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通向天堂的階梯 – 從工程師成為世界級獵頭顧問
時間: 2021-09-01 瀏覽次數:1595
When I rejected an offer for employment as engineering director represented by an executive search firm in 2001, the MD of that firm tried to recruit me to join their own team. Having grown up within a family of scientists, I naturally followed this career path and performed reasonably well. I won the Royal HK governor ’s invention award at the age of 26 and became the regional engineering director by the age of 33. The thought of becoming a headhunter had never occurred to me. However, I was touched by what he said: “If you were a headhunter, you can change people’s life in a good way. There are not many jobs you can impact people’s life so quickly and directly”. I discussed his offer with my husband Tony Dickel who was the owner of MRI franchiser in greater China at that time. He didn’t think it was good idea as I had never sold anything in my life; I was a very sincere, straightforward and principle driven person with great analytical skills, problem solving ability but had never put such traits to practice in the commercial world. I finally decided to accept the offer from this search firm simply because my darling husband said I could not make it. Unfortunately, when I disclosed the fact that my husband is Tony, the search firm withdrew their offer. Tony probably saw my potential and chose to support me on this endeavor. On Aug 1st, 2001, I took the job receiving one third of my previous salary along with a headstrong mood thinking “Hey, I am here now to change people’s life in good way!”
2001年,我拒絕了某獵頭公司給我的一個工程總監的offer。不久之后,那個獵頭公司的老總邀請我加入獵頭行業。在此之前,我從來沒有想過去從事獵頭工作。我成長在一個科學家的家庭,所以很自然地走著這條路,而且頗有建樹。26歲時,我就獲得了皇家香港政府頒發的發明獎,33歲時,就成為了一家OEM的亞太地區工程總監。然而,那個老總的話打動了我,“如果你成為一個獵頭,你可以快速和直接地改善人們的生活, 能做到如此的工作并不多。”我的丈夫Tony Dickel當時是MRI大中華區的特許經營人,我和他商量轉做獵頭的事,Tony覺得我這輩子從沒賣過任何東西,我個性真誠、直接、講原則,善于分析和解決問題,但從未從事過商務工作,所以他認為我不合適做獵頭。或許是因為不想我親愛的丈夫看輕我,我最后決定接受這份挑戰。可惜當對方知道Tony是我丈夫--他們的競爭對手時,他們決定收回offer。 最終或許Tony屈服于我的決心,2001年8月1日,我拿著之前工作三分之一的薪水,帶著“我來改善人們生活的”堅定信念加入了MRI。
After the initial excitement from a new challenge started to wear off, I began to recognize it was not what I thought. Tony warned me many times but I just ignored him as usual until it became unmistakable, I had gotten into the sales business. As an engineer, I had been trained to tell our internal customers what the potential problems are and people tended to believe what they heard. It was due to this approach to the industry, I suffered very badly. I had broken all MRI’s worst records; one example sending out 28 candidates’ profiles to a client and not even earning a single interview. After 5 months in the business, I was still unable to secure a placement. I had lost all my superiority and confidence, in sincerity, the only thing kept me in the business was the lack of desire to give my husband the satisfaction of being right.
沒過多久,新挑戰帶來的刺激開始慢慢消逝,我開始意識到獵頭并非我想象的那樣有使命感。雖然Tony曾不斷告誡我,獵頭做的是銷售工作,然而我卻一如既往地忽視他的意見,直到事態發展到幾乎不可收拾。作為一個工程師,我的工作是把潛在的問題告訴我的內部客戶,由于我的專業權威,內部客戶也自然會聽取我的建議。開始做獵頭時,我依舊采用同樣的方法,把候選人的潛在問題告訴客戶,可能正因如此,讓我大大受挫。有一次我給了客戶28個候選人的簡歷,結果對方連一個面試的機會都沒有給。整整五個月過去了,我連一個單子都沒成。我幾乎打破了MRI所有人員的最差記錄。我的優越感和自信心蕩然無存,唯一讓我堅持下來的是我不想讓Tony有機會說:你看,我說過你不適合這行的。
At this point, I went in to survival mode. I dropped all my shortcuts and started what I label the scientific phase of my recruitment career. I had learnt that it is only with proper planning that a person can achieve the required level of activity needed when gathering the information we need to become “knowledge workers” and move closer towards becoming masters of the market. I made it my goal to work out the daily activities I had to achieve; making sure the plan for the next day was ready before leaving every day.
