director must champion change and push forward the "people's" agenda but is too often one of the last to know about major changes and problems and is not kept "in the loop" until when all hell breaks loose.

How do you know that your HR Head knows your business?

During one of the recent HR forums, it became apparent that “knowing the business” has become a chief mantra of HR Heads in China. It is one of the prerequisites for getting a "seat on the board" and being recognized as a Business Partner by business managers.

So, what does it mean for the HR Head to “know the business”? Well, it means that he/she can answer the following questions:
• Who are three of our competitors and what are their competitive advantages?
• Who are the five major buyers in the markets that we serve?
• Which customers represent 80 percent of our revenues and profits?
• Whom do the customers perceive as "best" in our industry?
• Why do our target customers buy from us? What are their buying criteria?
• What are our future customers' needs and expectations?
• How do we ensure that our target customers have a positive customer experience?
• What do we do to build connectivity or intimacy with our target customers?
• Can you describe the culture of our organization?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of our organization?
• What are the economic, social, political, and technological influences that affect our industry?
• What future risks is our organization facing?
• What are the opportunities for the organization?
• What is the financial performance of our company and how has this changed over the past three years?
• Can you read a profit and loss statement?

Even if the HR Head can answer all of these key questions, it is still very important for them to apply this knowledge to their HR strategy and programs and to ensure proper execution with their HR team.

Recruitment Strategy and Execution

In-house recruiters in China aspire to do more and more strategic work while their individual execution is far from desirable. However, only a properly executed recruitment strategy will ensure a pipeline of high-quality Candidates and availability of helpful data for the HR team to increase operational efficiency and effectiveness of the department’s resource allocation.

Thus, recruiters must realize that in order for them to contribute to strategic decision making and an assessment of the recruitment strategy, they must start excelling at the execution role. To guide in-house recruiters on a path to success, ask them to incorporate the following activities in their daily work:
• Using established protocols in conducting recruitment.
• Observing all recruitment procedures rigorously.
• Assuring consistent collection of information.
• Maintaining cold call logs.
• Gathering and documenting all referral forms regardless of outcome.

After all, without sufficient and up-to-date information, strategic questions such as the ones listed below cannot be answered satisfactorily:
• Are we reaching the right talent?
• Are we in the right place?
• Is the right message being delivered?
• Are we delivering the message in the right manner?

Any strategy without proper execution is meaningless. In the same light, execution without a strategy is a mess.

Recruitment Strategy

A well-tuned recruitment strategy plays an essential role in improving and pushing overall performance. Hence, companies must invest sufficient time and resources to plan, implement, and assess their recruitment endeavors.

To formulate an effective recruitment strategy, take into account the following issues:
Target Group: Who is being targeted through the recruitment? What kind of Candidate is required?
A few suggestions:
• Hire from outside the industry on a routine basis for all levels.
• Hire Entrepreneurs to reinforce an entrepreneurial spirit.
• Hire Professors during slow periods of the academic year to bring in forward thinking approaches and systems.
• Hire people from the military or police for positions that require consistency, efficiency, and follow-through.
• Go after talented people that are considered non-traditional talent such as retirees, part-timers, and stay-at-home mothers.
• Introduce the usage of interim management to bring in fresh perspectives, unbiased advice, and top talent for tackling specific project challenges.

Advertising: Where should recruitment information be posted and distributed? Which channels should be used in regards to the different positions?
A few suggestions:
• Diversify recruitment channels.
• Assess the costs of each recruitment channel against the number of applicants, number of applicants hired, and number of high performers onboard.
• Standardize design formats for online and offline recruitment advertising.

Recruiters: Does the company have top-notch recruiters? What skills do in-house recruiters need to be more effective?
A few suggestions:
• Hire staff that are passionate about the recruitment profession and not people that view it as a stepping stone to the HR Manager position.
• Hire researchers/junior consultants from recruitment agencies.
• Reward recruiters in proportion to the value they create. Every time an in-house recruiter is used instead of an executive search firm, the company achieves significant savings.
• Keep recruiters busy with recruitment work only.

Selection process: What is the recruitment process in detail from start to finish? How many interviews should Candidates attend?
A few suggestions:
• Introduce role-plays in the selection process to see how Candidates react and think on the spot.
• Bring back the top 5 Candidates and have them work on a difficult team project for half-a-day; look to see what roles people flourish in and what the company's needs are.
• Ask Candidates to prepare a presentation or write a speech according to a brief to assess individual thinking style, communication skills, and persuasiveness.
• Test Candidates' creativity; this is all too often forgotten but is what every company is searching for in the battle to innovate. Also look for creative solutions that Candidates have contemplated and executed in their previous jobs.

