Prepare the grass for the good horse

If a human resources manager were asked to write his requirements for a candidate in a job advertisement, he might write: "Look for an experienced person who has a good understanding of the company's products, customers, etc. , sales operations, internal systems, and company culture so they don't need training."

This desire is especially acute for businesses in which they operate in an unusual business environment and those with the same business model in the market. There are very few, so there are fewer and fewer opportunities to poach experienced candidates.

The same is true for fast-growing businesses that have traditionally adopted an entrepreneurial management style, as companies expect managers to be able to lead cross-functional teams and projects on their own without much coaching.

These types of businesses face unique recruiting challenges. Because the qualities that lead to success are rarely clearly visible at the time of hiring. These qualities go beyond skill requirements and rely more on intangibles like self-confidence and adaptability. You can't see if employees have these intangible qualities until they actually start working and face problems on the job.

Hiring Difficulty, Rehiring to Solve

An often overlooked solution is to rehire former employees and bring them back to work for the company as full-time employees or consultants.

Managers who hear this advice for the first time are more or less hesitant, as if asking them to take another pill they thought they had swallowed a long time ago. On a second thought, though, they can generally name a few former employees who they think would be of great use if they returned to the company. Of course, no one is going to hire back employees who are proven incompetent early on. However, there are usually a few times when good people leave the company for legitimate reasons, maybe for personal reasons, maybe to pursue new career development, and they continue to grow in the days they left, so that if they return to the company, they can Make a bigger contribution than before.

For example, they may have earned another degree during that time, learned a new job skill, gained experience in management, or simply became more mature and focused. Not only do they have these advantages, but they also have a good understanding of the company and don't need much onboarding training, and you will find that the benefits they can bring to the company are very obvious.

However, for many companies, leveraging this talent is far more difficult than imagined. Because these companies neither maintain contact with former employees nor create an atmosphere within the organization that makes skilled employees feel that the company will welcome them back at any time.

Global Sources is a good example of how to use the rehiring system. Companies have long opened doors to former employees and placed them in key positions or special projects to make the most of their talents. On the company's employee roster, there are several current senior managers and project consultants who have left and have been hired back into key positions.

Philip Chatting, Corporate Vice President, Human Resources, Global Sources, said: "We tend to promote internal promotions, but have also successfully rehired former employees to management positions on several occasions, bringing not only a new body of knowledge and New ways of working, but also new ideas. They've proven themselves to the company to be a very valuable asset, so we're now very comfortable with the concept of hiring back. In fact, it's become part of our company culture. Part of it."

Familiar and new skills

Chatting emphasized that Global Sources may use this resource more than any other company.

He said: "We found that certain types of employees who have been away for a long time and are hired back have two strengths that can benefit the company. First, they have already proven that they can Achieving excellence in our company's work environment, so we don't have to worry about whether they can adapt to this problem; secondly, they will bring back to the company the skills and work experience they acquired during their departure."

Cheng Hongsheng( One example is Alfred Cheng, who is now Global Sources' chief sales representative in Hong Kong.

He joined the company in 1984 as an account executive and later became the sales manager for one of the company's key publications. In 1987, he left Global Sources to join a company in Taiwan, where he was responsible for setting up various branches. He then founded his own companies in Taiwan and Hong Kong, mainly providing printing and production services. In 1992, Zheng Hongsheng returned to Global Sources, taking a higher position than the sales manager he had held when he left, and then stepped up, in part thanks to what he had learned in his days away from the company. .

Zheng Hongsheng said: "When I returned to the company, my experience was greatly enriched. Because when running my own business, I was responsible for everything, from visiting customers to recruiting employees to training employees. And I do all of the marketing myself. It makes me a much savvier manager and better at tackling hard times. When you have to do everything yourself, you can see every aspect of running a business.”

