Senior engagement key to employer branding

SHRINKING TALENT pools, increased mobility of workers, an ageing workforce and a desire on the part of younger generations to work for companies that are honest in their dealings with employees are driving an increase in employer branding.

Brett Minchington, managing director of Collective Learning Australia, said HR professionals need to engage senior executives in the benefits of developing a strong employer brand and its impact on the ability of the firm to attract, engage and retain talent.

¡°In essence, HR needs to develop a business case that is written in the language that will engage the hearts of mind of those at the top,¡± he said.

¡°To develop a culture that is supportive of the employer brand concept and is reflected in the actions of leaders at all levels of the organisation, firms should measure employee engagement and/or satisfaction and commitment on a consistent basis and link the results to financial performance.¡±

Speaking at a recent Select Australasia event in Sydney, Minchington also said employer branding should not be the sole responsibility of HR, even though research shows that, globally, the strategy is generally driven by the HR department.

¡°Ideally HR should work closely with the marketing and internal communications department to ensure that there is consistency in the development and communication of the employer brand internally and externally,¡± he said.

¡°Without the support of the MD or CEO, it is unlikely employer brand efforts will achieve the financial and operational outcomes being experienced by firms that integrate employer brand efforts into their overall business strategy.¡±

He also noted that the biggest criticism by owners and senior management of employer brand activities has been the lack of measurable outcomes for their investment.

¡°In simple terms, what doesn¡¯t get measured doesn¡¯t get managed. There are a number of human capital measures to determine the ROI of your employer brand program,¡± he said.

Happy New Job in 2007

According to the FirstGov.gov Web site, three of the most popular New Year¡¯s resolutions are losing weight, saving money and getting a better job.

So why is it that, come February 1, most of us are still chubby, broke and not doing work we love? Could there be a better way to finally get a new job this new year?

The answer is … maybe. It all depends on you. After all, the best advice in the world is useless if you don’t follow it.

But, if you¡¯re willing to change your attitude, change your actions and persist for at least 21 days — the time it takes to form a new habit, according to many self-development experts — you can find yourself in a new and better job by February 1.

Here are two paths to that new job you’ve resolved to get this new year …

1) Start Where You Are
If you’ve ever read Russell Conwell’s “Acres of Diamonds,” you know that riches may be hiding right under your feet (and if you haven’t read it, go Google it now).

Most folks who resolve to find a better job do so without first taking a long, unbiased look around their own workplace. But wait — your dream job might be found at your current employer! All it takes is a little imagination to uncover it.

Example: Years ago I worked with Jane, who dreamed of becoming a graphic designer. But she was an administrative assistant. Did she despair or bemoan her lot in life? No. She got busy hanging around with graphic designers, learning the software, taking on small projects, demonstrating her skills, until one day — presto! She was promoted to graphic designer.

You can do this, too, and work your way into almost any job, in almost any industry. Why not have a meeting with your boss this week and discuss your plans? If you get an encouraging response, get busy learning the skills you’ll need. If you meet with resistance, then you can start looking for a new employer.

But you’ll never know if your dream job lies hidden just a few cubicles away unless you look around … and ask around.

2) Take Small Steps
Just as you can’t lose 24 pounds in one day, don’t resolve to find your dream job in 24 hours or even 24 days. Unrealistic deadlines produce more frustration than results.

Instead, try small, incremental steps.

After all, you didn’t gain all those extra pounds overnight, did you? No. It happened over time, almost imperceptibly. An extra helping of pancakes here, an ice cream sundae there, a few missed trips to the gym and, before you knew it, your pants no longer fit.

Research by Dr. Robert Maurer, based on the principles of kaizen (the industrial science of continuous improvement), can help you take the right small steps toward you next job.

Example: By asking yourself one small question every day, such as, ¡°If finding a new job were my top priority, what would I be thinking and doing now?¡± you can train your subconscious mind to deliver useful answers, because the brain loves questions.

According to Dr. Maurer, small incremental steps work because our brain is hard-wired to resist change. Even thinking about a major life change, such as finding a new job, can trigger the brain¡¯s fight-or-flight response, which in turn shuts down creativity and thinking — and you get stuck. Small changes, however, can bypass that automatic defense.

And by taking small steps, Dr. Maurer means small. Hate to exercise? Start with one minute of marching in front of the TV. Overeating? Throw away the first French fry. It sounds ridiculous at first, but what you¡¯re doing is rewiring your brain so that it enjoys your small successes and lets you build on them.

For your job search, try taking one small action every day, such as calling one relative or old friend for a networking conversation. At the end of 30 days, you’ll have made about 25 more call than most other job seekers, and you’ll be that much closer to your dream job.

So, start where you are and take small steps toward a new job today. Before you know it, you could be doing work you really love.

Happy New Year!