CFO and HR Head Don't Mix

There are many industries in China where the CFO prides him/herself with overseeing not only Finance and Accounting departments, but also the HR department, the Admin department, and the IT department. At the same time though, the CFO does not seem to be entirely responsible and accountable for the quality and results of the HR function and the HR team they assemble. This is the status quo and even the most creative companies will not disrupt this bizarre and ill-advised reality.

For a deep-seated change to arise, shareholders and the CEO must understand the significant price of entrusting a numbers cruncher with power and authority over an HR department that is expected to drive leadership development, talent management, and a high-performance culture. Major issues include:

1. Mediocre Leadership
The CFO rarely has the time to guide human capital management. As their title suggests, the CFO is consumed with finance and accounting matters of an organization.

It is difficult for the CFO to successfully balance finance/accounting and HR/talent as these are diverging activities and require different knowledge and skills. Furthermore, the HR team's effort to develop human capital of the organization (investment) clashes with the Finance team's focus on lowering expenses (savings).

2. Mediocre Framework
The CFO rarely has the know-how of human resources management in areas such as hiring and selection, staffing, training, organizational structure, and employee engagement to drive an organization's people agenda. So, the CFO tends to ask one-dimensional questions and therefore lacks a talent-oriented perspective in many HR matters. Consider the different perspectives of the CFO and HR Head on the following HR responsibilities:

Hiring and selection
• CFO: How much does it cost to get the Candidate onboard?
• HR Head: Does the Candidate have the skills and talents required to execute our strategy?

Staffing
• CFO: How large is the total workforce budget?
• HR Head: Which segments of the workforce create the value for which we are most rewarded in the marketplace?

Training
• CFO: How big is the training budget?
• HR Head: What training does the organization need to garner skills and talents to deliver our strategy and what skills will we need over the next five years that we do not currently possess?

Organizational structure
• CFO: Do we really need additional headcount, can 50 percent of our workforce work 15 minutes harder each day?
• HR Head: How can I help my people be more productive?

Employee engagement
• CFO: Who will pay for it?
• HR Head: What programs shall we institute to increase employee engagement and involvement?

Consequently, HR departments in China are left with no guidance in the War for Talent and instead continue to do what the CFO does best, ensure legal compliance, save money when hiring, rewarding, and terminating people, and above all, administer, administer, and administer.

3. Meager Commitment and Accountability
In their own choice of words, the CFO tends to separate him/herself from the HR department by referring to the HR team as "they" and not as "we". Furthermore, the CFO does not fully accept responsibility for the HR department's focus on lower-end HR tasks and does not see him/herself accountable for HR function's lack of skills and capabilities to manage and optimize human capital.

4. Inferior ROI
The CFO's salary and perks is partly justified with his/her supervision of the HR function. However, the HR department is rarely managed to add value to the bottom-line. Thus, the HR function’s Return on Investment does not materialize. Thus, organizations would be better off by committing a share of their total budget to a skilled professional with 100% concentration toward the talent agenda.

No doubt, the CFO can oversee a HR department that focuses on rewards and benefits and HR operating efficiency. But, when it comes to people related strategic issues such as leadership development, talent management, and workforce productivity, the CFO needs to either go back to school or open the door for a talent minded HR Head that first and foremost represents “talent” in management meetings.

The Inconvenience of People Metrics

Even in a stagnant economy, top management rarely questions their responsibility to deliver revenue and profit. However, when it comes to people metrics, management remains reluctant to push for and overtake them and be held personally accountable for realizing improvements. For example, being responsible for voluntary staff turnover of over 40 percent seems bizarre to executives in China and instead they resort to common excuses as these: “This is normal for our industry” or “It is part of doing business”. Other questionable excuses include:
• (Regarding reasons for leaving) There is always a company that will pay more. We did not intend to keep them anyway; we do not think that they deserve any promotion or salary increase. Their expectations do not match their skills.
• (Regarding unsatisfactory employee satisfaction scores) We did not have 100 percent participation in the employee survey; so, we did not really get a full picture here and people probably did not understand the questions.
• (Regarding the low amount of training hours per employee) We train on-the job primarily. We have no time for in-class training. Our client meetings always overlap with training times.

Under such circumstances, a hands-on and strong HR function that tracks and calls for Managers’ co-responsibility for people metrics would create enormous headaches for one-dimensional senior management. Therefore, a weak and supportive HR function is preferred by many in power positions. In addition, a mediocre HR department is easier to staff and unable to measure people metrics in the first place. So, the problem is solved and solving problems is a Manager’s primary duty after all. Until of course, a bigger problem arises; the talent in the company has dwindled greatly, workforce apathy is all around, recruitment costs have gone out of control, and the company's reputation has suffered. Now, there are no more quick, easy, and cheap fixes; the competition has soared past your organization.