Between dribbling and shooting
Yue Kang, Vice-president of HR of Asia-Pacific region, TE Connectivity Ltd, graduated in 1982
He was an activist in campus, a member of Student Union, captain of basketball team, the main force in long-distance running team. So far, he could still feel heart beating faster when recalling those basketball competitions. Working in a multinational corporation for 15 years after graduation, he served as a HR senior manager and still experienced the inspiration from basketball games. Now, he transferred from forward to passer in his career and became the organizer and soul in the ‘game’. The core of his career pursuit were talents, team spirit and business success. He hoped that more people could slam-dunk with his passing, and he could dribble on the court and get a three-point shoot occasionally.
Yue Kang in 2009
Yue Kang was born in 1958 in Baoding city, Hebei province. After graduation from middle school in 1973, he became a factory worker. In 1978, he was enrolled to Customs Department, UIBE and stayed for teaching after graduation in 1982. In 1984, he was sent to University of Phoenix for advanced studies. Then, he served as the deputy director of Customs Department. Kang went abroad for further study again in 1992 and served as director of human resources in several multinational corporations. Now, he is the Vice-president of human resources of Asia-Pacific region, TE Connectivity Ltd.
1. The accumulation of his international backgrounds
Now, it is difficult for us to connect Yue Kang with motor mechanics, which was a gloomy period of time. The resumption of college entrance examination provided Kang, an ordinary worker, this opportunity to study in university. He suddenly turned and shot – it was in!
In 1978, after the resumption of college entrance examination, Customs Department enrolled 2 new students in total from Hebei province, who were Yue Kang and Shuqiang Bai (professor of UIBE, doctoral tutor). At that time, Customs Department consisted of 3 classes and 40 students in total, and most faculties had worked in the first line of China customs.
He was an activist in campus, a member of Student Union, captain of basketball team, the main force in long-distance running team. So far, he could still feel heart beating faster when recalling those basketball competitions. He often worn four to five pairs of shoes each year, because of playing basketball, thus he was particularly acquainted with shoemakers. When teaching in UIBE, he was still the main force of sports. His love towards sports built his strong body, kept his explosive force and endurance, and cultivate team spirit, from which he benefited a lot.
Yue Kang was active on the basketball court, but mild and gentle at other times. He hoped to work in the General Administration of Customs or foreign trade companies, but was kept teaching in Customs Department because of his excellent academic performance. He still focused on being a good teacher without complaints.
Group photo of teachers’ basketball team, first row, second from left was Yue Kang(around 1987)
In the ten-year teaching career, Kang for many opportunities for advanced study. In 1984, he was sent to University of Phoenix studying for MBA. After coming back to school, he started to teach courses like principles of management, cross-cultural management, organizational behavior and etc.. In 1988, he was promoted as deputy director of Customs Department and became the youngest cadre in UIBE. From 1990 to 1991, he was sent abroad for many times, and participated the joint projects in Canada. After returning to school, he focused more on teaching postgraduate courses.
In 1992, he went abroad for further study again and ‘changed court’ to a new career full of international backgrounds. In 1994, he acquired Master of Human Resource Management in the University of British Columbia. He had received two offers one month before graduation, and finally choosed Hudson’s Bay Company, a Canadian retail business group with a history of 320 years. He served as an project manager in human resource department and was responsible for building teams, recruiting and training staff, introducing international management experience to China. One year later, the project was forced to delay, Kang and his team also had to leave this company. It had been the first time that Kang was laid off.
In the same year, he joined the Canadian Manulife Group and began his career as a HR in the headquarter. Manulife is a world-class company and he was offered competitive payment for company hoped that he could engage more in Chinese market.In the next two to three years, he was lucky to have the opportunity to work in different sections in HR department. In 1998, he was sent to Hong Kong and served as the Director of Human Resources of the Asia region to be more involved in Chinese business. Later, due to the limited growth of business in China, in 2000, he became the Director of Human Resources of Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank in Greater China Region. In Hong Kong, he was responsible for human resources business from Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Taiwan and Hong Kong. However, when his work had just entered orbit, the global economic crisis hit and his major work turned to be downsizing. Unhappy with the current situation, he chose to leave again.
In 2003, he was recruited by TSMC, a leading high-tech company in Taiwan, which also regarded the continent as its major market in the future. He worked in HR department, TSMC for about 2 years in Xinzhu, Taiwan.
