Building systems costs money.
Telling people to be resourceful is free.
Few professions have pushed human survival instincts as far as Chinese recruitment. 😄
Recruiters elsewhere get LinkedIn Recruiter, ATS systems, talent databases, and research support.
Chinese recruiters often get none of the above.
No sourcing budget.
No infrastructure.
Still expected to pull rabbits out of a hat.
And when the tools don't exist?
That's where the magic begins.
You're expected to know someone who knows someone who might know someone with a LinkedIn Recruiter seat.
Someone with a 104/1111 account when sourcing in Taiwan.
A friend paying for HH.ru access in Russia doesn't hurt either.
Having worked in-house before, I know exactly what those seats represent: company assets, budget, data, and compliance responsibility.
In most places, sharing them with outsiders would be career suicide.
In some circles, it's called resource integration.
Without those resources, freelance recruiters are essentially bringing a knife to a gunfight.
Then they're told:
"Work smarter."
"Top billers don't make excuses."
"If others can do it, so can you."
Why invest in infrastructure when motivational speeches are free?
Eventually, the winners aren't always the best recruiters.
They're the best connected.
The best at calling in favours.
In many functioning economies, search firms compete by building proprietary capability.
Across low-trust, relationship-driven business ecosystems, agencies often compete by outsourcing the cost of building it to individuals.
——Boarderless Talent Architect
Cross- boarder workforce｜Partnership｜Market Entry
