What's your employer doing and what are your areas of responsibility?
Hudson is a recruitment agency and a talent solution provider helping job seekers to realize their career potential whilst discovering talent for organizations.
As part of the Technology, Project and Transformation team, I’m responsible for any recruitment activities for talent in the change management space, as well as seeking further business opportunities in change management. Essentially I recruit change managers for our clients while discovering opportunities from them (usually large and complex organizations that have ongoing change projects).
What are you exactly doing? Tell us details about your daily work and your specific tasks.
I’m responsible for finding and creating the talent pool for change management (my desk) for any related roles our clients look for. When there’s a job given by our clients, I would screen and call candidates on LinkedIn and Seek, as well as connect with the talent to enlarge my talent pool. If not busy looking for candidates, I will be (because I haven’t done it just yet!) engaging with clients for further business development is the main task as well as checking in our placed candidates.
A typical day would be having morning stand-ups with the team, and I’ll start some LinkedIn research on a job I’m working on, connecting and calling the potential candidates followed by writing up their profiles for future reference if not immediately suitable. In the first couple of weeks, I also do quite a bit of training such as observing (in the lockdown case via Teams listening to candidate calls) to better understand how to talk to candidates and approach them.
If you’re not familiar with the desk given, chances are you’ll need to do some research on your own to understand the terminologies used and the job the candidates actually do to better connect with them, staying on top of the market trend is also key for providing market insights.
Additional information?
It’s not that difficult to understand what I do but younger people might find it difficult to understand what a change manager does. Everyone will have a job and go through a recruitment process, we just do it professionally!
Where did you grow up?
I grew up mostly in 2 countries, the first half (until the age of 14) was in China and the second was in the US where I received my secondary and tertiary education. Spent a year living in Spain after graduating with my bachelor's degree. This probably makes me a one-of-a-kind person that speaks quite a few languages (have to admit that speaking french and Spanish isn’t quite the same as speaking Mandarin and Spanish) and leaves people to question marks how that came about. When asked where I’m really from or where I see myself in the future, a “world citizen” kind of justifies that.
Most important stages of your life?
Probably went to boarding school alone in a different country when I was 14. It was then that I had to grow exponentially to cope with everything thrown at me, without much support from family or friends. That experience had really moulded me into who I am today, very much independent and pragmatic in life in understanding that you are on your own and always will be (I know people will say that’s not true but your partner isn’t going to always be with you). That was also the time that I adapted quickly to western culture which helped me to adapt fairly quickly to the life events after graduation.
How did you get your current position? How long have you been in your role?
I got reached out to by my current boss on LinkedIn, interviewed a few rounds and did some tests, and got the offer! I did shop around and asked for advice before making the decision to join Hudson and all was in favour of being part of my new team. I have been in my job for about a month now!
Interesting insight into you and why HR & Recruitment was of interest
I had never really worked in HR or in recruitment before given my background in hotel operations and consulting. But in one of my past experiences, I pre-opened a hotel with a team and hired not only for my department but also for others. This is not a typical job for a department head in a hotel as there always is HR and to the most extent, one will hire (just interview and rest is usually organized by HR) for its own department. Turned out that I really enjoyed the process, went to career expos that students go to as well as universities to set up booths to recruit interns.
My point is that you should do everything and anything when you are just starting out as you really don’t know what that will lead to. As a fresh grad, any experience experiences and don’t be picky because “it’s not part of your role”. I didn’t have to go and recruit with the HR Director, travelling to different cities because that wasn’t my job, but not only did I gain the experience, helped the whole team, and also found my passion. When I resigned from that job, my HR Director asked me to stay to work with her in HR if my department was the reason why I wanted to leave. (But I moved to a different city then so didn’t take that opportunity).
Could someone with a different background do your job?
It surely is possible! This isn’t a job with lots of technical skills like developing software or fixing a tank, no rocket science! All you need is a great attitude and be a sponge to learn. I happen to specialize in change management which is highly related to HR which was a specialization for my master's, but I still have to learn about the way their work
Be inquisitive! Asking questions is how you’ll learn about your job and your candidates. And don’t be shy and afraid to make mistakes. Able to work autonomously is also essential because you will be building your own business within the business.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
One of the best parts is getting to speak to very senior yet down to earth professionals that are willing to take the time and have a conversation with you. When your client is happy about the candidates and wants to proceed, and your candidate is also satisfied with the role, then you’ve done the right thing! Also when the candidate appreciates the time you spent with them and the insights you’ve shared with them, you know you’re on the right track because otherwise the conversation might be finished long ago. It’s just exciting that we have the power to make a difference for them and help them to move to the next step of their career (even though they’re far ahead of me)
What are the limitations of your job?
Like I mentioned earlier, being a recruitment consultant is like building your own business within a business, so of course, there will be responsibilities, it makes you feel more empowered too! Working on the weekends or past the 5 o’clock mark is really up to you on how you work in the day. The business definitely doesn’t expect you to and you shouldn’t need those personal time to work either. In saying that, it is your ‘own business and if staying back to finish up an important report to your client can get the candidate placed sooner means you’re ‘closing a deal, would you want to wait till next morning? The award system leaves it up to you how much you want to work, because the more work you put in, the chances of getting a better outcome is higher, which means the more reward you will feel and the more money you will earn!
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