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How to Match Talents with Enterprises

Feb 25-2025   



* Under the theme of "How to cooperate with the management team to win the battle", Sun Jin, Chief Human Resources Officer of Guoquan Food Exchange, Xiang Jigui, Head of Public Affairs of Pinecone Travel, and Wei Ran, Founder of Jingshuo Think Tank, shared the stage in the dialogue exchange, and the dialogue was moderated by Du Xiaomeng, Associate Dean of BiMBA Business School of National School of Development at Peking University. This article is based on the content of the dialogue.

 

Q1: What kind of journey did you go through when you decided to jump from a big platform to a startup?

Sun Jin: In my opinion, the first and foremost thing is to firmly pursue personal happiness.Nowadays, big data, AI, and other topics have attracted significant attention. While it is impossible to judge whether machines can completely replace humans, I firmly believe that human experiences and the demand for happiness cannot be replaced. After working for more than 20 years, I find the biggest challenge in recruitment is selecting talents who can find happiness. These are the people who tend to give their all to their work on a consistent basis and even show resilience. When discussing workplace happiness, we prioritize salary, followed by the company’s growth prospects, and finally the returns on investment.

 

Q2: For startups and private unicorn companies, what is the value of good government relations for corporate branding? How do you work with the government?

Xiang Jigui: From the perspective of long-term enterprise development, government-enterprise relations are inevitable, and the difficulty lies in the fact that governments and enterprises have different systems, cultures and ways of thinking. Two key requirements deserve attention: first, fostering a spirit of innovation with founders’ direct involvement, and second, ensuring value creation for the business.

 

Q3: What are the qualities, competencies and styles of a "manager" of a start-up or unicorn company in a time of change? How do you find the talent you need, especially the talent of the leadership team?

Wei Ran: The first thing is to look at people from two aspects of quality and quantity. Quality can be judged by education, salary and work background. Quality is different, and it is more reflected in their actual actions. We usually use a specific situational test, rather than the traditional recruitment process, to see if a person keeps their promises and is willing to take responsibility. Next, look at the role requirements. The two types of talent, executives and CEOs, each have job responsibilities. If it is the CEO who is underperforming, adjustments will certainly need to be made, including replacing the CEO candidate. Similarly, executives who are too arrogant to recognize their own limitations will also need to make talent adjustments. The last thing to consider is matching. Based on years of experience working with top global investment banks, I have also observed a phenomenon: 'elites' sometimes face the same employment challenges, perhaps because they are too 'elitist', while the market tends to favor true elites with forward thinking and clear career goals. The market tends to favor true elites who are forward-thinking and have clear career goals. The so-called 'true elites' are people of the same age and in the same industry who have foresight and a clear career direction. Once we find such young people, we will also consider them as high-potential talents and include them in our special list.

For us, the key to finding the right people, especially executive talent such as CEOs, is not just recruiting. We tend to get CEOs, especially those who are well known in the industry, to talk to us in depth. Our collaboration and exchange with them and their companies take various forms, not necessarily full-time, but as friends, experts or project partners.

How to Match Talents with Enterprises

Feb 25-2025   



* Under the theme of "How to cooperate with the management team to win the battle", Sun Jin, Chief Human Resources Officer of Guoquan Food Exchange, Xiang Jigui, Head of Public Affairs of Pinecone Travel, and Wei Ran, Founder of Jingshuo Think Tank, shared the stage in the dialogue exchange, and the dialogue was moderated by Du Xiaomeng, Associate Dean of BiMBA Business School of National School of Development at Peking University. This article is based on the content of the dialogue.

 

Q1: What kind of journey did you go through when you decided to jump from a big platform to a startup?

Sun Jin: In my opinion, the first and foremost thing is to firmly pursue personal happiness.Nowadays, big data, AI, and other topics have attracted significant attention. While it is impossible to judge whether machines can completely replace humans, I firmly believe that human experiences and the demand for happiness cannot be replaced. After working for more than 20 years, I find the biggest challenge in recruitment is selecting talents who can find happiness. These are the people who tend to give their all to their work on a consistent basis and even show resilience. When discussing workplace happiness, we prioritize salary, followed by the company’s growth prospects, and finally the returns on investment.

 

Q2: For startups and private unicorn companies, what is the value of good government relations for corporate branding? How do you work with the government?

Xiang Jigui: From the perspective of long-term enterprise development, government-enterprise relations are inevitable, and the difficulty lies in the fact that governments and enterprises have different systems, cultures and ways of thinking. Two key requirements deserve attention: first, fostering a spirit of innovation with founders’ direct involvement, and second, ensuring value creation for the business.

 

Q3: What are the qualities, competencies and styles of a "manager" of a start-up or unicorn company in a time of change? How do you find the talent you need, especially the talent of the leadership team?

Wei Ran: The first thing is to look at people from two aspects of quality and quantity. Quality can be judged by education, salary and work background. Quality is different, and it is more reflected in their actual actions. We usually use a specific situational test, rather than the traditional recruitment process, to see if a person keeps their promises and is willing to take responsibility. Next, look at the role requirements. The two types of talent, executives and CEOs, each have job responsibilities. If it is the CEO who is underperforming, adjustments will certainly need to be made, including replacing the CEO candidate. Similarly, executives who are too arrogant to recognize their own limitations will also need to make talent adjustments. The last thing to consider is matching. Based on years of experience working with top global investment banks, I have also observed a phenomenon: 'elites' sometimes face the same employment challenges, perhaps because they are too 'elitist', while the market tends to favor true elites with forward thinking and clear career goals. The market tends to favor true elites who are forward-thinking and have clear career goals. The so-called 'true elites' are people of the same age and in the same industry who have foresight and a clear career direction. Once we find such young people, we will also consider them as high-potential talents and include them in our special list.

For us, the key to finding the right people, especially executive talent such as CEOs, is not just recruiting. We tend to get CEOs, especially those who are well known in the industry, to talk to us in depth. Our collaboration and exchange with them and their companies take various forms, not necessarily full-time, but as friends, experts or project partners.