HR: Online interviews help graduates get jobs

Attending a face-to-face interview in the cyberworld may help you get a job in reality.
Two national employment service websites, www.myjob.edu.cn and www.job100.com, will hold online job fairs from December 22 to 28 and from March 12 to 18, aiming to broaden employment channels for university graduates.

More than 4000 enterprises, including some State-owned enterprises, will release 50,000 items of employment information via Internet during the two weeks.

Using webcam technology, the two websites will enable applicants to have a face-to-face online interview with an employer, saving time spent traveling to interviews and making the job search more efficient for job seekers.

With the number of students graduating from university in 2007 expected to reach 4.95 million, 820,000 more than in 2006, the employment situation for university graduates is becoming increasingly difficult.

In order to help more university graduates fine jobs, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Labor and Social Security, National Development and Reform Commission and State-owned Assets and Administration Commission in November decided to jointly launch special employment service websites and provide online job fairs.

Job market vibrant, but needs talents

The job market is vibrant and vacancies have increased in the past year, especially in the financial sector, but Hong Kong is facing a shortage of qualified talents, an online recruitment portal said yesterday.

Monster Hong Kong Vice-president Suk Chiu said 58,000 job vacancies were posted on his website in 2006, an yearly increase of 104 per cent.

Vacancies in the banking and finance sector had increased by 56 per cent, with those in banks and accounting/audit firms rising by 28.45 and 102.51 per cent.

The need for more and wider banking services and products has fuelled the growth, he said. “There are more insurance and private investment services today, and they have been creating the demand for talents.”

Accounting firms, too, reported a rapid growth because of a high demand for such services created by the mainland’s economic development.

Vacancies in the marketing and retailing sectors have doubled because of the increasing number of individual travellers from the mainland.

But despite the rosy job market, Hong Kong has a dearth of talents, the Asia regional director of head-hunting firm Hays, Emma Charnock-Smith, said. So serious is the problem that not a single candidate from among the 200 shortlisted by Hays were offered a job by a company.

Such a problem is common particularly in legal, accounting, trading and banking sectors, she said.

This could force companies to hire Hong Kong residents living overseas. “Such candidates have local knowledge and international experience both. They have a good command over Chinese and English, too,” she said.

Companies could also offer a more attractive package, including family allowances, to hire such people.

She said Hong Kong people in Canada and Australia would be more interested in coming back because the Hong Kong dollar was comparatively more competent against their currencies than the greenback or the pound sterling.

Economy expected to grow by 9.8% in 2007

China’s sizzling economy will slow slightly next year but still should grow by a robust 9.8 percent even as Beijing extends controls to cool off an investment boom, the Central Bank said in a report published Friday.

The forecast was in line with outside estimates but well above the 8 percent target for 2007 set by a government strategy report released this month. It would be by far the highest growth rate for any of the world’s major economies.

Growth this year should be 10.5 percent, said the Central Bank report, which was carried on the Web site of the official China Securities Journal newspaper. That was in line with earlier official forecasts.

Chinese leaders want rapid growth to reduce poverty. But they are trying to stop an investment boom in real estate and other industries where they worry that overspending on unneeded factories and other assets could ignite inflation or a debt crisis.

Beijing has raised interest rates twice this year, tightened controls on credit and imposed curbs on new construction.

Despite the controls, the government says investment in factories and other fixed assets in the first 11 months of this year soared by 26.6 percent over the same period last year.

In comments to state media, Ma Kai, chairman of China’s main planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, said this month that the “relentless expansion has yet to be stopped.”

Ma said in an interview Friday on the Web site of the People’s Daily that economic controls will be extended into next year to prevent runaway investment.

Inflation should be 1.4 percent this year and 2 percent in 2007, the Central Bank report said.
The government reported economic growth of 10.7 percent for the first nine months of the year. But official indicators show the expansion has slowed slightly since then.

The planning report, released this month following a meeting led by President Hu Jintao, said Beijing would focus next year on trying to shift the basis of China’s economic growth from investment and exports to domestic consumption.

HR’s Hand in Productivity

Few HR leaders attempt to take responsibility for their workforce’s productivity.
By John Sullivan
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Iroutinely ask HR leaders around the world, “Do you see increasing productivity of your workforce as a primary part of your job, and do you compare your results with those of your worldwide competitors?” The response of most leaders is the same: bewilderment, a long pause, a blank stare. It continues to amaze me that HR leaders do not recognize that every business function, whether it be marketing, finance, production or HR, is in the productivity business. That means continually getting more out of every dollar you spend on the resources that you control.
Workforce productivity is in the news: I am highlighting this issue because workforce productivity is in the news on a daily basis. Corporate giants like Ford, Kraft, Hewlett-Packard, United Airlines and General Motors are being pounded by analysts because their labor costs are skyrocketing past those of their domestic and foreign competitors.

