Family owned or operated businesses (private or public) and corporations with non-family members like to refer to themselves as a "family“ and this being the main building block for the corporate culture. You will hear and read, "we are like a big family" in their corporate literature, employer branding campaign, and from employee statements.
Whereas social and religious conservatives often use the term "family values" to promote a conservative ideology, businesses refer to "family" to demonstrate moving away from a command and control management approach.
In most instances however, organizations are selective about which elements of the "family values" they overtake and promote. More often than not, families are fueled by feelings rather than performance, forgiveness rather than accountability, and conformity rather than thinking outside-of-the-box. The problem for businesses is that sustainable organizations thrive on performance, accountability, and creative thinking.
Importantly as well, families tend to be hierarchical, particularly based on seniority, and instill self-control and moral obligations while demanding respect, discipline, and attentiveness. While the former is unavoidable, the latter is an ideal to strive for in the majority of organizations. Only the strongest cultures can however inspire and engage their employees.
Hence, the corporate concept of "family" primarily refers to how people communicate and interact internally. Associated beliefs include being loyal and trustworthy, caring for each other, and spending time together (including after work). In a way, being a "family" is a promise for a more supportive and less formal/cut-throat environment. In such organizations, employees know more about co-workers than they need to in order to perform well. They become pals.
Secondly, the "family" values in corporate context are particularly visible during two extreme stages of an employee's lifecycle; attraction (apparent in the employer brand promise of a compelling workplace) and separation (demonstrated primarily through alumni networks, e.g. BBH’s blacklist).
One final point, redundancy can become a major issue and limitation for the "family" concept at corporations. Though the concept of “family” differ across cultures, families around the globe have one thing in common, it is a bond that cannot be broken. When the family is struggling, family members are expected to hold things together and to help each other out. Excluding family members is taboo and hardly ever the question. Lay offs are common practice at many different “corporate families”.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Engagement at the Expense of Personal Time
At Dun and Bradstreet, a great personnel policy aimed at protecting employees’ personal time has been introduced. Meetings cannot be scheduled on Mondays or Fridays if it requires people to travel over the weekend. This policy came into effect to demonstrate that the company cares and values people employees' free time .
In China such thinking is yet to come. Meanwhile, foreign companies like to promote the “work hard, play hard” philosophy expecting hard work and long hours as well as attendance of company organized “leisure activities”. After hours events are often an integral part of the company’s culture and engagement approach. In addition, managers sponsor these activities in order to improve team work and team spirit or to generally bring about more communication and friendships between foreign and local employees. Going out after work sometimes serves as a form of recognition for good team results.
After work socializing is often fueled by an expat manager's small circle of friends and lack of his/her family members in China. However, it is also sought out by Chinese employees as long as it is not too often and does not conflict with their private life such as the Friday family dinner. Eating together is a central element of Chinese culture and is considered a bonding endeavor.
Most of the time, departmental budgets support these activities. However, employees are sometimes expected to spend their own money. Since splitting the bill at the restaurant is fairly uncommon in China, each month a different team member may be expected to play the “host” and cover the evenings’ expenses.
Over time, many companies have started to realize that differences in taste between Expats and Locals cannot be successfully addressed during just one outing. As a result, some employees find excuses and do not attend . In turn, this low attendance causes a certain amount of resentment among management who feels that their generosity and efforts toward generating a "fun" workplace goes unnoticed.
Are the company activities after working hours really a payback employees expect?
In China such thinking is yet to come. Meanwhile, foreign companies like to promote the “work hard, play hard” philosophy expecting hard work and long hours as well as attendance of company organized “leisure activities”. After hours events are often an integral part of the company’s culture and engagement approach. In addition, managers sponsor these activities in order to improve team work and team spirit or to generally bring about more communication and friendships between foreign and local employees. Going out after work sometimes serves as a form of recognition for good team results.
After work socializing is often fueled by an expat manager's small circle of friends and lack of his/her family members in China. However, it is also sought out by Chinese employees as long as it is not too often and does not conflict with their private life such as the Friday family dinner. Eating together is a central element of Chinese culture and is considered a bonding endeavor.
Most of the time, departmental budgets support these activities. However, employees are sometimes expected to spend their own money. Since splitting the bill at the restaurant is fairly uncommon in China, each month a different team member may be expected to play the “host” and cover the evenings’ expenses.
