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Best Practices: Government Affairs Hiring in China

Hiring qualified employees is one of the most challenging aspects of doing business in China today. Indeed, finding and retaining top talent was ranked as the most challenging problem facing member companies operating in China in the US-China Business Council's (USCBC) most recent member priorities survey. Among the hardest jobs to fill are government affairs (GA) positions. US employers generally seek candidates who have significant experience in a field that, in China, is relatively new. To add to the difficulties, most companies' US or global GA practices are not directly transferable to China, which makes finding the right GA representative even more challenging, as home office hiring criteria do not completely apply. The following lays out informal guidance from USCBC member companies on what works when filling a GA position.

Define your company's China GA needs upfront

The first step is the most obvious, but also the easiest to skip. Define the parameters of the position before launching a search for the right GA representative in China—do not simply transfer the job description from the United States. This process might include the following.

• Put together an internal advisory team that includes representatives of your company's various departments, including legal, public relations, and operations.
• Involve those in your China office in the process.
• Benchmark with colleagues from different divisions of the company to determine what your overall goals may be.
• Define specific skills that the company seeks in an ideal applicant.
• Retain an outside human resources company to assist with the process.
• Clearly define the scope of responsibilities (national vs. local, etc.).

Develop a hiring plan and manage expectations

Hiring qualified, capable employees is always a challenge; doing so in China is no different, though there are additional layers to consider when hiring for GA.

• Significant amounts of time and effort are required to fill positions properly. Searches can take as long as eight to ten months.
• Colleagues from various departments need to commit both time and budgetary resources to the search effort.
• Creating a plan for the hiring process helps communicate hiring goals effectively among stakeholders.

Companies should accept at the outset that they may not find the "perfect" candidate. But defining the position and managing expectations can ensure that you find the best match for your company, which will make it more likely that your new hire will stay with the company over the long term.

Where to look

Recruiting former PRC government employees is an attractive option for many companies because there are many good candidates coming out of government service who understand China's policymaking processes and have access to a key agency or agencies. There are downsides to this approach, however. Many former PRC government employees may be reluctant to raise problems, sensitive issues, or other company concerns with their former supervisors. Their career culture may be in a bureaucratic environment that does not translate well into a corporate environment.

Companies should look beyond Beijing or Shanghai for qualified candidates. In addition, companies should not assume that ethnic Chinese from Taiwan, Hong Kong, or elsewhere will be able to quickly understand and navigate the PRC system or that they will be automatically accepted in the PRC environment.

In addition, keep in mind that your GA representative does not necessarily need direct PRC government experience. Practical experience can be even more important. Look globally—both in the United States and elsewhere—to find PRC natives with foreign education and work experience that will allow them to understand your company's operations and pick up the necessary knowledge base of PRC policymaking. A good understanding of your company and its business are the most important qualities, even more so than English skills.

Most importantly, be wary of GA candidates who claim to know everything about the inner workings of the PRC government. China's government structure has many stovepipes, with ministries reporting to separate high officials and relatively little horizontal communication or coordination. If a candidate declares that he or she knows exactly what is going on in PRC policymaking process in areas beyond his or her direct experience, companies should take steps to verify these claims.

Integrating the new hire

Companies must invest time and resources on training new government affairs hires in China. This can mean a significant budget commitment, especially if your new staff has had minimal experience either in the private sector or with a foreign company. Training should also include those who will be working with your new GA team, such as GA staff in other offices or staff from the legal department, to create as smooth a transition as possible.

One point of caution: keep in mind that guanxi, or relationships, are still important in China and may affect how your PRC employees understand, interpret, and follow your company's corporate policies, especially in GA. Good policy and communication skills remain more important than personal relationships in successfully pursuing GA in China, but it is important to provide training in business ethics and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and ideal to bring new hires to the United States for training.

GA professionals should be prepared to analyze and map out the agencies and key officials involved in their industry and understand which departments are directly involved in their work. Although building personal relationships is important, more vital to the long-term success of companies is building institutional relationships. Executives and officials are often rotated to new positions, and institutional links, such as those created through conferences, training seminars, and other common programs, provide stability to the relationship.

Integration with the China management team

Companies also need to clearly define the responsibilities of the new hire and how he or she will interact with other managers in the China team. Business unit heads, plant managers in various locations, trading and customs specialists, and finance directors all interact regularly with government entities and need to know when and when not to call for help from the GA hire. The centrally located GA team, often a small group, can easily be swamped with requests from various entities around China and thus spend its resources on constant "firefighting" missions instead of building key relationships. Top GA hires need to be able to mentor and direct other non-GA executives in sensitive tasks from afar, and other managers need to be clear on the role of the GA hire.

Communication with headquarters

Communication with overseas offices is extremely important in ensuring that your company's goals and objectives are on track. This is equally important for GA. The best way to manage the relationship between US-based GA supervisors and China-based GA teams is to hold regularly scheduled conference calls or video conferences to keep information flowing back and forth—and provide guidance to the GA team in the field.

Security

It is important to keep security in mind as well. Though you should be in constant email contact with your China office, keep email exchanges to only what needs to be said. Phone calls can be a good alternative if highly sensitive information needs to be transmitted. Companies should take the time to educate new GA hires in basic information security procedures and ensure that GA staff sign and adhere to confidentiality agreements.

Retention

Retaining good GA hires can be as much of a challenge as finding them in the first place. Many companies are chasing precisely the same people, particularly ones with experience in multinational corporations, and some headhunting firms in China even decline search requests for GA professionals because of the competitiveness of the marketplace. Companies should be clear on the workload, pace, and expectations required of GA professionals and also keep in mind that the "crisis" nature of GA work may often require hires to commit significant overtime and sacrifices to work-life balance. Senior management should be careful in ensuring that GA professionals do not burn out and are given sufficient "make-up" vacation time when a crisis is averted or a significant milestone reached. Companies should also engage in "succession planning" and have either assistants or colleagues capable of maintaining key relationships should the GA hire move to another company. Companies with management or leadership training programs should consider rotating promising young managers from regional operations to Beijing for mentoring by the senior GA professional. This not only helps the young manager understand the strategic China vision of the company and gain exposure to central-level ministries and officials, but also relieves some of the burden on the senior GA professional. Finally, when the younger manager returns to his or her region, he or she is much better prepared to take up the local GA role.