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What does it take to win

In this ¡°flat¡± world, you gain competitive advantage by capturing the best talent, wherever they are. In Indiana or India. Gone are the days when recruiting was an administrative activity. Now it needs to be repositioned as a strategic weapon. You need to remove the gloves. Attack. And counter-attack.

Leading global recruiting strategist Dr. John Sullivan will show you how. His aggressive presentation includes topics like:


Why “but we are different” is no longer a valid excuse
How to use talent poaching to disarm competitors
How to identify, improve and build these capabilities
How to prioritize internal recruitment needs and external recruitment opportunities
How to block your employees from being poached

Get ready for an experience that will challenge your ideas about recruiting and turn you into a winner in the global war for talent.

Bank regulator issues reform guidelines

Dec.7 – China’s banking regulator issued guidelines Wednesday to encourage financial innovation by commercial lenders, such as increasing earnings made from fees and giving out less risky loans.

The guidelines will take effect next Monday, the day China will fully open its banking sector to foreign lenders in line with its commitment to the World Trade Organization.

According to Tang Shuangning, vice-chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), China’s banking industry urgently needs to speed up its financial reform to deal with rising competition after fully opening.

“Chinese commercial banks lag far behind their international counterparts in terms of financial innovation,” Tang said.

He said non-interest income generally accounts for more than 50 per cent of the total income of big international banks. But the highest rate for Chinese commercial banks from fees is less than 30 per cent and most of banks earn less than 10 per cent.

He said the guidelines are the first such document concerning financial innovation issued by the banking regulator, signalling a new stage of reform.

According to the guidelines, the CBRC will set up a sound legal environment to encourage financial innovation. The regulator will further streamline approval procedures and strengthen supervision to facilitate financial innovation.

The guidelines also emphasize the importance of risk control. They require commercial banks have a good knowledge of their businesses, risks, clients and competitors.

In addition, the guidelines clarify commercial banks’ obligations to consumers, such as correct disclosure of information, professional services, protection of assets, and offering effective complaint channels.

Despite this need for reform, Tang said, commercial banks in China have made progress in financial innovation.

The CBRC’s statistics show the trading volume of major commercial banks reached 14 trillion yuan (US$1.77 trillion) last year.

Nearly 30 Chinese banks offer renminbi wealth management services, with a total value of 130 billion yuan (US$16.46 billion).

A total of 17 foreign and Chinese banks have been approved to invest clients’ assets overseas under the qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) programme. So far, they have launched nine QDII products, with sales of 2.3 billion yuan (US$291 million) in renminbi and US$87 million in US dollars.

But more financial innovations need to be made, Tang said.

In addition to financial reform, commercial banks are being asked to engage in public education, informing investors that they should be responsible for their own purchasing decisions.

At yesterday’s press conference Tang also said the Bank of Communications and China Construction Bank have applied to establish insurance companies.

What Employers Really Want…

If you’re a job search candidate looking to bestow gifts upon the recruiters of the world, here are seven packages they would love to unwrap this holiday season…

1. Resumes that really fit
If your resume isn’t a fit for the job, don’t send or submit it blindly! Recruiters are rewarded for fit so if your an unclear or unlikely fit, you better have an internal ally who can lobby for you.

2. Candidates that aren’t stalkers
Recruiters don’t mind a call every once in awhile for you to check in on your status or see if they are interested. But when you start to call multiple times a week (or even a day) you’ll get a shoulder colder than Minneapolis this time of year.

3. Perfect grammar and spelling
This time of year everyone in the office is looking for a laugh. So if your cover letter proclaims that “your the won for the job,” don’t be surprised if you never hear from us.

4. Commitment
Slowdowns at the office and sheer boredom may mean you start to send out resumes willy nilly. Please don’t. If you’re not serious about moving on, please don’t waste my time or yours!

5. No more vanity
As the job market starts to get stronger, candidates start to get more cocky. Please don’t focus on what’s in it for you. Instead, focus on telling me what you can do for my company.

6. Make our lives easier
Really understand what we are looking for. If you help us understand why you are the perfect candidate for the job, we can better convince other internal employees of the same thing. Make it easy for us to make your case!

