The Right First Hire Decides So Much
SHI Group has news for Western Companies looking to make the right first hire in China. We also have news for those who wonder why their China operation is not great.
SHI Group had a customer who often wins awards doe being the best place to work in his state. In China, his company is the worst to work for among foreign owned companies we know in China.
The Chinese manager is super selfish. He kisses up to the Western Owner, and is the owner’s window into China. However, he distorts the owner’s view of China. The owner is very good to the Chinese manager and is completely transparent with him. We cannot find any space between the owner and the Chinese manager. Result is he always believes the Chinese manager when he says Chinese workers are not very good. See also First time recruiting success.
The Right First Hire Decides So Much Indeed
The truth is Chinese workers that the Chinese manager hires are. He makes sure to hire weak people and he is always the irreplaceable leader. When he interviews, if he sees that someone is quite smart or an independent thinker, he will make an excuse for why they are not suitable for the Chinese team. The Western owner never knows what great hires he has missed out on.
The owner reached out to my company directly as some positions seemed to never get filled. He met with me together with the Chinese manager. I told them we make sure every hire is the right hire. The Chinese manager asked me about the problem of people arriving highly motivated but a few months later they lose all motivation. I was shocked. It definitely means the boss is mean to them. I soft pedaled that and thought the owner would see why he always has a weak China team. He did not and the recruiting project was a mess. Every good person we introduced got shot down or treated badly by the Chinese manager in the first round, so they never made it to the owner.