Another example that brings back a richer experience is Connie Leung. In 198_9, she was hired by the company as an interim systems analyst in Hong Kong and was promoted to distribution manager a few years later. Within a year after the company moved the department she led to Shenzhen, she still insisted on traveling between Shenzhen and Hong Kong until her young daughter fell ill and needed to see a doctor frequently, making it difficult for her to continue to go to work in Shenzhen every day. . In 1995, Liang Xiuzhen left Global Sources for a company closer to home.

She worked for several years as a distribution manager for a company in Hong Kong where she helped build the China database. Then she worked for the Hong Kong Productivity Council for a while, where she was exposed to ERP and CRM software, and was responsible for researching, organizing seminars and training. She also worked for a large exhibition company in Hong Kong for a while. In 2002, Liang Xiuzhen rejoined the Global Sources team in Shenzhen and was still the distribution manager, but she saw things differently, and her daughter has recovered.

Liang Xiuzhen said: "As a manager, I feel that I am much more mature now than when I left. The work experience I have has made me better at helping my subordinates improve themselves, making me a better trainer. At the same time, I have a better understanding of B2B business and industry standards.” She added that now she is not only a more valuable employee to the company, but a happier one.

“I find myself very satisfied with my career. There are many challenging goals in front of me, but the company has given me sufficient resources to achieve them, and now I am more confident.”

Rehired Yes The premise should be considered

In Chatting's view, one of the reasons why the company is so willing to hire Zheng Hongsheng and Liang Xiuzhen is to understand the situation when they left.

He said: "When you're going to bring someone back, you make sure that the situation they were in when they left is no longer there when they come back. That's the most important thing you need to check. One of the things. If the situation persists, of course they are likely to leave the company again." He mentioned that when Liang Xiuzhen left the company for the first time, it was for personal reasons, not some major work issue or attitude issue that caused her leave, and she has a good relationship with the company. When she rejoined the team, those situations were gone.

As for Zheng Hongsheng's situation, Chatting emphasized that it is important for the company to also consider the type of work that employees do.

Because of the nature of the sales job and the personalities of the employees themselves, salespeople tend to be more "random". “The motivations of salespeople are especially different from those of other employees who do operational work. They are more independent, almost managing their own business, so sometimes they think of other places to try the waters, which also Not surprising." If the employee had a good relationship with the company when he left, consider it when he intends to return. When Zheng Hongsheng left, he had a good relationship with the company.

As in China, Global Sources is hiring back employees in the United States.

Peter Zapf, corporate vice president of community development, is another example of an employee who was brought back. He is now responsible for all matters related to building the Global Sources buyer community. When he joined Global Sources in the US in 1997, he was in charge of various software projects mainly related to supply chain management. After three years, he left the company to join the investment bank Bear Stearns in New York and later worked at a venture capital firm. At the end of 2002, he returned to Global Sources.

“During my time away from Global Sources> I learned how other companies build and implement their business models. My work experience has broadened as a result. It has benefited a lot, and I believe Global Sources has benefited as well."

Many times, an employee's expertise in a particular industry is one of the factors that motivates Global Sources to look to a former employee to return to a role. One example is Michael Liu, the general manager who is now in charge of the "International Electronic Business" series. When Liu Jie joined the company in 1996, he was the editor-in-chief of several Chinese-language magazines. He left the company in 2003 to go to Canada to start his own consulting firm. In the second half of 2005, he returned to Global Sources. What prompted the company to hire him back was his unique understanding of China's electronics industry, and his previous experience in running a business led him to the higher position of general manager.

He said, "When running my own company, I have to actually sell the products I develop, which is very different from being an editor. I have to think about how to package my ideas, how to choose topics, I had to go through all the hardships of the sales process, all the things it takes to run a company. I gained first-hand experience along the way, and I'm now applying that knowledge to my current role."

