Huawei Technologies may be a learning organisation, but academic performance is not the only thing they look for in potential employees. A high EQ and having fun are equally important.

By Lim Yan Wen

Having brilliant academic results may indicate a high IQ, but to succeed at work and in life, EQ may be the key instead. Or at least that’s what Mr He Rong, Managing Director of Huawei Technologies thinks.

“When it comes to work, EQ is equally important, and it’s not just about getting along with people; EQ also reflects whether you’re willing to learn and whether you can learn effectively,” he said. These two qualities are what Huawei, as an organisation, believes in when hiring experienced or fresh graduates alike.

One of the big boys in the highly competitive telecommunications industry, Huawei was established in 1988 in Shenzhen, China, and has grown to become the largest networking and telecommunications equipment supplier in China and one of the world leaders in this industry. Huawei specialises in research and development (R&D), production and marketing of communications equipments, and providing customised network solutions for telecom carriers.

In Singapore, their main clients are the three telecommunications companies, Starhub, SingTel and Mobile One (M1). Huawei is the provider of Starhub’s base stations, which are responsible for giving network coverage to Starhub mobile users. Huawei has more than 1,000 base stations in Singapore for Starhub, and is also responsible for the technology behind SingNet’s broadband services. In short, Huawei provides the technological infrastructure for the three telcos to offer services for public consumption.

Global Expansion & Localisation

Prior to 1998, Huawei’s focus was on the domestic market, and they had managed to become one of the biggest telecommunications firms in mainland China. In 1998, Huawei realised that in order to survive in the long run, overseas expansion and diversification are important strategies that will keep them competitive. From 1998 to 2003, Huawei engaged IBM for management consulting and underwent significant transformation of its management and product development structure. After 2001, Huawei expanded into overseas markets at an accelerated pace. By 2004, its overseas sales had surpassed that of the domestic market. Singapore was one of the places that Huawei ventured into, and in 1999, they started to station their employees here permanently.

One of the reasons why Huawei has managed to expand their operations to so many countries, including the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia, is their Human Resource policy of localisation. This hiring principle aims to employ locals in order to understand the local market better and also for the bigger aim of creating jobs in the local market, thus contributing to the economy. In the Singapore office, more than half the employees are Singaporeans, and they’re looking to hire more locals to join Huawei.

The vast pool of fresh graduates is definitely one that Huawei enthusiastically taps into. But while fresh graduates are certainly needed to provide new blood and energy to Huawei’s business, the issue of hiring very much depends on the job profile available.

For instance, when looking for sales personnel, Huawei values experience and understanding of local idiosyncrasies; and for positions that require technical familiarity, in-depth product knowledge is paramount. That said, Mr He feels that to work for Huawei, “The mindset to want to learn is important,” Mr He said.

With the rapid expansion and increasing number of local staff, problems of communication and clashing of working styles are almost bound to happen. Mr He relates an incident when he was stationed in the Australian office. One Australian employee had directly commented that the Chinese style of working diligently, efficiently and sticking to the rules was not exactly his cup of tea, and he felt he could not fit in with the work culture.

“On the company’s part, we appreciate that he was forthcoming and brave enough to make such a remark, but in the bigger scheme of things, his individualistic approach could severely harm the corporate culture and team building efforts at
Huawei,” Mr He said.

Nonetheless, the localisation policy has still been largely successful for Huawei’s overseas operations. This achievement can be gleaned from the fact that their R&D Centres in places such as Bangalore in India have met industry expectations by attaining the CMM (Capability Maturity Model) Level 5 quality assurance certification, which indicates that Huawei has matured into an organisation that is capable of continually improving process performance through both incremental and innovative technological changes or improvements. In other words, Huawei has done well in transferring technological know-how and fully developing the software engineering talents in India.

NASA, which outsources their technological needs only to companies with CMM Level 5, has engaged Huawei’s services and again, a display of Huawei’s prominent international standing and presence in the global telecommunications industry.

Capability and Will to Learn

With the company looking to hire more talents in its various offices all over the world, Huawei’s hiring philosophy is flexible, but has two key criteria, “the capability to learn and the will to learn”, as Mr He points out. Without these two qualities, an employee will not go far in Huawei, because with rapid technological advances, it is essential to be able to absorb new and difficult information, and also to want to take the initiative to acquire knowledge.

Indeed, a learning organisation is what Huawei strives to be, and it is precisely because they value the will to learn, that the Huawei University was established in 2005 to facilitate a variety of training programmes for both customers and employees. The university’s existence is in response to the changing demands of management needs with the expansion of the company. From a company with 20,000 staff in China to one with 70,000 staff all over the world, administration needs are constantly changing, and managers need to be equipped with the latest human resource organisation skills to keep Huawei going strong.

Mr He has been in Huawei for nine years, and they have been some of the most challenging yet fulfilling years for him. He spent one year in Iran until 2001, and working there alone has taught him to appreciate the little things in life. “The time spent in Iran was tough and quite stressful, but sometimes small things like seeing Iranian schoolchildren waving to us when we passed by as if they were our biggest fans was interesting,” he said.

The sense of achievement he felt from being stationed in the Middle East for six years is unparalleled, as he left Oman with a team which grew from one man to more than 70 people at the end of his management stint.

When it comes to working in a foreign country on your own, finding the right balance between work and play is essential. “I remember traveling and spending nights out in the desert. It was an unforgettable experience that made work more bearable,” he
said.

At the end of it, Mr He is glad to have been a part of Huawei’s global expansion, as it reflects the immense growth of the company through the years, and increases his sense of satisfaction of being a member of the Huawei family.

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