在那個時候,我開始進入“生存模式”,我放棄了所有捷徑開始了“科學階段”。我意識到唯有合理計劃才有可能收集到合適的信息并成為一個“知識型員工”,才有可能參與獵頭工作的不同階段,從而有機會成為把握市場的人。于是我開始合理安排每天的具體工作內容,每天下班前安排好第二天的工作。
My typical daily activities at that time were:
- 9:00 – 9:15 Check the email and modify the plan
- 9.15 – 10:15 Present the candidate MAPPING
- 10:15 – 11.45 Client development
- 11.45 – 12.00 Return calls /Email
- 12.30 – 1.30 Lunch
- 1.30 – 2.00 Return calls/Reference Checking/Email
- 2:00 – 4:45 Candidate development
- 4.45 – 5:00 Return calls
- 5:00 – 5:30 Email
- 5:30 – 6:00 Plan
那個時候,我的一天是這樣安排的:
- 9:00 – 9:15 查郵件、調整計劃
- 9.15 – 10:15 向客戶介紹候選人搜尋進展
- 10:15 – 11.45 開發客戶
- 11.45 – 12.00 回復電話和郵件
- 12.30 – 1.30 午餐
- 1.30 – 2.00 回復電話和郵件,做背景調查
- 2:00 – 4:45 搜尋候選人
- 4.45 – 5:00 回復電話
- 5:00 – 5:30 處理郵件
- 5:30 – 6:00 計劃(第二天的工作)
I did spend more time to do research and learn industry during the evening time.
除此之外,晚上我還會再花些時間做調研,學習行業知識。
Scientific Phase:
To elaborate on what I call the ‘Scientific phase, in this phase you may not have strong industry knowledge and rich talent market knowhow,
- it is likely you would use transactional / “product Sale” ``approach
- You would feel it is all a numbers-game upon which you need to create and make as many “relevant” conversations and “Information gathering” sessions as possible. It could be very stressful…as you feel you are like a machine.
- You would feel you are not in control of the process, to not be in control of your self- confidence/competence. You are not sure about the “worth” of your service - You feel you are playing verbal ping pong with your clients /candidates.
- You tend to be “over-eager” to sell… have the tendency to put the “prescription” before the “diagnosis” , you have few anecdotes to share which would help to “position” yourself in conversation
- “Failure to plan” is the same as “Planning to Fail” at this stage.
在這個階段,你或許沒有很強的行業知識,對候選人的了解也不全面。
- 你很可能會采用交易或“產品銷售”的方法;
- 你感到你必須創造盡量多的可以讓客戶以及候選人交流的機會,盡可能多地收集相關信息,你可能感到自己像一臺機器并且感到壓力重重;
- 你可能會感覺你對事情的發展沒有掌控力,你對自己的能力不是很有信心,對自己服務的價值有所懷疑;
- 你會感覺你和客戶和候選人在進行來來回回的乒乓球式的對話;
- 你可能會過度銷售,在“診斷”前就“開藥”,由于缺乏故事的積淀,你很難在談話中把握好自己的定位;
- 在這個階段,沒有很好的計劃就相當于你正在計劃著走向失敗。
With all the limitations at this phrase, I pressed on and managed to make my first placement within a month. Feeling on top of life, I was chastised though; I had been paid only USD 6,000 for a position worth USD 200,000 due to poor contract management. I learnt my lesson the hard way but, had secured my first placement.
