Today, let's talk about headhunters in China. I finished writing this article when I returned to China at the beginning of the year. It was purely a rant about the various bizarre phenomena in the domestic headhunting industry. Later, because I felt good after writing it, I didn't publish it to hurt others. After all, the environment in China is a mixed bag, and those who work diligently are still quite good.

The reason I'm revisiting this article is because I read a particularly "foolish" book on the plane back to China. I thought it would be enough to pass the time, but I didn't expect the book to be so tasteless. After quickly finishing it, I had nothing else to do.

After a few months of reflection, I've thought about many things and decided to take this opportunity to eliminate this draft.

Enlightenment

If you're interested, go directly to the "old post" below. It was a pure rant written after I was shocked by headhunters in China, so I won't mention it here again, assuming everyone is already familiar with the situation in China.

Do we really need talent?

Yes and no. In my observation, China doesn't really need talent. In this chaotic market where supply exceeds demand, high-end positions are already filled. Companies genuinely seeking top talent often resort to recruitment agencies due to the market's disarray, and these agencies are often unprofessional, especially when dealing with overseas talent. This results in companies urgently needing talent not finding suitable candidates and often settling for less. In the low-to-mid-end market, the supply-demand imbalance is even greater, leading to hundreds of suitable candidates for a single position. This creates the phenomenon I described in my previous post: headhunters have become aloof and unapproachable, while job seekers have to settle for less.

Some suggestions

Having spent a long time overseas, I'm somewhat out of touch with information from China and find it difficult to adapt to many situations there. However, there are some things I believe are feasible and necessary to do. In my mind, headhunters are categorized into several levels.

• Low-level – receiving countless calls a day, merely a relay station for job and talent information.
• Intermediate level – Has time to read job postings and resumes, and is able to understand the candidate's background and abilities as much as possible.
• Senior – Has a deep understanding of the role, possesses the resources to find suitable talent, and can make contact with them.

Overseas, I passively encounter "intermediate" and "senior" level headhunters, frequently being contacted and "cared for" through LinkedIn or other channels. However, when I proactively reach out in China, I mostly encounter "lower" level headhunters. It's possible that the Chinese headhunting market itself is tiered, and my proactive approach doesn't allow me to reach higher-level individuals.

But regardless of the situation, there should be a consensus on how to treat qualified overseas candidates. Here, I've compiled my own experience on how to treat qualified overseas candidates. By qualified overseas candidates, I mean those that domestic companies want to recruit overseas talent. This does not include those who voluntarily return to work in China due to immigration status or other issues:

1. Make an appointment! Make an appointment! Everyone is busy. Calling a stranger without an appointment is very impolite. It will not only interrupt the other person's plans and schedule, but may also leave a very bad first impression.
2. Email! Email! Don't immediately ask for WeChat or anything like that. Email communication is the best way. Schedule a time to chat via email, and if it really works out, then you can add each other on WeChat.
3. Privacy! Privacy! Don't start by asking about personal information like your birth year, marital status, place of origin, or identity. Remember, you're here to recruit people, not to find someone to date!

Old article

human traffickers on the Pulse

A while ago, I was preparing to return to China and wanted to see what the situation was like there. I found an app called "Maimai". I noticed that it's a career app that imitates LinkedIn. The user experience was pretty good at first. After all, my identity was verified and I was given a "V" badge. It also recommended some suitable jobs based on my situation.

But after using it for a while, I found it increasingly "uncomfortable." First, the "headhunters" either didn't reply, or when they did, they didn't discuss anything serious. Sometimes I wondered if the people there were really headhunters. As time went on, strange things started happening. People began telling me that they had already applied to several companies and couldn't repeat the process. How could I, a kid who hadn't even prepared a resume, have already applied to companies?

After some analysis, it turned out that the software or the people within it were behind it. After seeing that you were interested in a certain position, they directly exported your profile as a resume and submitted it to the system. This "illegal" behavior was being carried out openly on this software. Coupled with the resume-selling incidents I'd heard about before, it's very disturbing. Are they "headhunters" or "human traffickers"?

The so-called "headhunters"

Perhaps because I've lived abroad for so long, I have a bit of a misunderstanding about the term "headhunter"?

After becoming disgusted with the Maimai platform, I got to know some "headhunters" through other means, but these headhunters just introduced me to another kind of "cultural difference."

Busy and rude

In my mind, headhunters should embody the word itself—a proactive activity where they use channels to acquire top talent. However, the headhunters in China seem to live worse lives than even HR professionals.

First, they never schedule appointments with you; they just call you directly, and if you miss the call, that's it. I even encountered a headhunter who was verbally abusive because I missed a call at night, saying things like, "He's calling you even at night, how much does he value you? And you don't appreciate it," blah blah blah. My point has always been that everyone is busy. If you want to talk to me, you need to schedule an appointment in advance. Evenings are private time and you shouldn't be answering work calls. Why should I be grateful to you?

Secondly, the busy headhunter told me he makes over 1000 calls a day and can't confirm a time to talk to me. So, let's not talk then? It's not like I necessarily need to talk to you... Of course, I can understand, given the current severe unemployment crisis, many people are looking for work, maybe I've just come to the wrong place.

Privacy inquiry

To be honest, I'm very disappointed with headhunters in China. How can they expect to attract talent back home with this kind of approach? After that, I basically stopped paying attention to so-called headhunters, unless it was someone I could chat with for a bit. But then I discovered a very serious problem—privacy.

Asking about birth date, place of origin, marital status, home address, and even asking for photos is one thing, but asking about birth date, place of origin, marital status, and home address is a form of discrimination. While I can accept things like asking for photos (given the differences in national circumstances, as we are all of Asian descent in China), isn't it discriminatory? Work is about serving the boss, with the boss taking the lion's share and the employee taking a smaller cut – it's inherently exploitative. Should we then grovel to accept this exploitation?

This is an inverted and pathological market.