My point is simple: Despite the constant rants by analysts and CEOs, few HR leaders attempt to take responsibility for their workforce¡¯s productivity. In finance, for example, calculating the productivity of financial investments is a common practice, as in real estate, marketing, manufacturing and supply-chain management. Measuring workforce productivity is not that hard. The most basic measure is simply the cost of the inputs (all salaries, benefits and HR department costs) compared with the value of the outputs (production output value, revenue or profit).

HR must declare itself “captain of the ship”: One argument I often hear is that HR does not directly manage the workforce and therefore cannot be held directly responsible for productivity. That argument is weak. Every other corporate function is held accountable when the resources that it manages do not produce adequate results, so why should HR be exempt? HR must declare itself accountable and then design systems that influence, cajole and sell managers and employees so that the productivity levels of the workforce remain competitive.

Cutting costs is easy; managing strategically is hard: Occasionally HR leaders will respond that they do manage the productivity of the workforce by manipulating labor costs. Any accountant can figure out how to shave 10 percent off the budget, but developing systems to maximize the output of all the budgeted pieces requires significant thought and coordination. This, in my estimation, is the true purpose of HR: to increase workforce productivity through activities that increase the other (but most important) side of the ROI equation, which is revenue. If HR leaders can shift their emphasis to driving increases in workforce output without increasing people costs, they will have demonstrated that they can strategically manage the workforce.

Global competition is forcing HR to change: Globalization and economic growth in China, India and Eastern Europe, where labor rates are significantly cheaper than in the United States and Central Europe, will make managing workforce productivity an imperative for organizations that wish to survive. This new imperative means that HR must monitor labor productivity and advise senior management when moving offshore or outsourcing presents an opportunity to better compete. HR must begin to look at what type of work must be done and under what parameters, and then suggest to management what labor type to use and where such labor should be sourced or located. In addition, HR must advise managers when they have too many employees before a wide-scale correction is needed. Labor costs will be a component of the analysis, but they cannot be given more weight than quality, innovation and agility.

I argue that these wake-up calls signal that it is time for the DNA of HR to change. The new HR leader learns from the old slogan “What¡¯s good for General Motors is good for the country.” But the lesson learned is a new one: Managing workforce productivity like HR at GM has may be the cause of your organization¡¯s downfall.

Job Search Strategies Like Playing Chess

Every job seeker…and there are lots of you out there…wishes there was a “magic formula” to accelerate their job search. The truth is how well your job search fares is directly dependent on preparation. Just like in the game of chess, a sound strategy before you start to play is more likely to reap success than just “winging it”.

Here are 3 preparation strategies you can use now, so your job search is equipped with a winning game plan:

1. Get FOCUSED: What specific occupational field, what level within that field, and what industry (or industries) of choice are you targeting? For example, you may be passionate about outdoor adventuring and have a background in retail sales and sales management. You may choose to focus on Retail Sales (occupational field) Manager (level within that field), Outdoor Sports Equipment, Accessories, Services and Vendors (industries of choice). The employers in your industry (or industries) of choice are your target audience, rather than any employer anywhere!

Trying to be all things to all employers in a “generic” resume just doesn’t work anymore. Keyword resume-sniffing software mandates that the job seeker or career advancer identify exactly what they are going after, and then crafting their marketing message around that, incorporating required and desired keywords for the occupational field, level of position, and industry.

2. Get BRANDED: Differentiation is key to career and job search success. You cannot appear to be just another one of the thundering herd. So knowing your personal brand – what makes you unique and different from your competitors, as well as what attributes your target audience really values – AND being able to express that in your marketing materials (like your resume and cover letter) will put you ahead in the job search arena.

Personal branding and the 360Reach personal branding assessment – a confidential online branding assessment – can aid you in unearthing your personal brand so you can begin to use it effectively in your job search.

3. Get UPDATED EDUCATION and TRAINING: Do not assume that Associate’s or Bachelor’s Degree you got 10 or even 20 years ago suffices anymore. Employers want to see that you are actively engaged in learning about advancements in your field. They do not want to have to train you on what they believe you should already know.

If you technology skills are rusty, look at non-credit courses at your local community college or even tutorials online. To stay updated in your professional field, you can take courses (credit or non-credit) or join a professional association in your field and attend the workshops and conferences. If the association offers credentialing, consider it. Objective evidence of up-to-date skills and knowledge, like credentials, offer proof that you are serious about your career and the value you can bring to a potential employer.

BONUS – Keep track of your ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Accomplishments are the “meat” that makes up your resume’s main course. Without relevant and convincing results, you may be perceived of by an employer as just a “seat warmer” in your current (or past) jobs. That’s not exactly a stellar approach to securing a potential new employer’s interest. But, benefits (accomplishments) are! What better place to showcase the benefits of hiring you than by demonstrating what you have been able to accomplish for others in the past.