Over time, many companies have started to realize that differences in taste between Expats and Locals cannot be successfully addressed during just one outing. As a result, some employees find excuses and do not attend . In turn, this low attendance causes a certain amount of resentment among management who feels that their generosity and efforts toward generating a "fun" workplace goes unnoticed.
Are the company activities after working hours really a payback employees expect?
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
More on Recruitment of Creatives
At Powell's Books in Portland, I picked up a book entitled, “Pick Me. Breaking into Advertising and Staying There” by Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin, Chief Creative Officers at Ogilvy, Toronto. This book is a great resource for college advertising students and fresh graduates. I read the book looking for authors’ viewpoints on HR's role in an Agency.
Result: almost nil. HR had been reduced to in-house recruitment and external headhunting and by all means was not presented as a partner to the Creative Directors (CD) or a contact point for job seekers.
In the authors’ experience, “most of headhunters don’t know a great book from an okay one”. They further imply that in-house recruiters do not do their job right given that student “letters are getting lost in the big stack of mail that’s full of resumes".
According to Vonk & Kestin, headhunters can be, however, helpful in passing one’s CV to the CD and assessing what one is worth given their good understanding of salary benchmarks (p.77). But, they “don’t play much of a role in placing juniors” nor the very best creatives. The latter are “well known, and the CD often contacts them directly” (p.171). There were no good remarks on in-house screeners “a necessary evil at some big places” (p.44) either,
Instead, the authors suggest outsmarting HR. For example, the aspiring copywriter or art director should try to get the CD’s attention – the only decision maker while aspiring account service pros should approach the managing director (“Try sending the managing director of the agency a reel of your favorite spots with a smart list of reasons why you like them so much (heavy on references to good strategies and consumer insights)” p.126).
I am not going to cry for HR folks, but seriously where does it leave us? Is this industry-specific?
Result: almost nil. HR had been reduced to in-house recruitment and external headhunting and by all means was not presented as a partner to the Creative Directors (CD) or a contact point for job seekers.
In the authors’ experience, “most of headhunters don’t know a great book from an okay one”. They further imply that in-house recruiters do not do their job right given that student “letters are getting lost in the big stack of mail that’s full of resumes".
According to Vonk & Kestin, headhunters can be, however, helpful in passing one’s CV to the CD and assessing what one is worth given their good understanding of salary benchmarks (p.77). But, they “don’t play much of a role in placing juniors” nor the very best creatives. The latter are “well known, and the CD often contacts them directly” (p.171). There were no good remarks on in-house screeners “a necessary evil at some big places” (p.44) either,
Instead, the authors suggest outsmarting HR. For example, the aspiring copywriter or art director should try to get the CD’s attention – the only decision maker while aspiring account service pros should approach the managing director (“Try sending the managing director of the agency a reel of your favorite spots with a smart list of reasons why you like them so much (heavy on references to good strategies and consumer insights)” p.126).
I am not going to cry for HR folks, but seriously where does it leave us? Is this industry-specific?
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Year of the Tiger – HR Shift
In Chinese zodiac, the year of the Tiger is traditionally associated with massive changes. To remain ahead of the game, here are a few ways that companies in Mainland China should consider:
1. Make a call for HR contribution to the organization’s productivity and capabilities. For most management teams, putting more emphasis on HR means realizing tangible and monetary deliverables. Reduction of recruitment costs seems to be the next and most relevant frontier. Building strong in-house recruitment arm with their own high caliber headhunters is financially sound, especially as recruitment fees to external recruiters have skyrocketed as talent is scare in China. However, this strategy does not solve the long term issue of developing talent and making it more effective. Net net, retention could be much cheaper than recruitment.
2. Shift focus on building talent. Long-term workforce planning involves identifying and nurturing junior talent particularly fresh out of college. The ‘big four’ and even some local Chinese companies realize the importance of an aggressive approach and surpass other people businesses in this respect. Each year in November these organizations put the senior students to a series of interviews and tests. Once this process concludes, employment contracts are signed and the "workforce newbies" are expected to start after their graduation in May of the following year.
3. Fill in your teamwork approach with substance. Pulling together as a team is a central element of motivational speeches by many companies’ leaders. However, bonuses tend to be based on individual performance and enormous discrepancies in pay tend to prevail. Both of them prevent employees from believing that everybody is "in the same boat". For all employees to feel valuable and more valued, status, pay, perks, and other privileges should be reviewed and according to Jeffrey Pfeiffer (1998, The human equation: building profits by putting people first) reduced. As an example, Whole Foods Market introduced a policy limiting executive compensation to ten times the average full-time salary of all team members; disruptive?
