1. What led you to recruitment? 

Before I came to Michael Page as a consultant, I worked in Maastricht University in the Netherlands as a communication advisor in charge of student recruitment for 3 years. Gradually I found that the repetitive work couldn’t excite me again. Coincidentally, I found out that Michael Page China was recruiting Executive Recruitment Consultant, which I thought really fit for me, a result-driven person.
After several rounds of interview and taking with different leaders several times in Michael Page, it occurred to me that the company’s culture and its clear career path for employees were exactly what I wanted. Here in Michael Page, we don’t have complicated interpersonal relationship or company politics. Everyone has to get promotion on his own merit and performance. Michael Page’s transparent and rewarding system is one of the most attractive factors to me.

2. What skills have helped you in your role as an Associate Director? 

As an associate director, the working style is really different compared with a top biller. From my experience, there are three basic skills need to improve for everyone in the managing role.
First, be fair and caring to your team members. In order to be a good leader, you really have to be more caring to others and listen to their needs. You have to balance between members and ensure fairness to each other so that they can trust you.
Second, see the big picture more than ever. You have to consider the team as a whole and pursue the whole benefit from a long-term perspective. 
Third, be a role model for your team members. You need to behave properly and show a decent and positive image in public places, so that you can win the respect from your members and they are willing to share opinions with you. You have to learn to manage your emotions and pressure, and deliver positive influence to others. 

3. How have you balanced the demands of the job with your life away from work? 

I always clearly separate work and life. My image for personal friends and colleagues may be completely different, because I have different styles on work and after work. I think the best way to balance between work and life is learning to managing time. Be focused and efficient when working, and totally relax on weekends. Usually I leave aside all the work tasks and enjoy personal time to do something interesting on weekends instead, such as learning a new language, dancing, travelling, and meeting friends, etc.

4. What is most rewarding about your job?

The job makes me better in all aspects I could be, and mainly the three below:
First, from the perspective of my appearance, you will see that I became more refined, confident and professional. 
Second, I became more approachable and caring after joining in Michael Page, because it is a job that requires you to keep communicating with different people and care for your team members as a leader. 
Third, my persuasive skills, presenting ability, communicating skills and business sense have all improved significantly.

5. Do you have any advice to anybody thinking about joining PageGroup? 

It’s really a challenging but rewarding job so you have to know who you are.
First, are you willing to make effort, to learn and to work hard for what you are pursuing?  Are you willing to grow with the company? Only if you are aware of yourself, you can deal with the job and the relation with clients and candidates. You have to be ambitious with entrepreneurship, keep pushing your limits to get outside your comfort zone. 
Second, Michael Page emphasizes on people engagement internally and externally, so it prefers those aggressive and outgoing team players. Ask yourself if you are that guy.
Third, we don’t care much about your background, but you have to be passionate in the recruitment industry, and quick to learn. So try to identify your own strength, develop it, and take advantage of it in daily work.