The Focused Job Search

We continually see recruiters and hiring managers urging job candidates to evaluate themselves and what they¡¯re looking for. Hell, Heck, we tell job candidates to do that ourselves. People who work with candidates in any capacity want them to conduct a focused job search:

¡°Get FOCUSED: What specific occupational field, what level within that field, and what industry (or industries) of choice are you targeting?¡­The employers in your industry (or industries) of choice are your target audience, rather than any employer anywhere!¡± (From Career Goddess)

One of the major problems with job boards, though, is that they don¡¯t allow for focused job searches. Candidates can¡¯t always hone in on specific companies or even specific types of jobs. Instead, they¡¯re inundated with every job opening that might match a single keyword in their resume or that falls within their broad search parameters.

An effective Plan B job search should give you the best opportunity to find the right company and the right job for you. It should also allow you to avoid having to deal with companies and positions that hold no interest for you. Unfortunately, this doesn¡¯t seem to be the case on most boards these days, and messages on job openings have become their own kind of spam:

¡°Post your resume to these boards, and you¡¯ll be added to the Job of the Hour club. After you get tired of emails about jobs selling insurance and delivering pizzas you will discover that you can¡¯t opt out of an email list you did not sign up for in the first place.¡± (From Job Matchbox)

The Plan B search should be a targeted one. Candidates should be able to gather information and receive job opening notifications from companies they¡¯re truly interested in. They shouldn¡¯t have to waste their time looking through countless openings or getting hassled by businesses that they want nothing to do with.

Guangdong bank’s new man

MICHAEL G. Zink, the former head of Citibank Korea, has been named the new president of Guangdong Development Bank.

Guangdong’s former president quit after a Citigroup-led consortium won a US$3.1 billion bidding war on the lender.

Zink, a Citigroup veteran with 19 years’ experience in the United States firm, has had corporate banking and executive management roles in New York, Cote d’lvoire, Gabon, Tunisia, Russia, Australia, Indonesia, and South Korea.

Citigroup has six seats on the 16-seat board of the lender in China’s southern commercial hub. One is an independent executive.

The appointments were approved at a board meeting on Monday, Citigroup said yesterday.

Citigroup, the biggest US financial firm, and its partners, won out against Paris-based Societe Generale SA, and Ping An Insurance (Group) Co in the 18-month-long race for a combined 85.6 percent stake in Guangdong Development Bank.

The New York financial services company, China Life, State Grid and CITIC Trust and Investment Co each holds 20 percent, while IBM holds another 4.74 percent and Guangdong Finance Investment Holding, an investment arm of the Guangdong government, holds 0.85 percent.

The bidding money was injected into Guangdong bank, the country’s 11th-biggest lender, yesterday.

Citigroup says it will help improve the internal governance, risk management, introduce lending expertise, and upgrade technological infrastructure.

“There’s lots of restructuring to be done in the future to make the lender a globally competitive one,” said the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

Guangdong bank is a test case for banking reform as regulators allowed the bank to sell a majority stake to private investors to ease its debt burden.

Zhang Guanghua, the former president, quit last Monday. He was reported to have joined China Merchants Bank.

Production Manager

Company introduction:
Our client is in a leading position today in Europ and the export market is developing positively. By focusing on design, function, flexibility and energy-saving solutions, they are creating the light fittings of the future. The manufactory center in China is developing very fast and more product lines will be transferred to China. They will give good opportunities for the experienced and potential talents here.

Responsibilities:
1.Be in charge of production, facility maintenance, products engineering and production planning ;
2.Drive quality improvement and on-time delivery. To supervise employees to attain the required standard of quality, quantity and delivery.
3.Review production manpower requirements and balance production lines efficiency to meet production plan and delivery requirements. To control and coordinate employees to reach the optimal utilization of personnel and material;
Ensure the manufacturing performance meets the requirements of the customer by improving production procedures, EHS performance, product process, and people management.
Control and reduce production cost while improving quality by training programs, cross training of operators, process improvement, etc.
4.Contribute to the overall company performance by active participation as part of the management team by daily communication with GM, suppliers and other departments
5.Bring 5S into effective and monitor daily performance of workshop
6.Build up a strong team of production by coaching and development of all staffs in production department

Requirements:
1.Bachelor degree majored in Mechanical, Electrical, Engineering or relevant
2.At least 8 years of manufacturing experience including minimum 3-5 years in managerial position in foreign manufacturing company. Experienced in lean production is preferred.
Professional leadership, teamwork and good communication skills
3.Strong analytical, organizational and panning skill required
Good command of English both spoken and written.
4.Cooperate with other departments and other Companies in the Group. And can do many things at the same time
5.Work well under pressure, quality conscious, a forceful (dynamic) personality.

* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English) to: ‘topjob_mn116sh@dacare.com’