Culturally speaking, the concept of teamwork must also be reviewed critically in Mainland China. Surprisingly, current experimental research suggests that Chinese tend to avoid team-based performance measures and self-sacrifices in favor of the team. This goes to show that collectivism of Chinese culture does not automatically translate into cooperation and teamwork in the workplace.
4. Decentralize decision-making. The words “empowerment” and “to empower” are often misused. For example, companies believe that by having a suggestion box, employees will feel more empowered to put their ideas forward. Leaders also tend to believe that making the company’s proprietary tools available to employees and offering training so that employees can do their daily work constitutes empowerment. Well, empowerment is first and foremost about enabling non-managerial staff to make autonomous decisions without consulting their supervisor.
The best examples for empowering staff arise from the hospitality industry. Hampton Inn Hotel instituted a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee and thereby permitted employees to do whatever was required to make their guests happy (for example, giving money back for the cost of one night’s stay at the hotel should guests find shortcomings in service). At the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, employees have the discretion to spend up to US$ 2,500 without any approval in order to respond to guest complaints. (Pfeiffer, 1998)
For those in "people" businesses in China, the question is what the scope of the decisions is and whether or not employees have the skills and knowledge to make those decisions.
1. Make a call for HR contribution to the organization’s productivity and capabilities. For most management teams, putting more emphasis on HR means realizing tangible and monetary deliverables. Reduction of recruitment costs seems to be the next and most relevant frontier. Building strong in-house recruitment arm with their own high caliber headhunters is financially sound, especially as recruitment fees to external recruiters have skyrocketed as talent is scare in China. However, this strategy does not solve the long term issue of developing talent and making it more effective. Net net, retention could be much cheaper than recruitment.
2. Shift focus on building talent. Long-term workforce planning involves identifying and nurturing junior talent particularly fresh out of college. The ‘big four’ and even some local Chinese companies realize the importance of an aggressive approach and surpass other people businesses in this respect. Each year in November these organizations put the senior students to a series of interviews and tests. Once this process concludes, employment contracts are signed and the "workforce newbies" are expected to start after their graduation in May of the following year.
3. Fill in your teamwork approach with substance. Pulling together as a team is a central element of motivational speeches by many companies’ leaders. However, bonuses tend to be based on individual performance and enormous discrepancies in pay tend to prevail. Both of them prevent employees from believing that everybody is "in the same boat". For all employees to feel valuable and more valued, status, pay, perks, and other privileges should be reviewed and according to Jeffrey Pfeiffer (1998, The human equation: building profits by putting people first) reduced. As an example, Whole Foods Market introduced a policy limiting executive compensation to ten times the average full-time salary of all team members; disruptive?
Culturally speaking, the concept of teamwork must also be reviewed critically in Mainland China. Surprisingly, current experimental research suggests that Chinese tend to avoid team-based performance measures and self-sacrifices in favor of the team. This goes to show that collectivism of Chinese culture does not automatically translate into cooperation and teamwork in the workplace.
4. Decentralize decision-making. The words “empowerment” and “to empower” are often misused. For example, companies believe that by having a suggestion box, employees will feel more empowered to put their ideas forward. Leaders also tend to believe that making the company’s proprietary tools available to employees and offering training so that employees can do their daily work constitutes empowerment. Well, empowerment is first and foremost about enabling non-managerial staff to make autonomous decisions without consulting their supervisor.
The best examples for empowering staff arise from the hospitality industry. Hampton Inn Hotel instituted a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee and thereby permitted employees to do whatever was required to make their guests happy (for example, giving money back for the cost of one night’s stay at the hotel should guests find shortcomings in service). At the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, employees have the discretion to spend up to US$ 2,500 without any approval in order to respond to guest complaints. (Pfeiffer, 1998)
For those in "people" businesses in China, the question is what the scope of the decisions is and whether or not employees have the skills and knowledge to make those decisions.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Talent Challenges in China
Once the hiring test is passed, working with Chinese employees presents other challenges.
Fragile Egos. Ba Ling Hou (the generation born in the 1980s) is the first Chinese generation after the introduction of the one-child policy. Growing up as the center of their family, these so-called “little emperors” are generally more self-centered and more individualistic than their parents. They tend to be less political than the older generation of employees and less receptive to hierarchy. However, this generation is more receptive and adaptive to Western style management. Those who gain a foothold in MNCs have oftentimes exceeded their peers in academic achievements and hence expect to win the race for higher pay, position, and title. These young Chinese employees are also smart, outgoing, and want to be independent. However, they did not necessarily learn how to cope with failures, exercise judgment, make decisions, and be a part of the team.