7. Don’t be an online embarrassment
We’re starting to Google you and look at your MySpace and Facebook accounts. Don’t get us all excited that you’re a great candidate for us only to find out your MySpace page is full of activities that would make an employer blush!

And please, no more fruit baskets. We like coffee and chocolate.

Senior System Architect/ Lead

Company introduction:
Our client, a public company traded on the NYSE, is a worldwide leader in electronic commerce and payment services, delivers a full portfolio of card issuing and merchant processing services in more than 70 countries on six continents. With more than 30,000 employees worldwide, it has offices throughout Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, Latin America and North America.
£ £ 
Responsibility:
1.Provide technical support for the credit card application system within the assigned modules;
2.Liaise with users and management to identify business and information needs;
3.Capture the requirements for application services and identify the techniques and technologies that should be applied at application level;
4.Define the system and operational requirements that the computing infrastructure must support.
5.Identify the types, arrangements and relationships of software components that will be responsible for delivering user services;
6.Liaise with the applications development manager to determine the most appropriate means to achieve the acceptable performance and scalability requirements;.
7.Liaise with management to ensure that application level software components are derived from and consistent with the business objectives;
8.Keep up to date with new developments in credit card application system , mainframe, and related products and services;
9.Work independently with IT functional units and business units;
10.Recommend strategies for improving system applications; and
11.Work on complex projects and issues within functional area.
£ £ 
REQUIREMENTS:
1.5+ yrs. of related IT experience;
2.Strong credit card application system background ;
3.Must have COBOL/CICS/VSAM experience;
4.Card experience and financial system experience,
5.Good working knowledge of IBM mainframe and LAN hardware and software facilities and capabilities;
6.Possesses strong knowledge of application development technologies, tools and methodologies.
7.Strong understanding of complex internal business processes or functions;
8.Good verbal and written communication skills in English;
9.Good interpersonal skills;
10.Good analytical skills;
11.Ability to meet deadlines;
12.Ability resolve a variety of business information problems;
13.Ability to keep abreast of the emerging technology developments.
14.Good self management skills – accept responsibility – set own goals
15.Achieve results through anticipation

* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English) to: top’job_it086sh@dacare.com’

Job Description

Effectively developed, job descriptions are communication tools that are significant in your organization’s success. Poorly written job descriptions, on the other hand, add to workplace confusion, hurt communication, and make people feel as if they don’t know what is expected from them.

Job descriptions are written statements that describe the duties, responsibilities, required qualifications, and reporting relationships of a particular job. Job descriptions are based on objective information obtained through job analysis, an understanding of the competencies and skills required to accomplish needed tasks, and the needs of the organization to produce work. Job descriptions clearly identify and spell out the responsibilities of a specific job. Job descriptions also include information about working conditions, tools, equipment used, knowledge and skills needed, and relationships with other positions. Still uncertain about the value of job descriptions? Consider these tips about employee job descriptions.

Job descriptions provide an opportunity to clearly communicate your company direction and where the employee fits inside of the big picture.

Whether you’re a small business or a large, multi-site organization, well-written job descriptions will help you align employee direction. Alignment of the people you employ with your goals, vision, and mission spells success for your organization. As a leader, you assure the interfunctioning of all the different positions and roles needed to get the job done for the customer.

Job descriptions set clear expectations for what you expect from people. According to Ferdinand Fournies in Why Don’t Employees Do What They’re Supposed to Do and What To Do About It,” (see sidebar) this is the first place to look if people aren’t doing what you want them to do. He says you need to make certain that they clearly understand your expectations. This understanding starts with the job description.

Job descriptions help you cover all your legal bases. As an example, for compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), you’ll want to make certain the description of the physical requirements of the job is accurate. Whether you’re recruiting new employees or posting jobs for internal applicants, job descriptions tell the candidate exactly what you want in your selected person.

Clear job descriptions can help you select your preferred candidates and address the issues and questions of those people who were not selected.

Well-written job descriptions help organization employees, who must work with the person hired, understand the boundaries of the person’s responsibilities.

