Page 25 - CCFA Journal - Third Issue

CCFF2020/加拿大中国金融论坛 2020
Wei:亚洲和北美工作场所的文化差异是什么? 该如何应对
呢?
Maggie: 亚洲和北美的职场文化确实有很多不同。总的来
说，亚洲社会有很强的等级意识，尊重权威，服从领导，
不欣赏个人英雄主义。北美的工作场所遵循西方普世价值
观，尊重个人意志和人权平等。强调沟通技巧，鼓励团队
成员表达自己的观点并积极参与。很多时候，我们把自己
的能力归于是否能够清晰地表达自己。因为我们的英语不
够好，其实并不全是语言的问题。你背后的思考、想法和
逻辑对于清晰有效地表达同样重要。我们的传统教育不重
视沟通表达能力的培养，巨大的入学压力挤压了综合素质
培养的空间。在北美的工作场所，绝大多数的中国人也从
事技术或专业工作，晋升到高级管理职位的机会非常少。
印度精英是一个例外，我们应该向他们学习。他们中的许
多人也从专业和技术岗位起步，但往往在几年后进入更高
级别的管理岗位。据我观察，印度专业人士一般都是通过
MBA 课程来提高自己的管理能力。再加上他们在工作中
敢于表达自己的意见和建议，积极参与团队融入，有充分
的存在感。中国同事的想法可能比印度同事更可靠，但他
们总是怀疑自己是否不够成熟。会被同事嘲笑吗? 我的英
语够好吗 ?在这些挣扎中，机会一次又一次地消逝。
Paulina: 我也同意，实际上我不是在加拿大出生的。我出
生在波兰，10 岁的时候和我的家人移民来这里，随后在四
个不同的地方生活，所以我很能体会 Maggie 说的。我现
在和很多中国学生一起工作，我们很有共鸣。波兰有句谚
语:“静静地站在角落里，做好你的工作，你会被注意
到。” 在波兰是这样，但在加拿大却不是这样，这并不是
说你不应该努力工作。我认为这和加拿大文化中更以人为
本有关，所以我希望你适应这里的文化，不那么讲究等级
观念。要能为自己说话。你不需要大喊大叫争吵，不需要
刻意表现得非常外向。有时候也可以一对一表达自己，对
我而言这就比在人群中发言更有效。所以尽管发挥你的优
势，让别人知道你。
除此之外，还有个关于简历的小发现。欧洲的人力资源专
业人士都知道，无论应聘者在简历上说了什么，他们都需
要补充说明，因为应聘者通常都很谦虚，会贬低他们的成
就。相比之下，在北美，人力资源专业人士往往会对简历
上的内容轻描淡写，因为人们往往会夸大自己的成就。
Wei: 在进行招聘时，你最常看到求职者犯的错误是什么?
你对他们有什么建议?
Maggie: 当你找工作的时候，我觉得你应该问问自己，你
想要什么? 你最终的职业目标是什么? 你真的需要为每一
次求职和招聘都制定一个计划帮助你实现目标。找到你喜
欢做的事情是非常重要的。兴趣是成功的最好驱动力，所
以热情会驱动你。当你真的有激情的时候，你的面试官会
感受到。你会有更好的机会把工作做好。在面试过程中，
做真实的自己，你不需要急于展示你的专业知识。当你回
答这些面试问题的时候，尽量具体一些，用例子或事实，
而不是对自己泛泛的评价。这样的话，他们会觉得你准备
得很充分，而且你对这个领域很了解。
Paulina : 我就是这么做的，从自我评估开始，找出你的热
情所在。因为一旦你有了工作激情，它自然无所不在。
Wei: 在性别平等方面，金融行业以男性为主，您对进入
这个行业的年轻女性有什么建议?
Maggie: 这可能不是一个金融行业的问题，普遍覆盖整体
行业。毕马威(KPMG)的全球统计数据显示，金融行业 42%
的劳动力是女性。但如果你看看那些金融行业的上层，数
量逐步下降，高层领导中的女性越来越少。整个金融行业
都意识到了这一挑战，他们都在积极采取措施鼓励女性领
导。所以这就是为什么我要说，如果你打算以一名女性员
工的身份进入这个行业，这可能也是一个非常好的契机，
CCFA JOURNAL OF FINANCE
加中金融
Wei: What are the cultural differences between Asian and
North American workplaces? How to deal with this?
Maggie: There are indeed quite a few differences between
Asian and North American workplace cultures. Generally,
Asian society has a strong sense of hierarchy, respects authority,
obeys leadership, and does not appreciate individual heroism.
The North American workplace follows the Western universal
values and respects individual will and equality, emphasizes
communication skills and encourage team members to express
their views and participate actively. A lot of times we attribute
our ability to clear communication because our English is not
good enough, but it's not all about language skills. The ideas
and logic behind you are just as important for clear expression.
I also mentioned that our traditional education doesn’t cultivate
the ability to communicate well. Most Chinese employees in the
North American workplace are in technical or professional jobs,
and it is very rare for them to be promoted to senior
management positions. The Indian elite is an exception that we
should learn from. Many of them also start out in professional
and technical positions, but often emerge a few years later into
higher-level management positions. According to my own
observation, Indian professionals generally take MBA courses
to enhance their management ability. Plus they are brave
enough to express their opinions and suggestions at work,
actively participate in the team, make efforts to integrate, and
have a full sense of existence. Chinese colleagues may have
more reliable ideas than Indian colleagues, but they are always
wondering whether their ideas are mature enough, would it be
ridiculed by their colleagues, whether they can communicate
these ideas well etc. During these internal struggles, the
opportunity passes away again and again.
Paulina: I agree as well, I was actually not born in Canada. I
was born in Poland and immigrated with my family when I was
10 years old, so I experienced that big shock firsthand and then
multiple times after that with four different places I've been, so
I actually looked into doing an MBA in international business
when I came back from my overseas adventures. I work with a
lot of Chinese students now through my job and in coaching,
and I find we have something in common that resonates with
me. We have a saying in Poland, “stand quietly in the corner do
your work well you'll get noticed”. That is true in Poland, but
that is not true in Canada, not that your hard work is not
appreciated, but I think it ties to the aspect of Canadian culture
of being more individualistic as well, so the expectation is that
you have to take care of yourself and speak up for yourself. So,
as part of the culture being less hierarchical you are expected to
take ownership and to step up and get yourself known. You
don't need to do this in a loud and obnoxious way or become a
hyper extrovert. It can be done individually, and that's worked
a lot better for me than speaking up in groups. So play to your
strengths, but you need to let people know who you are.
Add to that some interesting little thing that I learned, resumes
even, because it starts early in the process. HR professionals in
Europe know that they need to add to whatever the person say
on their resumes, because candidates are typically modest and
would downplay their achievements. By contrast in North
America, the HR professionals immediately downplay what is
written on a resume because people tend to overstate their
achievements.
Wei: In terms of gender equality: finance industry is
primarily dominated by males, what are the advice you will
give to young women who are entering the industry?
Maggie: I’m not sure whether this is a financial industry
problem but rather a universal problem or challenge. I think
global wise KPMG stats shows 42% of its workforce is female,
but if you look at the upper chain of those in the financial
industry, the percentage drops steadily and less females are
represented in top leadership. The whole financial industry
realized this challenge, and they are all taking an aggressive
approach to encourage female leadership. So that's why I say if
you're planning to go into this industry as a female employee,
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