Unrealistic Expectations. Frequently, Chinese employees have high expectations and exhibit an attitude of “I disserve it” without reflection about their skills and abilities. Employees believe that they should be entrusted with interesting and challenging tasks, promoted, and offered better compensation and benefits packages at least on an annual basis. These high expectations are often fueled by open discussion and comparisons of their packages with colleagues, college peers, and friends. However, since status is very important in Chinese circles, a promotion or even a change in title without a change in duties can satisfy Chinese employees more than any other perk. But keep in mind that such promotions can backfire too. As a real life example, a 22 year old employee refused to report to a 25-year old manager with the argument that the manager was too young and did not know much more than the employee. The employee did not see how she could be successfully trained and mentored by a person from the same age group.
Weak Loyalty. In the US, the average length of time an employee stays in a job used to be five to six years. In China, it is two years. It is worst among Western trained and English fluent Chinese professionals who make "hopping around" from one international company to another a sport. Employees view employers as stepping stones to become more marketable in the future. As one applicant explained to me, referring to the question “How long do you envision yourself staying in this company?”,“The relationship between me and the company is give and take, if it works well for both of us, I’ll stay. If the company falls short, then I will need to leave”.
The Glass Ceiling. As much as employees desire to work for international companies, they perceive a glass ceiling in these organizations. Only a talent localization strategy can help eliminate employees’ fear of the “glass ceiling”. To execute it properly, coach-type Expatriates must be hired with the brief to share knowledge and mentor local staff.
What Vacation? The culture of a taking a vacation by Chinese employees is developing but is not there yet. Chinese prefer to take one day or even half-day annual leave on short notice with little consideration to work schedules, deadlines, and priorities as opposed to a vacation well planned in advance (as traditionally done in the West). Interestingly, annual leave is oftentimes used for interviewing at another employer. During my early consulting days, I was told that whenever an HP employee took leave on Tuesday morning; that meant they were interviewing at Microsoft.
Fragile Egos. Ba Ling Hou (the generation born in the 1980s) is the first Chinese generation after the introduction of the one-child policy. Growing up as the center of their family, these so-called “little emperors” are generally more self-centered and more individualistic than their parents. They tend to be less political than the older generation of employees and less receptive to hierarchy. However, this generation is more receptive and adaptive to Western style management. Those who gain a foothold in MNCs have oftentimes exceeded their peers in academic achievements and hence expect to win the race for higher pay, position, and title. These young Chinese employees are also smart, outgoing, and want to be independent. However, they did not necessarily learn how to cope with failures, exercise judgment, make decisions, and be a part of the team.
Unrealistic Expectations. Frequently, Chinese employees have high expectations and exhibit an attitude of “I disserve it” without reflection about their skills and abilities. Employees believe that they should be entrusted with interesting and challenging tasks, promoted, and offered better compensation and benefits packages at least on an annual basis. These high expectations are often fueled by open discussion and comparisons of their packages with colleagues, college peers, and friends. However, since status is very important in Chinese circles, a promotion or even a change in title without a change in duties can satisfy Chinese employees more than any other perk. But keep in mind that such promotions can backfire too. As a real life example, a 22 year old employee refused to report to a 25-year old manager with the argument that the manager was too young and did not know much more than the employee. The employee did not see how she could be successfully trained and mentored by a person from the same age group.
Weak Loyalty. In the US, the average length of time an employee stays in a job used to be five to six years. In China, it is two years. It is worst among Western trained and English fluent Chinese professionals who make "hopping around" from one international company to another a sport. Employees view employers as stepping stones to become more marketable in the future. As one applicant explained to me, referring to the question “How long do you envision yourself staying in this company?”,“The relationship between me and the company is give and take, if it works well for both of us, I’ll stay. If the company falls short, then I will need to leave”.
The Glass Ceiling. As much as employees desire to work for international companies, they perceive a glass ceiling in these organizations. Only a talent localization strategy can help eliminate employees’ fear of the “glass ceiling”. To execute it properly, coach-type Expatriates must be hired with the brief to share knowledge and mentor local staff.