People who have been involved in the hiring process are more likely to support the success of the new employee or promoted co-worker. Developing job descriptions is an easy way to involve people in your organization’s success.

China largely silent on telecom strategy

HONG KONG — If the world’s telecommunications executives thought that bringing their industry’s biggest trade show to China would spur Chinese officials into opening their vast market, they were wrong — at least so far.
Government officials have avoided using the ITU Telecom World 2006 conference in Hong Kong this week to say when they would allow next-generation mobile phone networks to enter the country.

With third-generation services slow to take off in Europe and the United States, telecommunications suppliers have been counting on China to provide a major lift, and most say that they are ready to jump in whenever so-called 3G network building begins in earnest on the Chinese mainland. But, so far, the industry has encountered only delays and postponements.

At the opening ceremony for the conference on Sunday and again Monday, Chinese leaders declined to announce a timetable. Three important decisions remain: which technology China will select, which mobile phone operators will get the licenses, and when. “China will consider three standards for 3G,” Wang Xudong, the minister for the information industry, said Monday. “The timing for issuing 3G licenses will be determined by the market.”

With India and China together adding more than 12 million cellphone subscribers a month, the two countries are the fastest-growing markets for conventional networks. These networks are good for voice calls, but too slow to allow subscribers a comfortable experience surfing the “mobile Internet” on a cellphone.

With present-day mobile phone use reaching a saturation point in many industrial economies, telecommunications supply executives can seem almost wistful about the potential for 3G networks in China, a $26 billion market for such systems.

“This is for the government to decide, but there’s no negative,” said Frederic Rose, president of the Asia-Pacific region for the newly merged Alcatel- Lucent.

His boss, Patricia F. Russo, and the chief executives of Ericsson, Motorola and Nortel Networks are among those meeting here with clients, suppliers and Chinese officials. But China has shown a preference for developing and choosing its own standards, and if it does so in this case, some Western companies may be left out.

The European version of 3G is called W-CDMA, a technology with the backing of Nokia and Ericsson; one used by some American carriers is called CDMA 1000x; and China’s is called TD-SCDMA. Technically, they are related, but there is little consensus on differences in quality.

“I expect we will get some clarity by summer,” Mr. Rose said. “We expect there will be 3G networks operational in the main cities for the Olympics in September 2008.”

Alcatel-Lucent gets about a third of its revenue from the Asia-Pacific region. Mr. Rose said the company was buffered in two ways from the impact of a decision about a 3G standard. First, it is actively investing in the second-generation business, which is still growing in China.

Second, Alcatel-Lucent is prepared to jump into any of the three standards.

Its TD-SCDMA equipment, through its Shanghai Bell joint venture with Datang Communications of China, is already being used in pilot networks in the country. And since Datang owns most of the TD-SCDMA intellectual property, Alcatel-Lucent would generally not pay royalty fees to use it. (Datang is also working with Siemens.)

In addition, Alcatel-Lucent makes W-CDMA equipment for the European market. And the merger of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies brought to the combined company Lucent’s expertise in CDMA.

Chinese manufacturers are also ready. ZTE and Huawei are among the biggest pushing for the TD-SCDMA standard, and they, too, make equipment for the competing standards. They would also be eager to see companies like Nokia and Motorola give up their dominance of the second-generation network business in China.

Samsung of South Korea would like a piece of the action, as well. “We are ready to enter that market, whether it is TD-SCDMA or W-CDMA — whatever the standard,” said Jeong Han Kim, senior vice president for Samsung Electronics’ telecommunication network business. “We will be a major player in that area,” he said, citing two factories that Samsung has on the mainland.

Although 3G phone services like videoconferencing, Internet browsing and TV viewing may be more expensive than most Chinese can afford, Mr. Jeong said that “China has very big potential, so it will grow very fast.”

After three years of waiting, the telecommunications industry is still speculating. But there is one thing that companies can bank on, Mr. Rose said.

“There’s no fear that 3G won’t happen in China.”

How Do We Get Smarter About Our Recruiting Habits?

