DEFINING YOUR REQUIRMENTS FOR THE RECRUITMENT NEED

By Mr. Alfred Shum, Chairman & CEO

Mr. Shum founded Onpress 9 years ago and expanded this recruitment and pharmaceutical services business from a one-man band to 15 staff with 3 offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.  He is a master’ s graduate in biochemistry and MBA from Sydney Australia, has worked for many well known multinational companies in senior management roles, and is a popular speaker and writer on China, recruitment and pharmaceutical issues in international forums.  He has recruited many senior managers and technical specialists across many industries in China and Asia.

This is the second article written by the author; it is the second chapter of a book entitled “Kissing-The-Frog-Syndrome, Hiring Chinese Nationals: Some Observations and Tips”.

“People are the most valuable assets of any organization”!  Many people pay “lip service” to this saying; but it is very true indeed!  For instance, take a Sales Representative in an organization of 500 employees and sales volume of Rmb500 million in the FMCG field.  This Sales Representative may be responsible for Rmb3-5 million sales per year; his total annual income and employment costs may be Rmb80-160K per year. If you hire an average Sales Representative, you might pay him Rmb80K p.a., and his revenue contributions might be Rmb3 million.  On the other hand, if you hire an outstanding Sales Representative, you might have to pay him Rmb160K p.a., but his contributions might be Rmb5 million.  Obviously, any boss would wish to hire the more expensive but more productive Sales Representative.  And essentially, this is the economics of the hiring exercise!

Defining your requirements

What type of positions do you need in the next 12, 24, 36…months in order to meet the company’s objectives?
Is this a replacement for someone who has resigned, or a new position?
How does this recruitment align with the company’s human resource planning?
How many positions do you need in this time frame?
What are the specific skills and talents do you require for these positions?
What are the staffing costs?

Based on our experience, there are two types of recruitment needs. One is the replacement type, i.e., someone in the organization has resigned, and it has been decided that a replacement will be required.  The other is the new position type, i.e., the recruitment need is the result of a planned activity.  Based on our 9 years’ experience in this field, there is approx. 50/50 split between these two types.

There are usually 2 or 3 parties involved in meeting this need. Firstly, the Hiring Manager must be involved, then the HR Manager of the organization, and depending on the seniority of the position to be filled, the CEO of the organization might get involved.  Up to this point, we would have the identity of the Hiring Manager; in most cases, we would have a Job Description and other details associated with that position such as:

•     Salary package; a range, including minimum, maximum, mid-point; base salary, bonus/incentive scheme; benefits, etc.

•     The appointee’s experience, skills, qualities

•     The time frame of this need, i.e. when will the new hire commence duty; one needs to allow 2 to 6 months for this to happen, because of the processes involved in recruitment, interviewing (many Hiring Managers and CEOs might be traveling), negotiation, resignation (at least one month in China, and sometimes up to 3 months for senior jobs), etc.

•     Off-limit lists, i.e., organizations from whom the appointee may not be drawn

The interviewing and selection process

We have completed an assignment for a replacement position within 10 working days, because the Hiring Manager knew exactly what he wanted and tried his best to get things moving.  On the other hand, we have cases where no one within the organization wants to shoulder any responsibilities, therefore the recruitment needs are not met, and when it is met, we have not been paid for the concluded assignment as promised.

Decide on the method of recruitment

Assuming that there is a budget for this recruitment need, then one has to consider the various options on the method of recruitment.
Advertise through the print media?
Advertise through the internet?
Advertise by word-of-mouth, and through the internal or personal network?
Assign the recruitment to a Search Firm? Selection and negotiation with a Search Firm?

Usually, the two deciding factors are the cost of recruitment and the urgency.

If urgency is not an issue, many organizations tend to use the networking situation, the word-of-mouth method, or even the internet recruitment route in order to save recruitment costs.  However, one word of caution for this approach, that is, you might not be able to target the total candidate universe and select the most suitable candidate for the job.  Our example earlier can illustrate this point very well.  Another example: one hires a logistics manager because the Hiring Manager knows this person, and he saves the company Rmb80K for the recruitment costs.  However, after 6 months on the job, the Hiring Manager discovers that this appointee is not the right person for the job, and he has to sack him and goes through the recruitment exercise again.  In this example, the Hiring Manager has done a dis-service to the appointee, to the company, and perhaps has incurred a monetary loss for his company; all these might add up to Rmb500K!  And when you compare Rmb80K with Rmb500K, the arithmetic is quite simple and clear.

The traditional approach Vs The creative approach

Let’s assume that a position has the shape of a square, and that the shape of an appointee is that of a circle.  Traditionally, one’s approach is to find an suitable appointee in the shape of a circle and fit this person into a square position; obviously there are difficulties fore this fit, for now and the future.  A creative person might think; let’s define the job requirements in terms of a function, and let’s find a suitable person, who will meet our requirements in terms of corporate culture, core competencies, personality traits, etc., and then we will try to get this person to do the function for us, i.e., fit the job into this person!

Based on our experience, it is infinitely better in terms of fit, opportunity cost, human development, organizational effectiveness, for a job to fit a person, than the other way around.

Therefore, there is indeed a creative way of defining your requirements!