Helping develop a strong team in the workplace is a vital component to running any business. Even with the strongest team in place, a little nurturing can help push boundaries and challenge employees to work together more effectively.
And with a lack of Cambodians trained to the levels of middle and higher management or in specific technical skills, one company is helping to fill that gap through training and recruitment.
Saint Blanquat & Associates launched in Cambodia 18 months ago with the aim of helping companies achieve their full potential by focusing on the workforce.
This is achieved through management consulting operations involving project management, recruitment for middle and top management, and people development, skills assessment and putting in place training plans to boost skill sets.
Recruitment
“It’s not easy to find staff in Cambodia as soon as you start looking for technical jobs,” Amaury de Saint Blanquat, company founder, says. “You have the competencies here but you have to find them and it’s not easy to hunt competitors, which is why a recruitment company can help ease the process.”
He adds that the best way to recruit locally is by calling on your contacts rather than through the traditional route of advertising, like in the developing world.
“Cambodians don’t really answer to advertisements in newspapers,” he says. “Here, people won’t send their CV if they don’t know anyone in the company. Cambodians very good at moving in their own networks but won’t easily go outside that.”
Hitting the social networks is a good place to start, Saint Blanquat recommends, as, especially the younger generation, have a strong presence on there and can be head-hunted as potential candidates.
“The new generation of 22 to 30-year-olds are totally different, especially younger ones who are graduating now,” he says. “They speak excellent English, are smart, fast-thinkers and have generally been exposed to the international world. They have an excellent level of energy and want to go into business and change things. They are learning very fast and this is a good talent pool emerging.”
Salaries
The days when international and local jobs were two separate entities are changing in the Kingdom as more Cambodians pick up highly-trained skills.
“When I first came to Cambodia you had jobs for Cambodians and jobs for expats,” Saint Blanquat remembers. “This difference was created in the beginning by the NGOs but this difference is quite quickly disappearing.”
He adds that a commonly occurring trend has seen younger Cambodians applying for jobs that were previously reserved for expats, with some making between $2,000 and $7,000 a month.
“The younger Cambodians have the competencies, experience and exposure. They have the attitude and are able to work in complex environment. It’s interesting that now you have the Cambodian manager that can apply to all types of jobs. It’s also interesting to see some Cambodian managers now have a better salary than expats, which five years ago was unthinkable.”
The global economic crisis, which hammered huge parts of Europe and America, has also led to an influx of youngsters heading to Cambodia in search of work. “They are ready to take any job,” he says, “even for a low salary with local conditions, which was unheard of previously.”
The fact that salaries in Cambodia are steadily increasing and demand for fairer wages has also led to many companies changing their ideals regarding employing a cheap, cheap labour force.
“Salaries are moving quite fast here and a lot of companies don’t realise this. There are some companies who only want to pay $600 a month for staff and we can’t find anyone who will take the job. Companies need to change their idea that Cambodians are cheap because it’s not true any more.”
For more information on the services provided by Saint Blanquat & Associates, visitwww.saintblanquat.com
