By Bharati Jagdish

Jared Ng, now Regional Consulting Director of PeopleSearch Hong Kong, knew nothing about the executive search industry when he entered it 20 years ago.

Almost immediately after joining PeopleSearch’s very first office in Taiwan, his inadequacies became apparent, but he was about to face many more business challenges in the form of fallout from political unrest and economic crises over the years.

Before we discuss these, he surprisingly cites his early years in the firm as his most challenging ones.

“I had worked in banking most of my career. I did not know the job or the market and I had no friends or contacts in Taiwan. The company also had no clients, candidate database or reputation in the market. It was quite stressful.”

As he told us in the last edition of “20 Years of PeopleSearch”, developing the courage to make cold calls and learning from his more experienced colleagues rapidly took care of that.

“For me, failure was not an option and being an optimist helps. Those who know me well, know I tend to look at the brighter sides of things. In addition, I enjoy helping people and this is what our job is all about. I was lucky to get my first closure fast enough as it gave me the confidence to continue. I take each rejection and failure as an opportunity to learn. As such, I find that having true passion and a positive mind is important in helping me overcome all sorts of challenges. I always tell myself that if I have given my very best, then it is good enough. I will do better next time.”

TRYING, FAILING AND SUCCEEDING DESPITE LIMITATIONS

The company’s perspective on trying and failing has also helped him grow.

“It has allowed me to be creative in solving problems. During the Global Financial Crisis for example, I  went out to pitch for payroll outsourcing services even though I had no experience at all in this area and as a result, we had a new revenue stream when the market recovered.”

Jared Ng is Regional Consulting Director, PeopleSearch Hong Kong.

This spirit saw him take on pioneering projects in the early years.

When he joined the first iteration of PeopleSearch in Taiwan, iTech, he was given a chance to build the banking and finance desk largely because of his previous experience in the banking industry.

“That was when iTech became iTech Finance. It was a new start again. After another two years, I volunteered to start the commerce team to focus on the FMCG and Pharmaceutical industries. I was very happy that I was able to be involved in starting up the different teams in PeopleSearch in Taiwan.”

He claims the Taiwan market then was not as competitive as the Singapore and Hong Kong markets.

“The main competitors were MNCs. Their business model constituted job role advertising. We were the only firm that utilised a search methodology and yet, clients only paid upon successful placement. That was a very effective sales pitch for us.”

The early 2000s was also an era replete with limitations.

“We did not have job portals then, so market-mapping involved making a lot of cold calls.”

Thankfully, the Singapore brand name went down well with Taiwanese clients and candidates. It was tantamount to quality.

“We also quickly became known in the market as we were the only technology jobs search firm around and we were able to deliver results quickly too.”

REPUTATION – THE CORNERSTONE OF BUSINESS

His experience in Hong Kong was slightly different. While the team succeeded quickly, competition was stiffer.

“We started in a business centre in 2006 with four consultants before moving into Jardine House, our first permanent office in Hong Kong. We managed to break even in about nine months and grow the team to 35 staff by 2008. But the tempo and pace in HK was much faster and we were again faced with the challenge of building awareness of our brand.”

They took the approach of taking on work that other firms couldn’t or wouldn’t take on.

“We were committed to proving our worth and we were lucky to have a team of very dedicated consultants. We grew our client base and built our reputation through word-of-mouth. The hours were long, but we were happy.”

The Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 forced the firm to consolidate operations to focus on its core strength of Banking recruitment. It only started to rebuild its Retail specialisation about four years ago and more recently, Fintech and FMCG.

“Over the years, I have realised that the support of our key clients is crucial to our growth in Hong Kong. Many of the clients I’m currently working with, are people who gave us a break 14 years ago. The honest and sincere way in which we work with clients and candidates is what sets us apart from other firms. Reputation is the cornerstone of any business and I am happy to share that when clients and candidates work with PeopleSearch in Hong Kong, they know they are working with a partner who has their best interests at heart.”

BAD TIMES DO NOT LAST

In recent years, Hong Kong has seen its share of political instability and when asked what it’s been like to have to weather these storms, Jared responds in his quintessentially positive manner.

“Hong Kong is definitely an exciting market to operate in. Everything happens very quickly. As such, one has to be very vigilant and be heavily involved in the market. It is also a very resilient city. If you have a positive mindset, you would know that bad times will not last, so if you just hang in there and continue to do what you have to do, the good times will be back. There is no time to mope in Hong Kong.”

“My biggest takeaway is that there are always business opportunities in Hong Kong due to its proximity to China. As such, during times of unrest and crisis, if there is a lull in business, we should use the opportunity to improve our consultants’ skills and fine-tune internal processes to make ourselves more competitive to prepare for the next business opportunity. The key to surviving well here is to stay hungry and be prepared to work for your goals. Hong Kong is not a place for lazy people.”

He applies this philosophy to the current Covid-19 crisis as well.

“I would like to treat this tougher environment as a chance to challenge ourselves to grow, to improve our skills so that we can still do well in a market that has fewer opportunities. Each vacancy that comes our way is now more precious and we will need enhanced skills to succeed. As such, we need to inculcate a winning mindset. It is only when one chooses to do well that we will have hope of doing well under such market conditions. The tone for that mindset has to be set by leaders and we have to put our people first in any business decision – inspire them and mentor them. When you do that, you’ll make the right decisions most of the time.”

Hear from others who’ve been instrumental in strengthening this ethos in future editions of “20 Years of PeopleSearch”.