❂ WHO AM I
❂ WHAT DOES YOUR BRAND REPRESENT
It is most important to first recognise what does your brand represent.
Let me explain.
The very first advertisement Singapore Airlines showed back in 1968 was The Singapore Girl. This was the brand persona. It depicted Pierre Balmain’s Kebaya Design with an Asian girl. Elegant. Sophisticated. Beauty personified.
The very first commercial advertisement Emirates Airline showed back in 1985 was a Flight Attendant, introducing 2 business class passengers to each other to “bridge” the culture; seemingly between East & West, a representation of Emirates right in the Middle East, a gateway between East & West.
Although I am a Singaporean, and born in 1968, the Year SQ launched the Kebaya and Singapore Girl, I will spend more time in this newsletter talking about how I helped Emirates rise from being the underdog to become the World’s No. 1 (in terms of fleet size and profitability) in mere 10 years. I love Underdogs.
The Emirates Brand represented Intelligence. Diplomacy. Cultural Sensitivity.
❂ HOW I CONVINCE EMIRATES TO WORK WITH ME
Knowing and understanding what Emirates Brand represented, I flew to Dubai and met with Mr. Ted Green, SVP, Strategy & Business Planning back in Aug 2003.
This is how I started the meeting:
“Dubai’s population is 500,000 local residents. Emirates has 2,000 flight attendants. Singapore’s population is 5M. SQ has 7,500 flight attendants. For Emirates to beat SQ, it will be almost impossible, unless you import foreign labors.”
Ted agrees unanimously.
“Who drives the frontline customer service industry in Singapore?”, I asked rhetorically. “Malaysians account for almost 50% of SQ flight attendants and the backbone of the hospitality and F&B industry in Singapore then.”
“So in order to attract Malaysians to come to Dubai, you are currently hiring in the wrong countries” I added.
Ted kept quiet and asked what I would propose.
I said, “You must first hire successfully in Singapore and it takes a Singaporean to convince another Singaporean to come to Dubai. Why? Because if Singaporean can work in Dubai, it means that Dubai is safe enough for Malaysians to come and with that, the rest of Asia will follow.”
This will solve the Asian hospitality culture needed on Emirates, which was not explicit in Emirates brand positioning.
Ted agreed and asked, why would I be successful in helping Emirates hire talents? “Are you a Flight Attendant before or a Pilot?” he asked.
“Mr. Green, I have a mirror at home. I won’t qualify as a Flight Attendant. I am self aware. And look at my eyes, they are so small that I won’t be able to see the runway! If I am a pilot, I would likely crash the plane!” 🤣
Ted laughed. Then he asked again why I would be successful.
To which, I asked how many airlines he has travelled on. He named four: Emirates, Continental, United and Air Canada (Mr. Green is Canadian).
In one breath, I named 40, including at least 5 which he has never heard before.
“The real end user of inflight service is the passenger, no? That’s the qualification I have to help you suss out the best inflight customer service personnel!”
For 5 years from 1997 – 2002, while working in Honeywell, I averaged 120 flight hours each month as Regional Director, Honeywell Asia Pacific in Industrial Automation. That’s where all my observation skills on flight crew was developed.
Ted asked about my terms for being their consultant, such as pricing.
I replied; “This is my first major contract with supposedly “zero” track record. Pay me whatever you feel I am worth. But, my only condition is that your Head of Global Talent Acquisition, must not change for the next 10 years if you want to beat SQ”
He asked “Why?”
“Because the Singapore Prime Minister Mr. Lee Kuan Yew did not change for 31 years to build Singapore. It is this consistency in strategy that makes Singapore what it is today.”
Ted agreed.
The rest is history.
I got the job.
For 11 years, I worked exclusively for Emirates Group in Global Talent Acquisition in 10 countries
❂ WHAT VALUES DID I LOOK FOR TO HELP BUILD EMIRATES BRAND
★ Background
Emirates intends to hire from more than 150 nationalities in the world. This drives the balance between hiring to fit with 150 different nationalities, without cultural conflict. And yet, represent the Emirates brand: Intelligent. Diplomacy. Cultural Sensitivity.
★ Required Values
#1 Open minded
#2 Flexible / Adaptable
#3 Considerate
#4 An eye for details
#5 Ability to follow instructions
#6 Culturally sensitive
#7 Down to earth
#8 Kind hearted
#9 Hardworking
#10 Trustworthy
Assessing the Right Values ensure Values Fit among 150 nationalities
❂ EMIRATES HAD 16 PF, WE HAD DRAWMETRICS
Emirates had a large team of Psychologists based in Dubai that analyses the candidates 16 Personality Factors. We used our own Drawmetrics, a drawing based neural analytics that identifies the current state of mind of the candidates. When we integrated both psychometrics reports, we formulated a very complete and precise knowledge of the candidates we were hiring based on the above 10 values. It was a very robust and formidable assessment tool.
Over time, we built that capabilities into an entire hiring process that would prove to be 100% accurate.
❂ IS THERE AN IDEAL PROFILE
No, there is no one size fits all profile, because every individual is different and every report is different. But there are a few key values that’s must haves. If any of those key values are missing, it is impossible to train the new hire to Emirates required standards of service delivery and operational excellence. We do not compromise on those values no matter how impressive the candidate was during the interview. Interviews are just a show case. It can be gamed and orchestrated to perfection. For that reason, we eliminate any form of human bias creeping in throughout the entire recruitment process.
Subjectivity is the conflict of objectivity.
❂ WHO IN EMIRATES WORKED WITH ME FOR 11 YEARS
❂ HOW DO WE ENSURE CONSISTENCY IN HIRING
The biggest challenge in any multinational hiring across different countries/cultures, is consistency. The lack of consistency’s direct results is office politics due to conflict in values. Look out for our next Newsletter on how to avoid this.
To ensure consistency, there are 2 ways to do so.
#1 Have exactly the same person as Gatekeeper to screen through ALL applicants. This is operationally impossible unless you engage an exclusive recruitment agency, like Emirates used to do.
#2 Create a playbook (see https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/interviewer-playbook-7019707147781300225) that creates a consistent process. This process, when followed to the T, is totally unbiased, completely repeatable, extremely robust and most importantly, superbly accuracy.
❂ REACH ME AT ANDREW.CHAI@YOUNNIKLY.COM TO LEARN MORE
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/talent-acquisition-expertise-builds-high-performance-dream-chai-