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Talented people with unique backgrounds have little hope of being seen or heard in the hiring process in Hong Kong. Photo: Bloomberg

Hong Kong firms need to innovate through new hiring practices

Failure by recruiters and HR staff to locate the best talent blamed for stagnation of local outfits

Hong Kong's recruitment agencies and human resources people are ineffective in finding talented people. That is the most common complaint I hear from candidates, multinational companies and other leading recruiters. And their lack of talent for recruiting talent contributes to the stagnation of the city's businesses and government.

Now Hong Kong businesses are not necessarily looking to invent or develop any breakthroughs. But the mediocre standard of hiring is one of the reasons the city's business and government are unable to evolve or improve.

A former civil servant said: "Surprisingly, senior mainland government officials actually possess more international experience than their Hong Kong counterparts. Few Hong Kong officials have lived or worked abroad. As a result, their approach on issues is based on narrow local experiences."

Local recruiters ... act as little more than human inboxes and receptacles for resumes

This simply explains the shortcomings in our local policies because the policymakers are too Hong Kong-centric.

The tone and importance of recruitment is set by leadership, the board or the owner. Cultivating talent starts at the top.

Nick Marsh, managing director of Harvey Nash Executive Search, is outspoken about the endemic malaise that prevails in local corporate and government cultures.

"As a top leader, you should be hiring better than yourself. Do not just fill the job. Think what happens to the job and candidate two years later. Have they been promoted?" he said.

The hiring practices between local companies and multinationals are starkly different. International concepts appear to be alien to most local recruiters, who act as little more than human inboxes and receptacles for resumes. Eventually, job and career sites like LinkedIn and JobsDB will force out mediocre recruiters who are little more than resume exchangers.

The technology industry drives particular hiring demands where candidates need intellect plus business drive in order to succeed in an ambiguous and fast-changing environment. But your average company in traditional industries can still innovate and improve itself through enlightened hiring practices. It is not just required from technology companies.

Human resources people are part of the problem, too. Compared to international firms, the human resources staff at local outfits can be painfully parochial. At their worst, they are driven by the need to fill posts quickly and promote conformity. Talented people with unique and different backgrounds have little hope of being seen or heard. And usually your most talented people possess unconventional thinking and career paths.

Hong Kong needs a performance-driven culture, a change of mindset of leaders or a change of leadership in order to spark innovative change in business, education and government.

So how do great companies hire? When it was a partnership, Goldman Sachs ran a rigorous hiring regime where even analysts were required to interview with partners. In fact, partners, not just human resources departments, were responsible for recruitment and interviewing candidates. Nothing enforces recruiting excellence more than making everyone fully engaged and responsible for it.

John Doerr, a founding partner of Kleiner Perkins, once told me that financial acumen was not the key to his effectiveness as a leading venture capitalist. After all, anyone can analyse spreadsheets.

He said his biggest asset was "his role as a highly skilled recruiter". It sounds pithy, but it underscores the importance of locating and attracting the best talent whether it is a technology start-up or large organisation.

In today's economy, disintermediation can occur by many means. Ironically, Hong Kong's businesses are disintermediating themselves through unimaginative hiring practices.

If the city wants to retain a hub status for the mainland, it has to do something better than just being next door. That competitive advantage is quickly vanishing. Its companies need to push the boundaries of talent. Otherwise, Hong Kong will just become another mainland city - except a very overpriced one to live and do business in.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: HK firms need to innovate through new hiring practices
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