Chapter 17 The Art of Headhunting

Wu Bin considered himself to have some experience in poaching talent.

The most crucial point was to elevate the other party's expectations and then fulfill them in some way.

Sometimes it was empty promises, sometimes material incentives, and sometimes a combination of both.

Wu Bin had already investigated and knew that Hao Qiong worked as an executive planner at Shang Yang Games, responsible for miscellaneous tasks.

According to the general salary standards for executive planners in Jingzhou, it was usually between 2,000 and 3,000 yuan per month.

Of course, Wu Bin had done his homework and knew that the benefits and treatment at Tengda were ridiculously good.

How good exactly, he wasn't sure.

Because so far, he had only heard of people running to Tengda, never seen anyone running away from Tengda.

If you wanted to ask a Tengda employee, they wouldn't say.

The only rough standard was mentioned in an official interview: Huang Sibai's salary doubled when he went to Tengda for an interview.

But Wu Bin found out through painstaking inquiries that Huang Sibai's original salary was only 2,000 yuan, so the doubling wasn't particularly outrageous.

Moreover, Huang Sibai was going to be a lead planner, so his salary wouldn't be low.

An ordinary employee like Hao Qiong would probably make the same as Huang Sibai back then, right?

Biting his teeth and estimating high, it was at most 5,000 yuan. Any more than that would be an insult to Wu Bin's intelligence.

Of course, Hao Qiong's income certainly didn't come entirely from his base salary; bonuses had to be considered as well.

Wu Bin calculated that the mobile version of *Hot-Blooded Battle Song* had a net monthly income of about four million yuan. This could be roughly estimated based on its ranking on various charts, payment points, number of players, popularity, and other information.

Not a lot, after all, this game was a "conscience" game and didn't require much spending.

Wu Bin figured that, according to the general practice of game companies, 10% of the net income would be used as a project bonus, and the bonus distributed to the employees would be about three to four hundred thousand yuan.

Speaking highly, fifty thousand yuan.

But a project team had at least thirty or forty people, and the core members would take the lion's share. A small fry like Hao Qiong who just assisted, would be lucky to get a 5,000 yuan bonus.

Calculated this way, the monthly salary plus bonus was at most around 10,000 yuan.

Wu Bin wasn't very clear about other benefits.

But, an additional premium of two to four thousand yuan would be enough to outweigh those benefits, right?

Wu Bin's psychological price was between 12,000 and 14,000 yuan per month.

In his opinion, this monthly salary was already quite outrageous. In a place like Jingzhou, a general lead planner only made seven or eight thousand yuan a month, and now he was going to spend a monthly salary of thirteen thousand to poach an executive planner?

This was already outrageous enough.

Therefore, Wu Bin's method of poaching people was to first raise the other party's psychological expectations.

The following was the script he expected:

Wu Bin: "Your salary must be very high, right? Your daily salary must be at least 6,000, right?"

Hao Qiong: "No, not that much, less than 5,000."

Wu Bin: "Oh, then your bonus must be a lot, right? It must be seven or eight thousand or more, right?"

Hao Qiong: "No, just over five thousand."

Wu Bin: "Then, your monthly income is only ten thousand or so, lower than I imagined."

Hao Qiong: "It's okay, the company's benefits are good."

Wu Bin: "Good benefits can't be eaten! With your qualifications and ability, if you come to our company, your base salary plus bonus will definitely be 12,000 to start!"

Hao Qiong: "Really?"

Wu Bin: "Of course, you're worth that much!"

If Hao Qiong still hesitated, then Wu Bin would continue to raise the price, up to 15,000 yuan.

An extra five thousand yuan a month, most people couldn't resist such a temptation.

When it came to this point, poaching would be considered successful.

It was a bit expensive, but Wu Bin couldn't help it in order to complete the task assigned by the boss.

Anyway, poach first.

Wu Bin began to perform according to the script he imagined.

"I heard that Tengda's benefits are very good? Your salary must be very high, right? Your daily salary must be at least 6,000, right?"

Hao Qiong nodded, "Yes, about that."

Wu Bin: "?"

He was a little dizzy.

Wu Bin had already added an extra thousand yuan to his expected maximum salary, but when it came to Hao Qiong, he calmly admitted it!

