Despite his best efforts, last year Wangwei’s sales team failed to reach their target. He blamed the state of the industry, ravished by the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), but his line manager, the company’s Sales Director, thought differently. Wangwei’s team had suffered a 33% turnover in sales staff over the past 12 months and engagement, as a percentage, could be measured in single digits. Wangwei’s ‘team’ was really nothing more than a lose bunch of people, with the same employer. Poor performance was clearly the result of poor staff retention.

-Getting Ahead without Leaving HR

Working in Human Resources should be the most rewarding department in business. Helping people with their careers, making sure teams function properly, providing training, and orienting new staff should provide a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment for professionals who have chosen the field. Yet it can prove demanding and often thankless work, especially when it comes to promotions. While other departments may offer internal training programs and succession planning that provide for promotions, HR’s developmental opportunities may prove less well defined than those found in Sales or Engineering departments. So what is an HR professional to do when striking that glass ceiling that often lingers above them? For those seeking to move ahead in their careers there are a number of programs emerging to educate and invigorate the careers of experienced HR professionals without demanding they leave work for years to pursue a formal MBA. Sensing this need, a number of educational institutions have emerged to provide programs around China to meet the needs of ambitious young HR professionals, who require a degree to move ahead, yet cannot or will not stop their careers for a few years to complete a business education program.

I am sure that most of you will be able to empathise with the following situation. You have advertised an entry-level position that is perfect for a fresh graduate with the potential to advance quickly within your organisation. This is a great opportunity for you to prove yourself as a HR superstar. By unearthing someone who has the potential to drive your organisation forward, you will certainly show senior management the value you bring to the company. Unfortunately, this is no easy task. One of the toughest aspects in recruiting new graduates and relatively inexperienced candidates is looking beyond the resume, developing an understanding of each applicant, and determining whether they have what it takes to blend in to your organisation.

Recognising your employees on a human level

The seeds of this article were sewn as I put together the last edition of Network HR. First, as I edited the Training & Development section, I read the following prophetic words from Jennifer Petersen, “If you want your customers to feel cared for, you must care for the employees that serve them.” This started me musing about the way organisations across China treat employees. Yet, at that point my thoughts had no real direction and this article remained very much in the embryonic stage. That was the case, until I read 30 Days to a Happy Employee by Dottie Bruce Gandy and began to explore the idea of acknowledgement.