How do we get smarter about our recruiting? Our telecommunications company is going through an extended growth spurt. I¡¯d like to challenge management¡¯s thinking regarding whether certain jobs are necessary or merely “nice to have.” Our human resources systems and processes are very limited, we lack formal systems for job evaluation, and we have no job grading or a structured recruiting model. I¡¯m of the belief that a good route to pursue would be to start with verifiable data.

Starting with verifiable data is a great way to get smarter about recruiting, and with your organization¡¯s extended growth spurt, the timing could not be better.

When demand is on the rise, the traditional approach to recruiting is to react with fervor: filling vacancies as quickly as possible at the lowest cost, no questions asked. Companies barely take the time to develop recruiting strategies and plans, let alone try to create an overall plan for the workforce. When it gets busy, they don¡¯t have time for planning, and when it¡¯s not busy they don¡¯t see the need for it. Even when organizations figure out how to make the time, many just don¡¯t do a good job of workforce planning.

With limited HR systems and processes, it may be more challenging to pull together the data, but here is an approach you can take.

First, start with the headcount of your current workforce. You will want as much data as possible on this so you can analyze by different variables such as department, job classification, exempt vs. nonexempt employees or geographical locations. Then, take a toll of your active requisitions and map them to these variables. If you have informal systems or processes and your requisitions arrive on the back of a napkin, instead of through an applicant tracking system, you may need to estimate. The last pieces of data you will need are your historical attrition rates, sorted by the same variables, as well as your average time to fill (again, you may need to estimate).

Based on your average time to fill and your attrition rates, you can now produce a forecast of what the workforce will look like three months to six months out. You can show projected net gains or losses from a departmental view, job classification, geography or any view that is important to the organization. To take this a step further, you could convert any net gains into estimated cost increases and compare this to existing budgets, or analyze any projected losses to determine the impact on operations.

In human resources we have been longing to prove ourselves as business partners. If you arm yourself with this type of data, not only will you be able to challenge management¡¯s thinking on the growth of the workforce, but they will probably also listen to you.

SOURCE: Ed Newman, the Newman Group, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, December 23, 2005.

New Monster Product Aimed at Franchisee Hiring Headaches

New Monster Product Aimed at Franchisee Hiring Headaches
A job-posting process that often hampers hiring for companies with franchises spread across the country could be getting a makeover if Monster gets its way.

Monster is launching its National Account Suite, which seeks to streamline the recruitment process and quell the push and pull that often exists between corporate headquarters and franchisees, says Mike Madden, the company¡¯s senior vice president of product.

The suite makes use of existing technology to the meet the recruitment needs of specific employers, says Peter Weddle, CEO of Weddle¡¯s, a research firm and consultancy in Stamford, Connecticut. Such customization is the wave of the future, he says.

“This product spells the next evolution of online recruitment services,” he says. “Companies will be tailoring technology to better meet the needs of their recruiting clients.”

Essentially, Monster is mimicking something newspapers created over time. As papers evolved, they developed classified advertisement products that cater to specific industries, such as real estate and automobiles, Weddle explains.

Monster, which launched its suite in November, believes there will be significant interest from clients because it is the only product of its kind in the industry, Madden says.

“There are about 2 million franchise businesses in the U.S.,” he says. “It would be great if we could get 30 to 50 percent of that market.”

Monster¡¯s product aims to reduce recruitment gridlock. Though each company differs in its policies, the job-posting process generally is slowed because hiring managers at franchise sites must get approval from corporate headquarters each time they want to post an opening.

Often, headquarters will contend that it¡¯s a necessary step to control recruitment expenses. Local hiring managers have complained that the process is cumbersome, time-consuming and ineffective, particularly in industries where turnover is high, like chain restaurants.

Monster¡¯s new product offers a compromise. Franchisee hiring managers will no longer have to seek approval from corporate headquarters before posting a job. That will enable them to more easily hire the help they need. Corporate headquarters, meanwhile, don¡¯t have to worry about overspending at the franchise level because the price of the subscription has been pre-negotiated.

The subscription, typically lasting a year, gives local hiring managers access to self-service tools that let them control the content and the frequency of job postings. Customizing the ads at the local level is important because hiring managers can use language that resonates with the community in which they are trying to hire, Madden explains. The entry base price is $800 to $1,000 for a year¡¯s subscription, he says.

