Sources
of
Experienced
Managers
1ST CHOICE
RECRUIT
FROM INSIDE
Most senior managers would agree that
elevating your own employees is preferable to hiring from outside.
Promoting from within rewards loyalty and
stability in your people, and motivates other employees to do what's
necessary to qualify for their own advancements.
Internal promotions also save on advertising and recruiting costs,
and the time involved in hiring process. Recruiting managers you have never worked with is naturally more
risky than working with people you know. You are already aware of
your own people’s strengths and weaknesses but have no idea how others will cope in your environment.
2ND CHOICE
RECRUIT FROM OUTSIDE
Sometimes hiring from the outside is necessary for management level positions. If
your organization is growing quickly or entering a new market, you
may not have time to develop veteran managers internally. Hiring experienced outside managers
will be the only option.
There are also times when a non-aligned person with new ideas will allow an organization to advance. A new person is less likely to be emotionally and politically tied to the past and can be perceived to make fair decisions regarding difficult problems.
1. Hire From Competitors
If what you need is industry experience, then the most obvious option is to recruit people from your industry. It is always worthwhile to consider hiring people with strong knowledge of and contacts in your
sector.
It is important to keep in mind that this needs to be done carefully and with sensitivity
to the competitor since you risk retributive action if you are seen to be attacking their businesses.
2. Hire From Related Industries
Companies that are
suppliers or clients of your business or others in your industry are often good sources of candidates since they often
experience working with your company and its competitors in ways
that are different and can bring fresh ideas and opportunities.
As above, it is important that the hiring process be done with
compassion for your
industry partners. One reckless hire can devastate your relationship with a client or supplier with negative consequences for years to come.
3. Hire From Unrelated Industries
People in some professions like finance, HR and IT have skills
that are transferable. It is common for them to move to
entirely different industries and still perform well. In functions like sales and operations, it is more
difficult for senior professionals to change industries. As an
example, it might be possible for a finance manager to move from a
heavy equipment company into cosmetics but a sales manager can’t.
Some industries are more related than they seem. For instance, many product-focused multinationals hire Country Managers whose main job is to oversee a sales & distribution network. Someone who has experience with
running a high-end confectionary business can sometimes be just as
good at branded garments.
4. Hiring Nearby Asians
Within Southeast Asia, it is becoming more common for Asian managers to move from one country to another.
In doing, they become able to work at international levels but
retain the streetwise sense of how business is done in Asia.
Malaysian
and Filipino managers, in particular, seem to do well almost anywhere.
Singaporeans have superb skills but don't always want to be posted
in less developed countries. Indonesians and Thai managers
can first-rate in their own countries but language abilities seem
to prevent them from being considered for outside
postings.
One hindrance
to relocating Asian managers to other countries within Southeast
Asia has to do with compensation expectations.
When
relocating for postings in Singapore or the Gulf region, it is common
for Malaysian and Filipino managers to receive double or triple
their current income levels.
Many have come to believe they should receive similar increases
when relocating to less prosperous countries. Clearly, few
developing countries within Southeast Asia can support such high
incomes. Therefore, work is required up-front to reduce income expectations.
5. Asian Returnees
Over the years, people from Southeast Asia have dispersed themselves throughout
the world. Adapting to any new country is difficult and not everyone is happy in their new homes.
It is
also natural for immigrants to have an inner longing to return to
their home country someday. The grim economic situation
in many so-called advanced countries has lately made this desire somewhat more intense than usual.
There are sizeable numbers of Vietnamese, Singaporeans and Malaysians throughout Asia, the Gulf region, and the west, and more than a few would be open to suitable opportunities in their home country. Ethnic Chinese and Indians originating from Southeast Asia are often a particularly open-minded group.
In absolute size, however, there is no group larger than the Filipinos. There are roughly 8M of these pleasant people working outside Philippines currently and this number includes much of
the country's middle and upper class elite.
There is strong demand for returnees since companies are more hesitant about relocating full
expatriates to emerging countries. Returnees are a better option since they are perceived to be able to adapt
quickly and are motivated to stay for the long-term.