雖然面臨上述一大堆的自我懷疑及客觀的瓶頸,我仍然堅持著,終于在一個月內完成了第一單業務。我感覺好得不得了,但是由于合同簽訂欠妥,一個年薪20萬美元的職位,我卻只收到6千美元的服務費。我在完成我的第一單的同時,也學到了另一個教訓。
For lots of recruiters who have not yet worked within a specific industry relevant to their practice, I believe you cannot proceed to the “transitional phase” without first passing through the ‘Scientific Phrase”. The good news is that if you approach the scientific phrase with an appropriate amount of energy, hunger, resourcefulness and desire to win without taking shortcuts, you will approach the transitional phrase within 9-12 months. This is much less time than it takes to become a knowledge worker in just about any other profession, yet what we do is just as valuable. At the same time, the financial return as a recruiter is great…
對于許多獵頭來說,如果沒有行業經驗,“科學階段”是必經之路。如果你有足夠的精力、饑渴、靈活性、獲勝的欲望、不走捷徑的精神,你可以在9 到12個月內完成“科學階段”的累積,進入“過渡階段”。 花9到12個月成為一個“知識型員工”,要比其他任何一個職業花的時間要短得多,但別忘了我們做的事情和其他職業一樣有價值,同時,作為獵頭,收入回報巨大。
2003 was the third year I worked in recruitment. Due to the SARS, all the big billers in the banking and financial sector had suffered badly. As I was working in the industrial and manufacturing sector, I was not affected so much. Through perseverance and luck, I became the number 1 biller in MRI Asia Pacific; it was the first time an Asian had achieved such a feat. It felt wonderful being invited to the MRI annual top 200 biller conference in Hawaii. There, I noticed how new I still was. With many people billing over 1 million USD per annum, I listened to a crowd filled with an array of useful hints, tips and strategies. I felt it was time to take things to the next level.
2003年是我踏入獵頭的第三年。SARS導致銀行、金融的大腕顧問遭到了重挫。由于我專注的是工業、生產領域,影響沒有那么大。在我的不斷努力下,加上一些運氣,我成為了MRI亞太區業績排名第一的顧問,這也是一個亞洲人首次獲得這樣的成績!我也因此榮幸受邀參加了MRI在夏威夷舉辦的全球業績前200名顧問的大會。 在夏威夷,我感到自己在行業里還是個新手。聽著身邊眾多年百萬美元業績同僚們分享的竅門、技巧、策略,我覺得應該還能再上一層樓。
Transitional phase
At this phase, you would feel
- Your interest goes from survival to almost academic, expressing a hunger for extra knowledge. You start to build genuine relationship with your clients and candidates as a trusted advisor. You become skilled in probing for any issues both with the candidate and the client (as opposed to the verbal ping pong mentioned in the previous phase)
- You became more service minded. Able to stay very calm when pressed by a customer challenge; you find yourself looking for deeper partnerships instead of “deals”
- You start to develop your personal signature moving away from pre-scripted chats into a natural flow but always with a goal in mind.
- You should always have a call-plan listing the goals and objectives to be met.
- You can relate and understand the true needs of a customer and a candidate instead of what you believe they should be thinking anticipating any resistance or emotions along the way.
- The time spent on mandates should be shared equally with presenting good candidates to different clients. Free money starts to be won.
- You find out the cold calls made during the Scientific Phase, if properly conducted, start to become the basis for warm calls during the Transition.
- Plan is still the important element for your success
在這個階段,你會有如下感覺:
- 你渴望更多的知識,你的興趣開始轉向偏專業化的行業內情。你開始以一個值得信任的顧問的角色開始和客戶以及候選人建立真誠的關系。你在和他們交談時,能夠很有技巧地對很多事情切中要點 (不同于“生存階段”的乒乓球式的對話);
- 你變得更有服務意識。在受到客戶挑戰時,你仍然保持冷靜。同時,你和客戶的關系已經不僅僅是生意往來,而是更深的合作關系;
- 你已經不需要去預先準備說辭,相反,你心中的目標很清晰,你的交談變得行云流水,開始形成自己獨特的風格;
- 當然, 你始終需要準備一個電話銷售計劃,并且把你的目標清楚地列出來;
- 在整個搜尋過程中,你能了解客戶和候選人的真實需求,你不會去揣摩他們該怎么想,相反,在大多數情況下,你完全有能力預計他們的情緒變化或者可能出現的言行;
- 將時間有效地分配給眾多客戶,為他們提供優質的候選人;這個時候,就會開始出現不必花多少力氣就能賺到錢的情況;
- 此時,在“科學階段”打的陌生拜訪電話(cold call)如果處理得體就會變成“溫暖”拜訪電話;
- 仍要根據你個人的目標堅持有計劃的工作。
With this approach, I maintained the position as one of the top 3 billers within the APAC region for 5 years since 2003. To this point, I had always been a sole biller as it made for a simple life with munificent financial gain. However, I began to feel unfulfilled, especially when I saw others suffering from the mistakes as I did before. I started to think what I could do to help them.
