Have you ever applied for a job and felt overwhelmed about meeting the selection criteria? Sometimes it’s impossible for a candidate to know what an employer is thinking during the screening process. To help improve the transparency for candidates, Criterion Asia Recruitment conducted an online survey with Thailand’s leading employers as well as in – depth interviews with top executives from three Bangkok-based companies.
Richard Brady, the founder of Mentis, which offers psychometric assessments and training, leads his business operations with a global reach from Bangkok. Robert Kawada is the managing director at English Gang who provides online language courses in which students can learn from home. Lalita Pudsa is the operations manager at Lexicon Business Communications, a creative digital PR agency that supports local and international businesses to tell their stories online.
The quantitative survey results, together with the qualitative information provided by these three experts, helped to paint a detailed picture of the current values employers look for in middle to top – level management.
Leadership
For a manager to be a great leader, they must earn respect by taking a thoughtful and considered approach to the supervision of their team while providing clear direction. Unlike the negative connotations associated with the word ‘boss’, a smart manager is someone who guides their team to success by listening and learning, as well as leading. Not only do leaders delegate tasks to their subordinates, they empower and support them to grow within their respective roles for the betterment of the whole team.
Language
Multilingualism is an indispensable skill that opens up opportunities in communication. In the recruitment market, we find a number of candidates prepare themselves by studying a language. Mr. Brady said, “Language skills are particularly important and people should be able to work with customers internationally and locally.” If you want to work for an international company, a second or even third language is gives you an advantage over other candidates. English is the lingua franca spoken around the world, but Chinese, Japanese, French and Spanish are also popular among Thais. The great thing is, many companies offer a better salary if you can speak multiple languages that help the business.
Planning and organizing
A successful manager is a committed leader who carefully plans their campaigns with clearly defined objectives for execution. The best managers establish efficient systems for managing resources and assigning and coordinating tasks. You must oversee the project as it unfolds, while maintaining the overall vision, to help determine the proper course of action as challenges arise. When you deal with personnel and physical resources effectively, then costs drop, quality improves, cycle times shorten and productivity rises.
Problem-solving
Running a business is not all sugar and honey. It comes with great responsibility. Whenever an organization is faced with an unexpected obstacle, employees often look to the manager to address the trouble. Ms. Pudsa explained that “Common sense and logical thinking are important attributes for an employee to solve problems and succeed in their work.” When tackling problems at work, managers should take a holistic approach by examining the causes and weighing up the potential effects of different solutions before they implement them.
Adaptability
In this digital era, technology is rapidly transforming the way we do business. Innovative developments in software and hardware means the technology is constantly evolving and enhancing business processes. Mr. Kawada recommends that a workforce must be flexible and ready to embrace new technologies. Naturally, the skills needed in the market place changed over time. For instance, speed typing was a rare commodity several decades ago; but these days, most people are proficient in this skill. It’s a real advantage to maintain an interest in new technological developments as mobile phone apps and online platforms transform the way we do things at work. Meanwhile, every company culture is unique, so it helps if employees can acclimatize to changing conditions and different procedures at work. The best employees can work well independently or as part of a team.