12 Reasons Why Recruitment in China is Weak and What We Can Do
The State of Recruitment in China is not good, and I think I know why.
Recruitment in China
- Needs are great and true talent is highly limited
- Companies ask for the moon in qualifications and so candidates put that on the proposed resumes, but character takes a back seat, and the good placement batting average is poor and costly.
Companies:
- Go to big name recruiters because they are big name, but the big name recruiters are proposing people on resume qualifications (or key words)as fast as can be and disaster or muddled teams result
- Do it themselves and never consider what professional focus could do for them in this tight labor market
- Ask recruiters for more resumes, and they get more manicured resumes. Quality lags
- Use multiple recruiters and can not spend enough time clarifying need with each, and efficiency of the search is limited. This lowers efficiency of HR, hiring manager and recruiters together.
Recruiters:
- Agree to work when they do not have the man power, and do not inform the client beforehand
- Do not know or tell important facts for you to consider for the hire as want to place.
- Push their candidates on companies and do not care enough or know enough about the client.
Companies:
- Emphasize low cost and get low quality.
- Occasionally notice fit, but rarely consider the cost of workers whose yes may not be yes under pressure
- Start recruiting but do not engage the process and candidates lose interest as responses and overall process too slow and opaque
- Are not transparent with candidates and bad fit results. Um, I guess I have a baker’s dozen now.
Recently I have had some companies ask us to send some sample resumes. This is a kind of due diligence, and we respect that and comply. Companies should choose one recruiting company that they like and can trust and then clarify process and needs deeply with recruiter. More over, greater transparency on both sides makes the process better, but you must have a head hunter that you know and trust. Having a few possible back up head hunters is always useful for safety.
Other Weakness in Hiring in China
Also, many companies overate candidate pool. Having 50,000 vetted resumes in house is meaningless. Most searches are for some very specific skill and even 50,000 vetted resumes would not be enough. You often need all of China to find these people. 1.3 billion is a realistic pool. Furthermore, availability constantly changes. Easier searches are for people that turn over quickly. There is no way to keep even 100 vetted resumes fresh efficiently. Good candidates do not stay available long and do not flip jobs. Some companies map certain skills and who is in what desk. Do you really want them to know you that well. They must steal from you then if they are that tightly focused. Trust is so important. Pick one or two recruiters and go deep.