Kung Shih-Chan never had it easy in his headhunting career. Having embarked on his recruitment journey with PeopleSearch Taipei in 2006, Kung uprooted himself to move to Shanghai to help establish the brand in 2012. Starting all over again in a new city was tough, but just as he thought he had built up a stable and effective team, in an unfortunate turn of events, he lost more than half of his people. It would have been easy for anyone else to just throw in the towel, but not Kung. He held on to his beliefs, stood together with those who stayed behind with him, and re-created his empire. Today, he leads a strong team of close to 60 outstanding consultants and continue to win their trust and commitment with his genuine care for his people and inspiring will to excel.

So, what has kept Kung so passionate about the headhunting profession till today? What is it about HRnetGroup that solidified his loyalty to the organisation and continues to inspire generations after him?

What do you see as your key mission in your current role?

Kung: I hope to have a positive influence on all around me, my clients, candidates, team members, peers and even my bosses. I see myself as a partner to all my clients and I want to help them grow by finding good talents that can value-add to their businesses. I believe everyone has great potential and I can be that catalyst to unleash that potential by leading them to make the right career decisions that best fit their capabilities, so that they can shine in their own fields of expertise. I see this role as my life-long career. I will continue to act as the bridge between my clients and the candidates, and encourage my team members to do so, for as long as my body and mind allow me to.

How do you motivate your team members to work towards your vision?

Kung: I share the “build-to-last” value with them. I place a lot of emphasis on creating an environment which cultivates good working patterns and value system, an environment based on trust and teamwork. I am not embarrassed to share my mistakes and past failures with them, as they can learn from these failed experiences, without having to go through the same pain. I encourage the team to share best practices, so that everyone can grow faster and become better, together. I believe people are our greatest assets, they need to feel genuinely happy working with us and believe in our common goals. That will make them want to continue grooming the next generation based on the same value system.

How do you win the trust of your clients?

Kung: It’s all about creating that intrinsic motivation within ourselves and all my teammates. Our success is not about clocking in sales, we derive our sense of achievement when we help our clients and candidates fulfill their needs, when we create win-win situations for everyone involved. When we find our job meaningful and are truly happy in doing what we are doing and, we will naturally deliver best experiences and top-quality services to both our clients and candidates. Such sincerity can and will be felt by them and in time, will be reciprocated with trust and deepened relationships. This will eventually create a positive cycle which is self-sustaining.

What are the unique features of HRnetGroup which have nurtured your love for the organisation and differentiates HRnetGroup from its peers?

Kung: A comprehensive web of structure on various aspects, ranging from organisational structure and culture to the remuneration structure.

1. Organisational Structure

• Flat and simple organisation structure. Senior management sits with the consultants, they feel the team spirit and are in tune with the happenings on the ground. Here, leaders roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. We work as a team.
• We promote the entrepreneurial spirit. We believe an entrepreneurial mindset nurtures a long-term view in business, an appetite for risk-taking and innovative culture. Our leaders are given the opportunity to own equity stakes in new entities they set up. We established the 88 GLOW, 123 GROW and GROW schemes to allow our employees to be co-owners of the company, so that they think, work and behave like owners of the businesses, and enjoy the upside when profitability is good.
• Structures and frameworks to promote collaborations. We identify key accounts and send in our best teams across the different business units to serve them. We solidify our relationships with the clients via multiple contact points and an established in internal collaboration system to ensure we quality delivery. Such structures allow us to work more efficiently, effectively and built up our strong base of key-accounts, providing that relative stability and sustainability relative to our competitors.

2. Culture

• Daily Wellness Exercise (WE). WE focuses on self-healing exercise to promote the immune system. Our people are healthier both mentally and physically, resulting in them having more positive energy to drive excellence at work.
• We treat everyone the same. No discrimination of race, nationality, marital status, gender, sexual preferences, age and education. But we stress on performance differentiation. We value and reward people with the right attitude and superior performance.
• Our organisation is built on collective leadership. No single individual can dictate the oragnisation. Our platform is built on trust, systems and policies. Good performance will be recognised as the platform is transparent and merits-based.

3. Remuneration Structure

• Clear, non-disputable promotion criteria. Spend time on the right things here, get your job done and the numbers in. You will get promoted even if your boss doesn’t like you, as the transparent assessment criteria will justify your worth.
• No glass-ceiling. There is no limit to the number of leaders we appoint can have at each corporate grade. This means our people can focus on doing productive and meaningful work, to justify their worth, instead of wasting time and energy on internal politics to fight for promotion.
• Competency based salary. The basic pay is flexible, it can go up or down, and may be revised as frequently as within 6 months. Your pay is not determined by seniority, but solely on your level of competency, so in short, the sky is the limit – your pay can be as high as it can get as long as you show that you can achieve those sale targets you set.
• No cap to incentives. The only limiting factor is the business unit’s profitability level. The computation for incentive is totally transparent, based on a fixed formula, no grey area. You know exactly how much you can take home. Our people are motivated to collaborate and improve the profitability of the unit as a whole, so that everyone brings back a bigger share of the enlarged pie.