What Vacation? The culture of a taking a vacation by Chinese employees is developing but is not there yet. Chinese prefer to take one day or even half-day annual leave on short notice with little consideration to work schedules, deadlines, and priorities as opposed to a vacation well planned in advance (as traditionally done in the West). Interestingly, annual leave is oftentimes used for interviewing at another employer. During my early consulting days, I was told that whenever an HP employee took leave on Tuesday morning; that meant they were interviewing at Microsoft.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The Weakest Link of a Customer Experience Team
For several years now, in-house customer experience teams have been mushrooming in the corporate world. They are responsible for ensuring positive customer experiences with the company or its services and products. There is also no shortage of consulting companies that can provide such services.
The work of any customer experience team requires a holistic view on issues customers care about. Multidisciplinary in nature, the work of customer experience teams centers around soliciting customer feedback, codifying customer journeys, and adjusting processes, systems, and technology. In addition, understanding and redefining organizational culture and talent requirements is also vital to the teams’ efforts.
A great example of a customer experience team is the one set-up by American Airlines. Pretty much all of the team’s initiatives are talent focused. Consider:
• Controlling ground delays and better informing customers when unexpected delays occur;
• Smoothly and more efficiently processing customers when boarding aircraft;
• Improving interactions with customers (including for example a new staff performance requirement to greet first-class passengers by name); and
• Efficiently handling baggage and quickly resolving issues with misplaced or misdirected bags.
The emergence of customer experience teams is an interesting trend. Customer experience teams are overtaking HR departments in generating and acting upon customer literacy as popularized in the book by Dave Ulrich and Wayne Brockbank, “The HR Value Proposition” (2005). As a result, the strategic contributions related to talent are now increasingly made outside of the HR department. Another trend is blending strategic HR and talent management with the authority of Chief Operations Officer.
Consequently, HR is increasingly losing (yet another chance?) edge to impact the people agenda whereas their administrative efforts only seem to increase day-by-day.
For HR to add value to the business:
• HR needs to be proactive in helping line managers build the organization's core capability;
• HR must contribute to strategic conversations; and
• HR must take a hold off and lead costumer experience teams (presently dominated by professionals with backgrounds in Operations, Marketing, and IT).
The work of any customer experience team requires a holistic view on issues customers care about. Multidisciplinary in nature, the work of customer experience teams centers around soliciting customer feedback, codifying customer journeys, and adjusting processes, systems, and technology. In addition, understanding and redefining organizational culture and talent requirements is also vital to the teams’ efforts.
A great example of a customer experience team is the one set-up by American Airlines. Pretty much all of the team’s initiatives are talent focused. Consider:
• Controlling ground delays and better informing customers when unexpected delays occur;
• Smoothly and more efficiently processing customers when boarding aircraft;
• Improving interactions with customers (including for example a new staff performance requirement to greet first-class passengers by name); and
• Efficiently handling baggage and quickly resolving issues with misplaced or misdirected bags.
The emergence of customer experience teams is an interesting trend. Customer experience teams are overtaking HR departments in generating and acting upon customer literacy as popularized in the book by Dave Ulrich and Wayne Brockbank, “The HR Value Proposition” (2005). As a result, the strategic contributions related to talent are now increasingly made outside of the HR department. Another trend is blending strategic HR and talent management with the authority of Chief Operations Officer.
Consequently, HR is increasingly losing (yet another chance?) edge to impact the people agenda whereas their administrative efforts only seem to increase day-by-day.
For HR to add value to the business:
• HR needs to be proactive in helping line managers build the organization's core capability;
• HR must contribute to strategic conversations; and
• HR must take a hold off and lead costumer experience teams (presently dominated by professionals with backgrounds in Operations, Marketing, and IT).
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Hiring in China will test your patience
China is a unique cultural experience and this definitely extends into recruiting and hiring. What you consider to be common sense will not necessarily occur. Your patience will be put to the test.
Job Advertisements. Since working for foreign companies is still considered prestigious, Mainland Chinese are more likely to respond to job advertisements in English than in Chinese; irrespective of their English skills. But even if candidates demonstrate a high level of English, they will spend little time to review job descriptions and job requirements and may only know that the company is an international player. Furthermore, Chinese applicants believe in a numbers game; the more companies they apply to, the more likely they are to land a job. So, leaders in their industry can literally be overwhelmed with totally irrelevant applications.
