Recruiting in China

Here at Headcount HQ, we're always interested in tales from the high-rolling, globetrotting executive recruitment market – especially when they involve mysterious companies like Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

A high-level network architect recently recounted a strange tale in which he was recruited by two corporate recruiters and a half-dozen Huawei managers, only to end up with an offer that was roughly half of what he earned in the States. To take the job, Huawei also wanted him to relocate his family to China and live in Huawei's corporate housing – without a relocation package or an education budget for his kids.

Something got lost in translation.

"What a waste of time," said our source, who described the Huawei recruitment process as some sort of "Keystone Cops" experience.

The failed seduction started when our source got a call from a Huawei recruiter in Beijing. Our source says that after he expressed interest, he was quickly bounced from recruiter to manager to manager, back to recruiter, and then eventually to a manager at Huawei's FutureWei subsidiary in Texas.

Not only was nailing down the exact requirements for the job difficult, says our networking expert, but none of the Huawei executives could agree on where he should be based. The office proposals ranged from Beijing to Shenzhen. Sydney, Australia was mentioned, too, and that's a long drive from Futurewei's office in Plano.

Finally, our source asked for a formal letter with a formal offer. What he got was a letter asking him to take a laughable pay cut and pack his bags for a company dorm in Shenzhen.

Headcount hopes this yarn serves as a warning for execs everywhere: A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers. Actually, that wasn't the lesson at all. That just came up in my Chinese proverbs desk calendar. Oh, well...