Entrepreneurialism, Innovation and Breakthrough -- Interview With Senior Chinese Executive Search Expert Zhang Haijun
Wen Rui
DATE:  Jul 17 2018
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Entrepreneurialism, Innovation and Breakthrough -- Interview With Senior Chinese Executive Search Expert Zhang Haijun Entrepreneurialism, Innovation and Breakthrough -- Interview With Senior Chinese Executive Search Expert Zhang Haijun

(Yicai Global) July 17 -- On June 8, 2018, at the 2018 China Headhunting Industry Development Summit held in Chongqing Human Resources Service Industry Park, Mr. Zhang Haijun, the incumbent Managing Director of Cornerstone Global Partners (CGP) China, gave a wonderful speech and won the warm applause of the participating experts. This is not the first time that Mr. Zhang has delivered a speech at such a national industry event. As one of the most outstanding experts in executive search in China, Mr. Zhang has always been a frequent visitor to such industry activities. He has also made full use of such opportunities to communicate with domestic and foreign headhunting experts to continuously promote the development of the Chinese headhunting industry.

Mr. Zhang's speech lasted for only about half an hour, but it was a coagulation of his efforts and achievements made over the years.

Mr. Zhang joined CGP in 2018, and now he acts as Managing Director for China region, playing a core leadership role in the company's development. Previously, he served as senior executive in Bole Huizhi Talent Service (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., the largest executive search company in Asia, for over ten years, thus laying a foundation for his authoritative expert status in China's headhunting industry. So far, with 18 years of industry experience, Mr. Zhang has become a leader in the industry, with a decisive position. It is the 18 years of industry experience that has trained his insight and forward-looking ability in mastering the development law and judging the development trend of the headhunting industry, and has developed his excellent management skills and won him valuable interpersonal network resources.

When it came to the development status of the headhunting industry in China, Mr. Zhang Haijun said, "The research report released by the Senior Talents Hunting Committee of China Human Resources Association in 2017 showed that the headhunting market business in 2016 increased by 12.9% year on year, higher than the business growth of human resources service outsourcing, human resources training and human resources management consulting. The numbers of headhunting companies and practitioners are growing day by day. Currently, there are some 50,000 headhunting companies in China, with 300,000-400,000 full-time headhunters. At the same time, the industry's output value has exceeded RMB 50 billion. All this shows that the business field of executive search is increasingly prosperous in China."

In this regard, Mr. ZhangG said that the new trend in executive search indicates that the industry is more competitive and raises higher requirements to headhunters. "To be a senior headhunter, one must have an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the industry, and constantly acquire new knowledge and keep on challenging himself/herself. These are essential for his/her growth in the industry." This reminds him his own efforts made over the years. Today, Mr. Zhang is able to shuttle between employers and high-end talents, benefiting from his early years of hard work and continuous exploration of working methods in the front line. He personally visited clients and truly understood their demand for high-end talents. He participated in industry exhibitions and meetings, and strived to obtain "private information" in the first time, which helped him gradually accumulate rich interpersonal network resources.

Mr. Zhang has never been a person who is comfortable with the status quo. In his career, he constantly broke through himself, strove to achieve a better self, and also made great contributions to the company he worked for. During his tenure as Managing Director of Bole Huizhi Talent Service (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and Head of Shanghai Branch of this company, the team size and team performance doubled under his leadership, and he maintained good relationships with senior managers of many well-known companies that he served, especially a positive cooperation relationship with companies including BMW. By virtue of his exquisite business ability and humorous personality charm, Mr. Zhang has received countless praises in the process of serving clients. These are his intangible assets, and also indispensable soft power for him to become a first-class headhunter.

Such a proud work performance also won him a broader development prospect. In 2018, Mr. Zhang joined CGP, as Managing Director for China region. Here, he is gradually getting close to his more ambitious career development goal. In the new working environment and new position, what remains constant is his love for the headhunting industry and his determination to continue promoting the development of this industry.

Talking about the future development of the industry, Mr. Zhang Haijun is full of confidence. He said, "The vast development space of China's headhunting market is based on China's huge corporate base number and rapidly growing market demand, and also on the increasing acceptance and recognition of talents for headhunting services." As for the development of himself and his company, Mr. Zhang has always maintained a clear mind. He believes that one, as a headhunter, must have a global vision, which is an important development cornerstone of the industry, so he hopes to promote innovation and reform of human resources management with his continuous innovation services. To break the existing rigid business model and meet the demand for high-end talents, it is necessary to strengthen the mutual expansion and vertical deepening of the industrial chain and actively use new technologies such as big data to continuously carry out strategic transformation. This is also his future development direction. Mr. Zhang not only wants to be a top headhunter, but also is eager to be an important promoter of industry development.

Now, Mr. Zhang Haijun is in the 18th year of executive search. Over the past 18 years, he has been diligent and assiduous, maximizing the value of talents and contributing to the healthy development of the headhunting industry. In the future, Mr. Zhang Haijun will show more powerful energy and explosive power and give full play to the positive role as a senior headhunter.

Follow Yicai Global on
Keywords:   Cornerstone Global Partners China,Zhang Haijun,China Headhunting Industry Development Summit