Global Staffing Perspectives: William Chin, Senior Staffing Manager at Intel Asia Pacific, Part 2

Posted on November 13, 2007
Filed Under Asia, Global Staffing Perspectives, Interviews, Sourcing Techniques, WebVideo, semiconductor industry |

By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth, Affiliate Partner, JobMachine Inc.

** Connect directly with William Chin on LinkedIn, Click “Expand Your Network” tab. Insert his name and email: williamchin68@gmail.com **

Which recruitment software tools do you use in your day to day recruitment activities & do they translate effectively within all of the different countries where you recruit?

“Corporate job sites and other online recruitment websites enable for local language and adapted to the local market do the best in attracting and generate applicant usage.

Corporate sites who take a global approach have not been as effective. They do not factor in local practices. In PRC and Vietnam, applicants will have more difficulty in filling out online forms due to difficulty with the English language. Applicants are generally not as internet or web savvy and find it difficult to navigate through complex websites sites and online forms. Emailed resume/CVs (and even hard copy) are prevalent.”

How many applicants do you estimate are hired from your corporate website as compared to how many are hired through referrals?

“Referrals are consistently the most effective method for recruitment. On average, we hire 30+% of staff through employee referrals. Our corporate website is effective for junior-level positions.”

WHERE ARE THE “MOST HIRES” collected from? (# quantity)

Strictly speaking, in terms of quantity then newspaper ads, campus recruiting and job fairs generate the most candidates. Job fairs have not been a key part of our recruiting strategy. They do not generate the quality of applicants. Where we need to we source directly from campus for entry level positions.

What is the source of your “LOWEST COST OF HIRES” - (least amount of invested resources for the easiest hires, regardless of quality)

“Employee referrals are the lowest cost hires, even when factoring in referral bonus we pay to employees.”

Whether you are hiring IT engineers, accounting, - whatever talent you are seeking, - is your country’s CULTURE a factor in the RESPONSE RATE you get when sending an email requesting a CV versus calling the candidate directly at their work? Are they open/eager to sending their CV, are they more shy/cautious or even suspicious depending on the method you use to contact them?

“An effective recruiter must develop a relationship in order to getting a foot in the door with a prospective candidate. Asian culture is very relations oriented and this is especially true in recruiting. A cold email is not an effective method of reaching candidates.

In my personal experience, not being a native speaker of the Chinese or Vietnamese language has been a barrier in connecting with prospective candidates. Remember, that while many professionals do speak English fluently, it is not their first language. Making the first impression and being conversant is helpful in building the initial rapport.”

In Your country, how does the actual selection process proceed once a candidate has been identified and what role does a recruiter in PRC and Vietnam play in the process?

“As in-house recruiters, we have the benefit of working as partners to our internal business groups and hiring managers. We source, interview, select and close (make offer) to the candidates, following the candidate all the way through the process. We have a proactive approach to senior and difficult-to-find candidates.

We utilize local recruiters to source locally in Asia. Again, knowing the native culture and language is important in building a strong network.

We are also continue to be interested in “return to home country” candidates. We work with our recruiting team in US and Europe to source and identify candidates for Asia. We are interested in those candidates who are international students studying in the US and have plans on returning to their home country for employment.”

What methods/resources produce the FASTEST amount of time in producing hires?

“Newspaper and online job sites are the fastest way of generating a candidate pool. Campus job fairs and events are the fastest way to reach university graduates. We have started to use social networking sites to reach prospective candidates. While these sites are not intended to generate volume, they do give us better hit-rate.

LinkedIn is the most prolific networking site in Asia. There hasn’t been a similar network site that has emerged with scale of users. vnSpoke in Vietnam is brand new site.”

What SPECIFIC TECHNOLOGY TOOLS do you use that produce FASTEST amount of time in producing hires. Please state the software, databases you use in detail.

“Newspaper ads and internet job sites are the two resources that generate the fastest way to find candidates (entry to junior levels). In Vietnam, very few people have their resume/CV’s (personal bio) posted online. Similar to China, the primary methods of getting “volume” is through newspaper ads.

Tools available and used in the US are not as prevalent in Asia. The simple reason is at resume spiders, contact list generators etc are designed, built and deployed for the US market. I haven’t seen “native” tools developed out of the Asia market yet.”

Is it acceptable, or common, in your country’s culture to offer a referral fee for a successful hire to someone who recommended the candidate? Yes or No? What is the formula, method or basis for developing a money reward for a referral?

“Yes, it is a common practice to offer a referral bonus. The specific amount is based on external benchmarking and internal evaluation. Depending on the situation, we may have “specials” offered for critical hires.”

Do you use blogs specific to each country’s talent within target industries/competing companies?

“Recruiting blogs have not yet caught on in PRC and Vietnam. Chinese students use school based online bulletin-boards (aka BBS) for information jobs and internships. ChinaRen.com is a popular site for younger demographics and is known for building an alumni network (similar to facebook). vnSpoke.com is a newly launched social networking site in Vietnam.”

What are the BEST JOB BOARDS ** SPECIFIC WEBSITES** to each of the countries you recruit for, BOTH overall and SPECIFIC TO each industry

PRC – Top 3 jobs site in China:
www.chinahr.com
www.51jobs.com
www.zhaopin.com

Vietnam – vietnamworks.com (the leading job website)
www.hrvietnam.com
www.vnspoke.com (social networking site)

Not Country Specific:
Facebook.com (best way to reach students studying in the US (and local) universities.

What are recommended/effective local newspapers and major associations & conferences and industry-specific website portals for recruiters to consider familiarizing themselves with to understand the native staffing cultures and employment tools of the trade?

PRC: Each major city has its own leading newspaper. Beijing Youth Daily (Beijing) and Xin Min Evening News (Shanghai) are the most popular for the respective cities.

Vietnam: Tuoi Tre (leading VN newspaper)

What Search Engines in addition to common ones like Google, do you use that are native to the countries you are responsible for?

PRC – top search sites are:
www.baidu.com (in Chinese)
www.google.cn (is very popular)
www.sina.com
www.sohu.com

Vietnam
www.yahoo.com.vn
www.google.com.vn

Which 3rd party agency/ recruitment search firms have you successfully used and would recommend to others for the types of positions (IT, accounting etc) you recruit for?
China – all major recruitment firms globally have offices in China (contingency as well as retainer. Examples of PRC based agencies include Paul & Leon Consulting (www.plcc.com.cn), PCI Executive Search Consultants (www.pcichina.com), Antal (http://www.antal.com).

Vietnam – the two leading agencies are: Navigos and PwC (They are generalist recruiting for all market segments. There are no specialty recruitment agencies in Vietnam.)

NOTE: Mentions of firms and/or websites does not constitute an endorsement nor recommendations by SixDegreesFromDave.com.

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