Local managers will be able to quickly post a job opening, even proactively managing future needs in the workforce pipeline. Posting a job can take 24 to 48 hours, compared with a week or more with the traditional checks and balances.

One third see China as opportunity

Dec.5 – One third of Europeans and Americans see China’s rapid economic growth to be an opportunity, while nearly 60 percent remain wary of China’s rising economic power, an opinion poll showed on Monday.

The survey, by the German Marshall Fund, a transatlantic think tank, comes as policymakers in Brussels and Washington are planning to update trade and investment ties with China, wary of its new economic might but keen for more of its huge market, the Reuters reported.

China skeptics worrying about China’s economy see its inexpensive goods export and their companies relocating to China as a threat, according to the poll which covered France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Britain and the United States.

Of the six European countries covered, 70 percent of people in France and only slightly fewer in Poland, Italy and Slovakia expressed jitters over China’s emerging economy, said the Reuter report.

Traditionally free-trading Britain had more people who saw China as an opportunity than a threat, the survey found.

With European manufacturing coming under pressure from Asia, the European Commission has imposed anti-dumping duties on a range of Chinese exports, including leather shoes.

EU and Chinese negotiators are due to begin talks next month on a broad new bilateral agreement, including economic issues. And, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is leading a high-level Washington delegation to China later this month.

In potentially good news for attempts to break a deadlock in world trade talks, the poll showed 52 percent of respondents favored globalization in general, up from 46 percent in 2005.

Possibly behind that was a fall in dissatisfaction about the local economy — 41 percent of Americans and 27 percent of Europeans were satisfied with their own economy, up from 30 and 20 percent respectively in 2005, the survey found.

But in a sign of how sensitive an issue free trade remains, two thirds of the French and over half the American respondents in the poll favored keeping trade barriers when local companies are at risk, even if it means slower economic growth at home.

The poll heard the views of about 1,000 people in each of the seven countries between September 5 and 25.

How Do We Quantify the Impact of Faulty Hiring?

We¡¯re trying to polish our recruiting efforts after some bad hires. How can we measure the impact, both in dollars and other costs, of poor hiring decisions?

¡ªPenny-pinching Recruiter, government, Dee Why, New South Wales, Australia

Dear Penny-pinching:

Employee turnover is an important tool to use in measuring a company¡¯s success. But let¡¯s be honest: There are different costs associated with “good turnover,” in which underachievers are separated, and “bad turnover,” in which quality performers leave for other opportunities. Therefore the data alone does not tell a whole story. Radical as it may seem, some turnover can be good–even desirable, in some instances.

But let¡¯s start with the basics. There are certain quantifiable costs involved in filling a vacancy, whether it¡¯s caused by good or bad turnover. These costs are composed of employment advertising fees (print or online), recruiter fees (contingency or executive search,) assessment tools and background checks, travel and relocation costs, HR staff time, and new employee orientation and training. Additionally, turnover will have a qualitative impact on productivity, with work being reassigned and new hires needing time to learn their new jobs.

Now let¡¯s take the analysis one step further and distinguish the differences between good and bad turnover. When a valued employee leaves, not only do you incur obvious costs, but the company also loses that employee¡¯s internal corporate knowledge and experience, external client contacts and sources¨Cand it faces the possibility that the employee will use his or her skills to work for a competitor. Alternatively, when a marginal employee leaves, a company has the opportunity either to incur a savings by not filling the job or to recruit an employee that adds more value than the one who has left.

The obvious question from human resources¡¯ perspective is how to avoid bad turnover, rather than how to avoid turnover in general. In order to fight bad turnover, every manager in your company should be trained in employee relations, conflict resolution and the implementation of equitable corporate policies and procedures. An employee-retention program that is geared toward maintaining a positive corporate culture and employee well-being always attracts job applicants. However, discouraging bad turnover requires properly trained managers working with human resource strategists to recognize telltale signs of frustration among employees, especially in areas within their direct control. In the end, it is frontline supervisors who are accountable for employee satisfaction within individual departments. Success means giving those managers the proper tools.