Vagueness and Deception in China Hiring
We find that vagueness and deception in China hiring are a big problem. Gene Hsu helpfully notes that Chinese people do not mean what they say with people they are unfamiliar. This would be like an interview for example. Note this quote from his LinkedIn post.
In Chinese culture, people don’t say what they mean or say what they mean in a literal sense. Instead, imagine deconstructing an abstract wordsmith game for hidden meanings…where the objective is to discern true intentions against deliberate vagueness and deception.
Some hiring managers play this game as well. It makes for a sad hiring environment. Who is to know who is real and who is trouble?
That was a question I asked in 1997 facing the first factory I led. I had an idea then but only a fuzzy way forward. It took me and my teams many wrong turns before all was clear.
The right people can be found, and the interview can be an aid when used as something less than the final word.
Deception in China Hiring Leads to Efforts to Get Lucky
We defy anyone who says they can know someone enough in a one hour meeting. We have seen people say they know people in just 15 minutes. Our real data usually silences such talk, but occasionally even these people get lucky.
We are glad to say that no one needs to despair at seeing the quote above. Chinese culture is opaque, and they like it that way. Real data makes hiring managers smart.
SHI Group is deep in the weeds on such issues. We have diligently found real data on countless people and also unfortunately have experience finding our real data was not real after all. The hardest is when we work hard to get to the actual boss reference and can not get him or her to be honest either. Just the same, real data can be found, and it brings light to the opaque world of hiring here in China.