许多人在面试应聘管理职位时都会向我们保证：他能快速学习，进入角色。 他们会说：“我知道我没有经验，但只要给我这个机会，我自信能够胜任。”我相信他们说这些话是发自内心的，但时下这样的说法对跨国公司没有太大说服力。
"在提拔人时，我需要看的是这个人是否已展现了这一职位所要求的能力。" 搜狐前总裁兼COO Victor Koo如是说，“换言之，在很大程度上，他们已经在做未来的工作。
事实上，几年前，公司更乐意给员工机会，让他们在新职位上展现自己。那时候的商业运营还不够成熟，企业在招聘及用人策略上非常积极，市场上许多职能部门和产业也紧缺人才。
现在，站在企业的角度考虑，把关键职位交给一个尚不具备足够能力来胜任此工作的人，这样的风险实在太大。在中国这个竞争越来越激烈的市场，越来越少的公司敢担这样的风险。跨国公司的管理层职位可不是在职培训。
然而，如果你的能力和素质达到了新职位所要求的70-80%，公司也会将机会留给你。只有认清了未来职责所需的关键技能，你才能更高效地利用当下的时间，努力提高这些重要技能。
为什么许多人得不到他所想要的职位
事实情况是，有那么多本土职业人士在为自己做职业规划时忽视最基本的几条原则。其结果就是，在他们追求自己认为理所应得的职业目标时往往遇到诸多困难。 这些人非常聪明、努力、有名牌大学文凭和知名公司的工作经历。 虽然他们很有野心，看似为自己的事业做好了铺垫，但在个人职业成就上他们并没能突显自己，此外，他们没有在公司高层面前留下深刻印象，于是多次失去聘用和提拔机会。原因主要在于，他们未能展示足够的能力和素质，未能证明自己已能够胜任更高级的职位。 那么，为什么会这样？
中国的第一代企业人士
简单来说，许多本土职业人士的职业发展意识不够，他们没有花时间积累自己的能力，去为实现将来的职业目标而做准备。 他们对自己目前及将来情况的错误评估导致了时间的浪费、机会的错失，而且使其无法培养自己处理高级职位的能力。
但这些职业发展规划不足和错误并不能完全责怪他们本身。虽然本土人士已经在中国的跨国公司工作了25年多，但在 80年代到90年代中期的在华企业不是比今天小得多，就是只有代表处的规模。大多数公司只有几十个员工，几百人规模的公司已经堪称大公司了。此外，这些本土运营的公司在当时 (所谓前互联网时代)与海外往来甚少，绝不及今天这样密切，这些因素都使得当时的商业环境远不如现在这样国际化、这样成熟。
今天，中国的许多跨国公司拥有数千名员工，遍布中国各地。它们与其他跨国企业的交往相当频繁。所以，当下20到30岁的职业人士才是真正意义上的第一批在成熟、国际化的商业环境里工作的人。
缺乏提供职业发展建议的资源
除此之外，随着大量的MBA项目、国际化认证课程、培训资源进入中国市场，企业职能、产业、管理培训的质量也已大幅提高，但是，在职业发展指导方面，在能够满足本土人士职业需要的资源方面，仍然存在严重的不足。本土市场依旧非常缺乏专业经验丰富的专家，来为本土职业人士的疑问提供建议和解答。
好比说，尽管你的父母、长辈很想帮助你，但因为他们从未在跨国公司工作过，所以也难以提供真正有效的职业建议。另外，人力资源部门也向我们表示，他们的大部分员工都很少得到来自直属上级的职业指导。过于忙碌是一大原因，但也有许多经理本身就不具备足够的知识和经验来为下属提供好的职业发展规划建议。至今，人力资源部门主要处理的是薪酬福利、津贴、以及HR行政事务方面的工作，因此，对职业培训领域还是相对陌生。正因为缺乏高质量的职业发展规划指导资源，所以很多本土职业人士甚至不清楚一个成功的事业图景是什么样的，在这种情况下又从何谈论取得事业成功。
中国的企业开始逐渐认识到给员工灌输良好职业规划和发展方法的重要性 ，他们同时也在致力提高其经理、组织为员工提供职业发展建议的能力。然而，就目前而言，即使公司高层在这方面已给出承诺，他们提供给你的职业指导和建议在质量和专业程度上都是很随性的。这就是为什么你需要培养自己的职业规划发展意识和有效的方法。
How to Build The Capabilities Now That You’ll Need Later On
By Larry Wang
When interviewing candidates for a management role that they have yet to hold, many will tell us of their certainty in their ability to learn quickly and perform in the role. They’ll say things like, “I know I haven’t done it before, but if given the opportunity, I’m confident that I can do the job.” I’m sure that they believe what they’re saying to be absolutely true. But that kind of pitch just doesn’t sell well to multinational employers these days.