In 2004, Tyco, an American company among Fortune 500, invited him back to Shanghai to take the post of Director of Human Resources in Greater China Region. Finally, he could returned to the land he was most familiar with – Mainland China.
Returning to China was just like breaking all the resistance. He shot and the ball was in.
2. Insights from 15-year human resources career
In 2005, the second year Kang joined Tyco, he was awarded "Corporate Power Award" in recognition of his outstanding contribution in Greater China Region. On 14th January, 2009, Shanghai, in "Greater China 2008-2009 Human Resource Awards Festival" sponsored by World Management Review, 9 HR directors and more than 250 managers from GE, Microsoft, McDonald's, TNT and etc. gathered together. The 9 directors won the award of "The best HR manager in Greater China, 2008-2009", and Kang was one of them.
Kang shared Tyco’s methods and experience in increasing employees’ sense of belonging and engagement with the attendance. Facing with the new trend in labor market, staff should pay more attention to career development and work environment and pursue a balance between work and life. The sense of belonging was of great importance in retaining talents, while employees’ engagement could increase production efficiency to ensure company’s development in the long term.
Yue Kand was giving lectures in 2009
The award “The best HR manager” was a big achievement in his 15-year career. He gained more knowledge about human resources, such as whole-picture thinking , strategy, organization and the leader’s personality. He could provide more chances for talents to realize their dream.
The global turnover of reached $ 14.8 billion with more than one hundred thousand employees all over the world. Their products include electronic connectors, cable products, fiber-optic communications, wireless products, touch screen and etc. Now, the investment in China is the core of company strategy. In 2008, Tyco China had more than 38,000 employees, 16 plants and several R&D centers, with the sales network covering 15 cities in China. The turnover in China more than 20 billion dollars in 2008. And Kang also played a important role in creating value and he hoped this could reflect the connections between relations of production and productive forces.
According to company's strategy towards China, in the past five years, Kang was busy recruiting talents and introducing advanced concepts such as training, development, rewards and punishments, leadership development and talent cultivation into Tyco Electronics China. He went to universities to give recruitment presentations by himself and established a high quality team of more than 30 employees. He hoped that the team members could stay in Tyco for a long time. A year ago, he was transferred to the largest business unit of Tyco Electronics to serve as the Vice President of Human Resources in Asia-Pacific Region.
From the perspective of a HR in a multinational corporation, Kang felt that it’s urgent to strengthen human resources development and management in China, a lot of human resource were also required to manage talents. He said: “Human resources doesn’t only mean paying wages and proceeding formalities, it has a deeper meaning related with human and resources. CHO and CFO are often the most valuable assistants of the president.” A few years ago, computer and accounting majors could easily find a job, but now, HRs are also in great demand, especially in China.” He also mentioned that the loss of top talents was directly related to the implementation of strategy and thus determined the company's performance.
In order to find suitable graduates and experienced talents for Tyco, he had organized several lectures and job fairs in Shanghai universities. He also hoped to go back to UIBE to share his ideas and insights about human resources management. As an old hand, he knew the seriousness of the labor market. He said: “Today's young people are different from us, they have more opportunities, but also face the risk of losing job. The opportunity and risk co-exists. I am willing to communicate with young people, which is also my responsibility. I hope there will be more and more young students joining the multinational management team. I chose this job by accident, but I still love it today. ”
“Recalling the past, I miss the campus and basketball court in UIBE most. I also miss my teachers, coaches, classmates, colleagues, leaderships and team members. UIBE is the start of my career, and provides me with interests, which are exactly the premises of success. I will always treasure the valuable memories in UIBE.
Kang’s families, taken in 2007, Pudong district, Shanghai
Over the past years, he had lived in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Shanghai because of his work. Now, he became a stranger in nearly every city. He could even get lost in his hometown, Baoding. It was brought by the rapid economic development, but also the cost of his "internationalization". Spending time with his family is his greatest joy. His wife, Yu Zhang, was also graduated from Customs Department, UIBE in 1985. Now they have two children, a 20-year-old daughter and-year-old son. Kang still played basketball and swam with his son in his spare time. It seemed that he turned back to the forward in the basketball court, and was about to show a perfect shooting to his son.