Another move to re-employment, as a consultant

While the company can benefit from re-hiring former employees who are familiar with and mastering the way the company is run and rejoining them on a full-time basis, it is not the only way to use them Way. Ex-employees are even more valuable to the company when dealing with some short-term projects outside of the company's day-to-day work and "off-staff" projects that need to be completed quickly. Chatting points out that Global Sources often hires former employees as consultants to jumpstart some projects and then turn them over to full-time employees.

Chatting said: "Ex-employees with special skills are a very useful resource for companies because we can use them to achieve specific outcomes. Not only do companies save costs because of this, it's much more cost-effective than using external consultants. Projects also go more smoothly because they don't really need you to direct the project forward. We can start projects quickly because these ex-employees know the company well enough to know what the company is trying to do without a lot of guidance .”

A consultant that Global Sources uses frequently is Bruce Humes. He joined the company in 1982 as the first editor of Computer Products magazine and left in 1987. But over the next few years, he returned to Global Sources several times, either part-time or full-time, and now he regularly participates in some of the company's special projects. As an American who is proficient in Chinese and has extensive knowledge of Chinese trade, especially in the electronics industry, Xu Mushi has the ability to participate in and manage a variety of different projects for the company. He is involved in everything from writing research reports to publishing product information to training.

Chatting believes that two key factors set Xu Mushi apart from outside consultants. First, Global Sources can trust him to manage projects that require close contact with the company's Asian manufacturer client base. “We are very pleased that Xu Mushi is familiar with our company and our client base,” Chatting said. “We believe he can represent Global Sources well, even as a third party, to engage with our clients. Global Sources is He treats these clients how he treats them."

The second factor is that Mushi Xu can start projects faster than external consultants because he understands Global Sources' business model and corporate culture. It takes a long time for an external consultant to complete the process of "qualitative change" from completely ignorant of the company to well versed in the subtleties of the project and its purpose. Enabling Xu Mushi means that this time can be greatly shortened.

The situation is similar for Bernie Holmbraker (He Weiming), an American who is also proficient in Chinese. In 1988, He Weiming joined the company as an assistant editor, serving several English-language publications, and finally became the company's general manager of sales in southern China. In 2002, he left Global Sources to start his own business. In 2004, He Weiming returned to the company as a consultant.

Being familiar with everything about the company, he quickly took on a series of projects that taught Global Sources clients how to communicate with people in international trade. This type of position is too sensitive for most outside consultants because of the frequent contact with the suppliers that are the source of the company's revenue, at least they require extensive training. As an internal consultant, He Weiming developed and launched the curriculum in just a few months after taking over the project.

Rehiring was successful for a reason

When asked why Global Sources has been so successful in leveraging the talents of former employees, Chatting cited several key reasons. In his view, the most important reason is that Global Sources has always had a very stable management team in its 35-year history. Senior management is constant over time, which means that when a former employee wants to return to the company, he knows who to contact; it means the company has a good collective memory, so managers can often recall and discuss together The strengths and weaknesses demonstrated by these employees during their initial tenure with the company are used to determine whether or not to hire them back.

Because liaison with ex-employees is often informal and not directly through HR, many great ex-employees may not return without a stable management team. Another reason, says Chatting, is that after many successful recalls of former employees, the recall system has become an integral part of the company's culture.

Management believes that if these employees have a good attitude during their tenure with the company and have made a great contribution, it is not a bad idea to bring them back. In addition, the company also attaches great importance to education. If an employee learns new skills that are helpful to the company while they are away, it is even more of a concern if they wish to return to the company.

Chatting emphasized that Global Sources' success in this regard is also due to the company's strict human resources policy on turnover and re-employment. The company records everything discussed in the exit interview, and when the company intends to hire an employee back, it conducts a comprehensive review of its previous performance at the company. Any employee who is fired directly by the company due to moral corruption or work attitude issues will not be hired back.

The last reason, and probably the most important one, is that these employees were happy working at Global Sources, Chatting said. They may have tried different experiences after leaving the company, but eventually realized that they still miss Global Sources and the challenges and opportunities it gave them.