admin, Author at RecruitFirst

Most days it feels like our news feed is one unending stream of bad news. 24% of companies in China have laid off workers, whilst 41% have hiring freezes. There are however companies who are doing very well because of COVID-19, whose stock are flying off the shelves in this time when everyone wants masks, gloves, laptops and toilet paper!

HRnetGroup recently conducted a survey to find out more about how the perceptions of hiring and talent management have shifted during this unprecedented time. A total of 1830 Chinese respondents from more than 7 major industry sectors took part, and shared their insights on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their careers.

How do you ensure you are one of the people who benefit rather than suffer? The domestic epidemic is experiencing a much-welcomed reprieve, while the international situation worsens. However, in the context of globalization, Chinese enterprises are not immune to the detrimental effects the coronavirus will bring to the international economy. How should we proceed with and view talent acquisition and management during this time?

2. Take the Opportunity to Optimize Your Talent Structure

The epidemic is a survival of the fittest. Enterprises need to re-examine their existing talent bench, and use market information gleaned from various sources to optimize talent structure whilst increasing talent reserves more effectively, so as to cope with the uncertainty of the world economy.

Now is the time to use benchmarking methods to right-size your teams, and staff them optimally. Go after talent with runway and fighting spirit, who

come right out and say they need to work harder and have positive minds during this time (See our Word Cloud below for responses from more than 1,800 respondents).

3. Be Nimble and Use Flexible Staffing

“Lower employment risk” is always an advantage for flexible staffing, especially during a crisis. For companies whose workload has increased but for whom a hiring freeze applies across the board, flexible staffing is a very good option. In addition to increasing organizational flexibility and reducing employment risks, flexible staffing is a way that allows us to strengthen our position in the market while providing ourselves with the contingencies to scale back should things go awry.

It is necessary to take the right action at this time to optimize talent acquisition and management for your company. You can choose to emerge from this crisis stronger and better.

As a new decade begins and we look ahead to achieving bigger and better things, we took some time to give back to the community with our CSR campaign – HRnetLoves. Our teams in Hong Kong and Jakarta worked with the local non-profit organisations to take our mission of impacting lives to the next level.

Collaborating with Crossroads Foundations in Hong Kong and Taman Fioretti Orphanage in Jakarta, our consultants worked tirelessly to put together events that would leave a lasting impression on our beneficiaries.

Through these events, we hope that we will be able to make an impact through giving back to the community and effecting small positive changes for those whom we are lucky enough to cross paths with.

Hong Kong

Kicking things off in Hong Kong, our CSR initiative started out strong as we partnered up with Crossroads Foundation, a non-profit organisation that aims to link those who are in need with those who can provide help. Understanding that the Foundation’s Global Distribution provides aid for relief and development in over 90 countries, we felt that we could reach the widest number of beneficiaries through their initiatives and network.

We organised a bazaar, with over 80 luxury pre-loved items donated by our own consultants. We managed to find a new home for these old belongings while raising a total of HKD$23,470.

The families that the Foundation provides aid to come from all around the world, including those in Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea and Gambia. We’re happy and grateful to be able to do our part and contribute to their outreach programs.

While raising money is not a tough feat in and of itself, we decided that the donations would be even more meaningful if we could understand the plight of the underprivileged families we pledged to help. As part of our CSR initiative, we attended the ‘Struggling for Survival Global Xperience’ – an experiential program under Crossroads Foundation where participants try to earn enough to survive by making paper bags out of newspaper and home-made glue while trying to manage situations that these families face on a day-to-day basis.

We were tasked with earning enough to pay for rent, food, sanitation, medical needs and education. Those who could not earn enough ended up in the hands of a loan shark.

It was an experience that allowed us to learn and understand how intricate the poverty web can be. The deeper understanding and awareness of the situation helped us realise that each donation made and every event organised is more than just the the act of doing. It is about having a conscious awareness of another person and how we can make a difference through these small contributions.

We realised that the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

Jakarta

Beginning as a shelter for homeless children to spend the night, Taman Fioretti Orphanage now houses 70 children aged 3 months to 18 years old. With a vision to equip these children with knowledge and skills that will enable them to be self-sufficient when they grow up, the nuns who run the orphanage work hard to help these children find their place in society despite their unfortunate start.

From the time we spent with the nuns to better understand what life is like for the children, we realised that for many of them, life is lived on a day-to-day basis with little attention paid to the future and what their adult life would look like. It was easy for us to decide that the best way to help would be through sharing what we know best – dream jobs, interviews and preparing for the future, as part of our CSR initiative!

We started with the younger kids where we played games and had singalong sessions. When it came to their main activity, we decided to approach the topic of job aspirations in a fun way. We prepared drawing paper that had line illustrations of various professions. The children were encouraged to pick whatever appealed to them so that they could colour in the image. As they coloured, we shared with them about the profession they picked – what the job was about, what they needed to study in school to prepare them for the role and how they could work towards making that dream a reality. It was fulfilling as they got to exercise their creativity while also learning about what they could aspire to be when they grew up.

For the older children, we prepared a fun workshop to introduce them to CV-writing and also interview skills. We broke down the different sections of a CV into easy-to-understand segments and handed out templates which they could use to fill in their details.

We advised them how to best present their education background, work experience, and interests and even did a bit of role playing as we got everyone to take turns and participate in mock-interview sessions. We shared with them tips on presentation and how to answer questions with confidence. We were pleasantly surprised by how enthusiastic they were because there was a lot of interaction through the questions they asked and how willing they were to participate in the activities.

We even had a little surprise for them! Those with the best-written resumes were given the opportunity to be invited back to our office for another round of interviews. From there, the best candidate would win an internship spot with us.

While we tried to impart what we could, we are also aware that the children needed more that just a day of fun and learning. They need to be equipped with tools to aid their growth and be in an environment where they are constantly learning and exploring. The nuns who take care of them do the best they can with what little they have, but we know that they could do more with better resources.

For that reason, we have started a fund-raising page as part of our CSR initiative. The donations collected will be used for the following,

1.Education fees
2.Books and school supplies
3.Daily necessities such as food and other supplies

With these HRnetLoves events being a success, we take pride in the fact that our actions always stem from a desire to effect positive change. We’re looking forward to more opportunities to give back to the community through our CSR campaigns. If you know of an organisation that you think we should work with, let us know. We’ll be happy to explore further.