Asian returnees at the management level are a bit more expensive than local candidates but not by much and they usually don’t expect expatriate benefits. Their main desire is to return to their home country and have a suitable job to go to.
6. “Local Expats”
A "local expat" is defined as a non-Asian who chooses to live in Asia for his or her own reasons.
Often, such people were posted as expatriates by previous
employers and decided to remain. Most local expatriates in
Asia are male -- it's a guy-friendly region -- and have married
Asian females.
Local
expatriates work at local terms but are usually compensated at
higher levels than local managers who lack international
experience. They are often stable employees since there are
perceived to be few job opportunities for expatriates in Asian
countries and job-hoppers are easily noticed and quickly
penalized.
There is strong demand for localized expatriates since they have already gone through the difficult
period of acclimatization and have proven success. The suitability of this group for management
positions varies tremendously from candidate to candidate.
7. Full Expatriates
Full
expatriates are those posted to Asia by their employers. It used to be standard that they were provided with luxurious housing, expensive private schools for children, annual fly-backs to their home country, country-clubs and
a hardship bonus. Today, these “standard benefits” are no longer standard
with most organizations.
Importing expatriates can be necessary if your business is a new concept in an emerging country since local management talent may not yet exist in ample supply. An expatriate may be the only option if a company is to ensure that a new branch office meets international standards.
In choosing people suitable for expatriate postings, there are many elements to consider. It has been found that people with
adventurous mind-sets and outgoing personalities are often better
suited. Managers who come from immigrant families or who grew up in ethnically diverse environments can
also be more adaptable to foreign cultures.
Another key element is the commitment of the expatriate’s family and,
in particular, the spouse. More often it is the trailing spouse rather than the expatriate who will disrupt the overseas posting. That person needs to be part of the determination process from an early stage.
HSBC is one company that has developed a superb cadre of international-track managers.
They recruit them early in their careers from different countries
across the world and mold them into HSBC bankers. They then spend their entire careers going all over the world spreading the good news about the HSBC-way.
Another successful company with a different approach is Siemens. Despite the vast size and complexity of its
businesses, almost all of their operations throughout the world are headed by German nationals.
The few non-Germans in their senior ranks almost always have been Germanized by living for multi-year periods in Germany. (Deutschland
über alles.)
Asia CEO Forum
Chalre Associates
is the organizer of this regional
business event
bringing together some
of Asia's most
accomplished leaders.
SPECIAL DOWNLOADS:
Media organizations
throughout the world call upon the Principals of Chalre Associates for thought leadership.
Below are some examples of published material written by our
consultants or international journalists who refer to them. For a complete list of published work,
Click Here.
Getting Ready For The
Deluge: Outsourcing in Philippines
by
Chalre Associates senior staff
Download
[PDF
file, 62KB]
The
Economist Intelligence Unit of the Economist magazine
asked Chalre Associates' Chairman, Richard Mills,
to write a chapter about the Philippine outsourcing sector
in its annual Business Guide Book. The material
provides a Executive Briefing on the progress and major
issues facing this industry that is certainly one of most
significant growth stories in the world.
more
Asia Pacific Mining
Conference 2007 - Report
by
Chalre Associates senior staff
Download
[PDF
file, 28KB]
The 7th Asia Pacific Mining Conference put on by the Asean
Federation of Mining Associations was perhaps the largest
such event in the region. Richard Mills, Chairman of Chalre Associates
gave this report on what was said by the prominent mining
people who presented.
more
The
State of BPO in Philippines: Dan Reyes Speaks
by
Chalre Associates senior staff
Download
[PDF
file, 31KB]
Richard
Mills, Chairman of Chalre Associates,
interviewed Dan Reyes of Sitel for ComputerWorld (US) recently to get his views on the state of the
BPO industry in Philippines. Dan presented US readers with compelling information to support his view that Philippines is currently seen as the "Number 1" option by global companies sending BPO work to offshore destinations.
Dan Reyes is easily one of most experienced Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) managers in the Asia Pacific region and the world. He is head of the extremely successful Philippine operations of Sitel, the world's largest call center organization. Among other things, he is a founder and former president of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines.
more
