Search firms are "head hunters." They get into the market, find the right target candidates, hunt them, and be done with it.
This is particularly true in today's China. Opportunities are abundant if you are a trilingual who speaks English, Chinese and the language of a profession. Top candidates can get calls every week from head hunters offering a better paid position, not necessarily a better career. Young professionals change jobs as frequently as patroning restaurants. Very fast they end up with many great companies on their resume but are often lost in their career.
There got to be a better way to handle this.
I noticed this a few years ago and decided to do something about it. That's the start of Supply Chain Forum, a Chinese website dedicated to promoting supply chain best practices and educating supply chain leaders in Chinese community. Over years, I contributed hundreds of articles to the website on purchasing, sourcing, supply management and career development. The forum becomes the most welcomed website of its kind in Chinese community, and attracts tens of thousands of professionals every year.
As more and more professionals know the forum, there are more and more job opportunities posted there. That's the start of CSCS International. I founded the company focusing on satisfying MNCs' needs of Chinese speaking professionals.
Different from its peers, CSCS positions itself as "head farmers." They strive to help candidates better define their goals, understand their strength and weakness, and most importantly, find out what they truly love and enjoy doing. Instead of cold calling candidates, CSCS takes a completely different approach. They focus on educating professionals on supply chain concept, best practices, and how to become successful in multinational companies. They speak at many conferences in China and contribute regularly to multiple professional magazines. CSCS believes all these are necessary to nurture a healthy candidate pool.
When candidates become stronger in their profession and make the right career choices, everybody wins.
Click here to see some events CSCS hosted or spoke at.
About the Author
Bob Liu, C.P.M., CPIM, is Managing Director of CSCS International. He is stationed in Silicon Valley and travels frequently to Greater China to help clients build their local supply chain organizations. Bob got his MBA in supply chain management, and has been managing global supply chains for over 10 years in the U.S. and China. He can be reached at bob.liu#ChinaSCservices.com (substitute # with @).