"When looking to promote someone into a management role, I need to see if a person has demonstrated in some way the skills that he or she will need at that next level,” reveals Victor Koo, former president and COO of Sohu.com. “In other words, they have shown to a reasonable extent that they have already done what they will be doing in their next job."
Actually, a few years ago, companies were much more willing to give employees the chance to prove themselves in new roles. This was when business operations were less mature and very aggressive in their approach to making hiring and staffing decisions. There was also a greater shortage of talent in the market for many job function and industry backgrounds.
From a company perspective today, it is a tremendous risk handing over a key position of responsibility to someone who does not already have to a good degree the capabilities and qualities needed to handle the role. In China’s increasingly competitive business environment, it is a risk that companies are less and less willing to take. Management roles in a multinational company today are not the place for on-the-job training.
We do see companies give chances, however, to those who already possess, perhaps to a 70-80% degree, the capabilities and qualities that performing in a new position requires. By recognizing the key skill sets that a future role entails, you can more effectively direct your efforts and use the present time to work on those key areas that are important for you to improve in.
Why Many Don’t Attain The Roles That They Seek
Actually, it is surprising how many mainland professionals do not apply even the most basic career planning principles to their professional development situation. The result of that is reflected in the difficulties that they have in attaining the level of career success that they feel they are qualified for. These are smart, hardworking mainland professionals with strong education and reputable company backgrounds. Although they are ambitious and have seemingly done the right things for their career, they have not managed to distinguish themselves through their professional achievements. In addition, they are unable to make a strong enough impression with a company’s top management and get passed over in hiring and promotion situations. Mainly, they fail to demonstrate enough of the capabilities and qualities that are critical for performing successfully in the higher-level positions that they seek. Why does this happen?
First Generation Of Corporate Professionals In China
To put it plainly, many mainland professionals just don’t have very good career sense. They do not take the time to identify those things that they should be doing right now that will help prepare them for the future roles that they are aiming for. Their failure to accurately assess both their current and future situation results in time
wasted and opportunities missed to develop themselves in those most relevant areas needed for handling higher-level responsibilities.
Mainland professionals are not entirely at fault for these career planning and development shortcomings. Although mainlanders have been working in multinational companies for over 25 years, China operations of the 1980s to mid-1990s were either of rep office size or on a much smaller scale than today. Most consisted of a few dozen staff or less, with a company of a few hundred people considered to be very large. In addition, these mainland operations were not nearly as connected to other international operations as they are today (does anyone recall the pre-Internet days), making corporate environments much less internationalized and mature than how they are now.
Today, there are many multinationals in China that consist of several thousand employees located across the country. Their degree of interaction with other worldwide operations is also much greater. This is making those in their 20s and 30s today the first true generation of mainland professionals to work in a mature, global-caliber, corporate environment.
Shortage of Career Advisory Resources
In addition, although the quality of functional, industry, and general management training has gotten considerably better in China with substantially more MBA programs, internationally certified courses, and training resources available now, in the area of career guidance, the resources to capably address the development needs of mainland professionals are still severely lacking. There are still too few in this market with the experience and expertise to advise mainland professionals on how to deal with the career challenges that many face here.
For instance, although the good intentions are there, sound career advice is not likely to come from your parents or others of their generation who have never worked in a multinational company before. In addition, human resources departments reveal to us how little career guidance most of their employees receive from their direct supervisors. Demanding schedules are a big reason for that, but many managers simply aren’t that knowledgeable and experienced in providing good career planning and development advice to subordinates. Career coaching is also a fairly new area for human resources professionals themselves whose expertise to date has revolved primarily around compensation, benefits, and HR administration issues for employees. The result of this shortage of quality career guidance resources is that many mainland professionals do not even have a complete picture of what a successful career looks like, let alone a good idea of what it takes to build one.
Increasingly, companies in China are recognizing the importance of instilling within their staff a sound career planning and development approach. They are also working at improving the capability of their managers and the organization to advise staff on career issues. For the time being, however, it is really a coin toss as to the extent and quality of career guidance and advice that you might receive from your company, even if your top management is committed to providing that. This is why it is necessary to have your own sense and practical approach for your career planning and development.