我堅持著這樣的工作方法,也連續五年名列亞太地區個人業績前三名。那五年里,我作為一個獨立的顧問,過著簡單的生活,拿著豐厚的報酬。然而,我開始覺得少了點什么,特別是當我看到其他同事犯著我以前相同的錯誤的時候,我開始想我能如何幫助他們。
By the end of 2007, one of my colleagues had relocated to Hong Kong from China and two consultants in HK were given up by their managers, they asked me to be their leader. I accepted the challenge and ended up taking what has proven to be my best decision within MRI. I have learnt to become a very capable trainer, facilitator and coach. Through mutual respect and understanding, I had learnt as much from my team as they had learnt from me reinforcing my own leadership knowledge at every step. With a team built from orphans abandoned by others, we became the Number 1 billing team in 2008 in MRI Asia Pacific. All my team members became leading consultants within their own sectors. I began to notice how happy it made me when I saw others growing and recognized that, sometimes giving can bring tremendous joy when compared to taking. It triggered me to form the next phase of my career as both a recruiter and a leader.
正好那個時候(2007年年底),我的一個同事從大陸轉到了香港,兩個香港公司的顧問因為他們的老板被開除而面臨被“放棄”的危險。他們三個人一起邀請我帶他們。于是,我接受了帶領團隊的挑戰,從三人團隊開始了我獵頭管理者的生涯。 現在看來這是我在MRI所做的最好的決定。我開始學習成為一個能干的管理人、培訓者、引導者、教練。通過我和我的團隊的相互尊重和理解,我們互相學習到了許多東西,我也腳踏實地增強了我的領導力知識。就這樣,這個由“孤兒”們組成的團隊成為了2008年亞太區業績第一的團隊,我的每個隊員都成為了他們所在工業領域的領先者。我開始體會到當我看到別人成長時我是多么的快樂;我意識到有時候給予比索取能獲得更多的快樂。這個時候我也開啟了身兼獵頭和領導者的新的階段 – 藝術階段。
Artistic Phase – Market Mastery and a leader!
- You have good self-awareness – able to be yourself and be honest about your own strengths and weaknesses and Knowing your activity ratios. You are hungry for feedback (from bosses, peers, subordinates, clients and candidates) and begin to build a team.
- You have learnt self-regulation and discipline in order to cultivate yourself and your team’s emotional balance. You no longer worry about the results as you know if you have done what you could, you can let the result flow as matters were out of your control. You don’t worry about what you take because; you know that when you give, the return will come sometime, someday.
- You are in control – you have options allowing you to work based on high fee assignments only; Customers and candidates include you in the process as you are seen to be vital for success.
- You make the numbers work for you. There is little need to fight the numbers as you know how to maximise profit per unit of time and how to leverage resources. You actively solicit training, coaching and mentoring and actively coach, mentor and train others – involved and engaged.
- You have become the expert of the market you operated, you are thinking of givingbenefits to the clients and candidates before yourself. You are a “trusted advisor” to both parties. Expert at providing tailored proposals with options and explaining service levels in a way to get the right result.
- Clients bring you in at an EARLY STAGE within the cycle and you become the custodian (or at least informant) of the client’s employer brand!
- You build a team and aid the development of others becoming not just a thought leader in your practise.
