Interview with Glen L. Loveland

Tonight our guest is Glen L. Loveland, an American HR manager, who have lived in Beijing for almost 9 years. We have conducted an interview with him.

Economies are recovering more and more from the crisis and good talent is getting harder to find, what is your opinion about this?

The best candidates always have options, even during an economic downturn. There’s one question that every single interviewer at a company should know the answer to: “Why should I choose you over other companies?” In today’s talent market where candidates have the upper hand, it takes serious differentiation to compete. If you can’t articulate your employee value proposition to candidates, you’ll never attract or close top talent.

How important is branding the company as an employer of choice in a highly competitive market that hunts for talented people? What are the ways?

A strong employer brand attracts and retains top talent, reducing both recruiting costs and turnover rates. What you say about your company must be true for your employees and reflected in their experiences. It’s vital that talent acquisition leaders stay close to the frontline and learn about the actual employee experience. Is the job posting that was written more than a year ago accurately reflecting the current reality? Monitoring exit interview data is valuable for recruiters to identify trends and look for opportunities.

As a HR professional in this digital age, other than a CV/resume, what do you think a job seeker should maintain to be employable at all times?

A LinkedIn profile is essential. Some jobseekers invest a lot of resources into building personal websites. The concern that I have is you don’t want a static website that is never updated. A fully optimized LinkedIn profile gives you the opportunity to post updates and even write original content. The biggest piece of advice that I would give is that you need to have some professional presence on the web when a recruiter does a search on your name. Not being googleable is a serious liability for candidates in almost any industry.

Which are the most challenging aspects to recruit someone outside China to work in China? How do you overcome it?

Expatriate recruitment is one of the biggest challenges for recruiters. Convincing a candidate to give up their current position and move with their family halfway around the world is not an easy task. My first rule is that I never “sell” a job. I speak frankly about the challenges that they will face. A holistic approach to the candidate and any accompanying family members is required. You have to talk about more than just the job and also about everyday lifestyle realities. Lastly, I never pressure a candidate to decide on an offer immediately. They need time to do their research and consult their personal stakeholders.

For showing personality traits, culture fit and general chemistry with a candidate, what recommendations would you give for someone using a one-minute video CV to show these to a prospective recruiter?

Be authentic. I’ve watched some video presentations where it was obvious that a candidate had either memorized a script or was reading off a teleprompter. While you need a general outline of the message you want to broadcast, you need to be real and accessible. It’s OK to lose your place, laugh, smile and be human. Remember, if a company doesn’t “get” your personal brand then it is probably not the place for you.