Employee Referrals. Chinese Employees are very keen to refer their friends and former colleagues to fill open positions. Most of the time, they will forward a Resume of active candidates who they know, but not necessarily someone who excels at any key skill for a particular role. Rewarding such referrals financially with an employee referral award is probably a nice gesture, but in this society seems to be obsolete.
Resumes. Chinese like to oversell their skills and exaggerate their experience and knowledge. In addition, the majority of Resumes and cover letters are poorly worded. External recruiters tend to copy and paste Resumes of their candidates on the recruitment agency’s letterhead thereby taking care of the formatting; however, syntax and grammar mistakes still appear often.
Interviews. More than a few Chinese candidates will not bring along any copies of their Resume and may not even have a pen and paper with them to take notes. Late arrivals and not knowing the name of the interviewer is common as well. Annoying as it sounds; Candidates in China tend to leave their cell phones on and will not hesitate to pick it up once it rings. Other question that one needs to answer when recruiting in China is whether or not to consider candidates who come late to an interview or cancel it with every possible reason.
Communication Skills. “What’s your strength?” is one of those question that deliver no real value in getting to know the Chinese candidates. Communication skills are quoted most. Too often, everyone assumes strong language skills equate to being an effective communicator. However, even the best linguistic capability does not make one the best communicator. As a hint then, check candidates' “presentation skills” because this may be a good indicator for how well they convey concepts and ideas.
Salary Negotiations. When asked about their desired salary during the interviewing process, it is usual for candidates to express their net salary expectations (after all taxes and other government mandated contributions are subtracted).
Offer Acceptance. When making a decision whether or not to accept an offer, Chinese candidates living with their parents frequently consult both mam and dad. Salary is often the sole variable, parents are interested in. It is usual, particularly in Hong Kong, to contribute around US$500 to the household by the offspring as soon as they get their first job. A comprehensive assessment of the employee value proposition is missing. I once had a talk with one of young potentials who intended to leave the Agency lured by a higher package and title by the competitor. Only after she realized that her new manager is inferior to her current one, she changed her mind.
Job Advertisements. Since working for foreign companies is still considered prestigious, Mainland Chinese are more likely to respond to job advertisements in English than in Chinese; irrespective of their English skills. But even if candidates demonstrate a high level of English, they will spend little time to review job descriptions and job requirements and may only know that the company is an international player. Furthermore, Chinese applicants believe in a numbers game; the more companies they apply to, the more likely they are to land a job. So, leaders in their industry can literally be overwhelmed with totally irrelevant applications.
Employee Referrals. Chinese Employees are very keen to refer their friends and former colleagues to fill open positions. Most of the time, they will forward a Resume of active candidates who they know, but not necessarily someone who excels at any key skill for a particular role. Rewarding such referrals financially with an employee referral award is probably a nice gesture, but in this society seems to be obsolete.
Resumes. Chinese like to oversell their skills and exaggerate their experience and knowledge. In addition, the majority of Resumes and cover letters are poorly worded. External recruiters tend to copy and paste Resumes of their candidates on the recruitment agency’s letterhead thereby taking care of the formatting; however, syntax and grammar mistakes still appear often.
Interviews. More than a few Chinese candidates will not bring along any copies of their Resume and may not even have a pen and paper with them to take notes. Late arrivals and not knowing the name of the interviewer is common as well. Annoying as it sounds; Candidates in China tend to leave their cell phones on and will not hesitate to pick it up once it rings. Other question that one needs to answer when recruiting in China is whether or not to consider candidates who come late to an interview or cancel it with every possible reason.
Communication Skills. “What’s your strength?” is one of those question that deliver no real value in getting to know the Chinese candidates. Communication skills are quoted most. Too often, everyone assumes strong language skills equate to being an effective communicator. However, even the best linguistic capability does not make one the best communicator. As a hint then, check candidates' “presentation skills” because this may be a good indicator for how well they convey concepts and ideas.
Salary Negotiations. When asked about their desired salary during the interviewing process, it is usual for candidates to express their net salary expectations (after all taxes and other government mandated contributions are subtracted).
Offer Acceptance. When making a decision whether or not to accept an offer, Chinese candidates living with their parents frequently consult both mam and dad. Salary is often the sole variable, parents are interested in. It is usual, particularly in Hong Kong, to contribute around US$500 to the household by the offspring as soon as they get their first job. A comprehensive assessment of the employee value proposition is missing. I once had a talk with one of young potentials who intended to leave the Agency lured by a higher package and title by the competitor. Only after she realized that her new manager is inferior to her current one, she changed her mind.
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