- 你有很好的自我認知,你以本色展現自己,你了解自己的優勢和弱勢,你知道如何計劃好各種工作內容。你渴望來自各方面(老板、同僚、下屬、客戶、候選人)的反饋并開始建立團隊;
- 你開始懂得如何管理自我以及如何自律,從而更好地培育你和你團隊的情緒平衡。你知道只要你已經盡你所能,事情自會發展到其應有的階段,所以你不會總是擔心結果。你不再想著什么時候可以獲得什么,你只知道因為已經有了付出,回報遲早會來的;
- 你可以選擇專注服務費較高或更有潛力的項目,因為你的客戶和候選人希望你參與,在他們看來,你是項目成功的關鍵因素之一;
- 你不需要花精力去爭取你在項目里的分紅。你知道如何將利潤最大化,如何利用各種資源。你積極地獲取培訓、教練、輔導資源,同時你不斷地培訓、教練、輔導其他人,使得團隊充滿凝聚力;
- 你在你的服務領域是個專家,你把客戶和候選人的利益放在自己的利益之上,你是雙方值得信賴的顧問。你能為客戶量身定制靈活的方案,讓客戶理解你的服務,可以達成滿意的結果;
- 客戶會在項目很早期就請你參與,你也會成為客戶雇主品牌的推廣者,甚至擁護者;
- 你不僅在你的領域是個專家,同時你建立團隊并協助他們成長,成為一個真正的領導者。
In 2008, to be able to support my team, peers, clients and candidates in a more systematic manner, I started my journey to learn executive coaching, leadership development and facilitation. I became certified as a coach and facilitator in 2010. One of my coaching specialties is on boarding coaching. We all know how much support a person needs during their career transition period. Through coaching, I help candidates to remove the uncertainties and accelerate their on boarding transformation. It is a great value added service for client, candidate and us as well.
2008年,為了更好、更系統地支持我的團隊、同僚、客戶、候選人,我開始學習高管教練,領導力發展和引導技能。2010年,我成為了一個認證的教練和引導師 。在做教練時,入職教練是我擅長的領域之一。一個職場人士很需要在職業過渡期獲得支持,我幫助候選人排除入職階段時碰到的不確定感,從而加速入職過程。這對客戶、候選人、獵頭公司都是一個增值的服務。
After nearly 12 year’s career operating within the executive search business, I have been through these three phases in a roundabout fashion a few times. Within today’s dynamic market, you are not able to stay at the artistic phase all the time no matter how good you are, it is highly probable at some point, you will need to go back to the transitional phase or even scientific phrase if needs be. You have to keep watching your cheese and improving yourself all the time. As a matter of fact, the more knowledge you have, the more unknowns become apparent around you.
在我12年的高端獵頭職業生涯里,我不止一次經歷過上述三個階段的循環歷練。在這個飛速發展的環境下,不管你多么優秀,你都不可能長期處在“藝術階段”,很有可能你需要回到“過渡階段”甚至“科學階段”并再次達到“藝術階段”。你需要不斷地盯著你的“奶酪”,不斷地自我提升。實際上,你知道的越多,你會發現你所不知道的領域就越廣闊。終身學習是我們不斷成長所需要堅持的。
At this stage of my life, my passion is helping and supporting people’s positive change and if possible raise the level of professionalism within our amazing industry. We recently partnered with a team that has built the largest single-site and most successful search firm in the United States to build a recruitment training institute. This is not just the best practises from a single trainer; this is not just one big biller’s favourite techniques. The team at Next Level provides an effective blueprint for operating at peak performance; join in with hundreds of search firm owners and thousands of recruiters who have taken the proactive step to take their businesses to the Next Level. We hope to support the development of recruiters’ in China as well.
如今,我熱衷于支持和幫助人們的成長,尤其是幫助獵頭從業人員進一步提高專業度。 最近,新履程和美國的一個團隊合建了一個獵頭培訓機構:新履程學院(Next level Institute www.nlinstitute.com ),我們的合作方在美國是單一運作點中最大、近十年來最成功的獵頭公司。新履程提供的不是一個培訓師的服務,也不是某個大獵的個人成功技巧的分享。新履程結合了數百個公司、數千個獵頭將他們的業務帶到新的里程碑的經驗之精華,我們為客戶提供一份能有效達到高業績的藍圖。我們希望借此為中國本土獵頭公司的成長出一份力。
I still remember the vision that attracted me to the executive search business in the first space “we change people’s lives in good ways”. It is very honourable job, and yes, not many jobs could impact the life of people as much as we do. Let’s continue this life time learning journey and make the people’s life more beautiful because of us.
我不會忘記當初吸引我加入獵頭行業的那句話,“我們的工作正向地改變人們的生活。”這是個有榮耀感的工作,沒有幾個其他行業能像獵頭那樣給人們的生活帶來這么大的改變。讓我們終身學習,給更多人創造更美好的未來!