Fortunately, Wu Bin reacted quickly and put on a "as expected" expression: "Then the bonus must be seven or eight thousand or more, right?"

Hao Qiong smiled, "Indeed."

Wu Bin: "?"

He felt a little overwhelmed.

What did "indeed" mean?

More than seven or eight thousand???

You know, the convention of game companies is to take 10% of the income as a bonus, and this is considered a lot. There are also many game companies that make money but don't give any bonuses at all.

As a result, Shang Yang Games gave an executive planner a bonus of more than seven or eight thousand?

That looked like at least eight thousand something!

Wu Bin felt that his budget had some problems.

Adding it all up, Hao Qiong's salary had reached nearly 15,000.

Now he would have to spend at least eighteen or nineteen thousand to poach him.

This was too much!

But the arrow was on the string and had to be fired.

Wu Bin couldn't back down now, so he had to bite the bullet and say, "Then your monthly income is heading towards 15,000, a little lower than I imagined, but not much lower."

Hao Qiong smiled honestly: "It's okay, the company's benefits are good."

Wu Bin finally had a sentence that he could smoothly connect to, and quickly said: "Good benefits can't be eaten!"

Before he could finish speaking, Hao Qiong asked in confusion: "It can be eaten."

"We have meals at three meals a day, takeaway for touching fish (slacking off), and the menu changes every day, absolutely healthy and hygienic."

Wu Bin: "..."

Calculated this way, even the most basic food expenses would be close to a thousand yuan a month.

The budget had to go up again!

Hao Qiong also said: "And we also regularly go to the No Name Restaurant for dinner."

Wu Bin: "..."

Finished.

Wasn't this messing with people's minds?

Wu Bin certainly knew about the No Name Restaurant. The dishes there were extremely expensive. Going there for dinner, even if you were thrifty, would cost two or three hundred per person.

Not to mention much, eating once a month, even ordinary companies couldn't stand it!

Wu Bin felt that he couldn't talk anymore, he had to change his thinking.

He had to talk to the honest little brother in front of him about ideals.

Wu Bin coughed lightly, "Hey, I think people can't just satisfy their appetites. Shouldn't they also have some spiritual pursuits?"

Hao Qiong nodded sharply: "Yes, I was just about to say that!"

"We can play games at will in our company, the computers are all top-notch, and they're dual-screen."

"There is a mandatory reimbursement quota every month, and it can also be used to recharge the game."

"And..."

Wu Bin quickly raised his hand to stop Hao Qiong.

"Okay, okay, I know your company's benefits are good."

"But you have to think about your career development plan?"

"Tengda has a lot of talent, and there are many people waiting to be promoted to lead planner. It's too difficult for you to climb up!"

Hao Qiong looked puzzled: "It's okay."

"The company will regularly arrange outstanding employees to explore other business areas."

"The current lead planner at Tengda went from doing odd jobs to being the lead planner in just over seven months."

"I think if I perform better, it should be soon."

Wu Bin: "..."

He couldn't talk anymore, he couldn't talk anymore!

It was okay not to talk about benefits. After talking about all these benefits, the budget would have to be close to 20,000 yuan a month.

With the kind of treatment Hao Qiong could enjoy at Tengda, even if he gave him 20,000 yuan a month, he might not be willing to come!

After thinking it over, Wu Bin could only grit his teeth and offer a bloody price.

"Let me just say it! If you come to our company, I'll give you a salary of 22,000 yuan a month, how about it!"

Wu Bin looked at Hao Qiong.

Hao Qiong looked at Wu Bin.

They were speechless to each other.

After a long time, Hao Qiong scratched his head: "No, are you guys poaching people with a pay cut?"

Wu Bin: "?"

His whole body froze.

Poaching people with a pay cut???

Wu Bin felt very confused: "That's not right, this money is already higher than your salary plus bonus, even if you add the cost of benefits, it's almost enough."

Hao Qiong was speechless: "It's not as high as my bonus."

Wu Bin's head was spinning: "Didn't you say your bonus was over eight thousand?"

Hao Qiong: "I just said the bonus was higher than eight thousand, I didn't say how much higher, wasn't I taking care of your feelings?"

Wu Bin: "..."

Damn it, taking care of my feelings!

Wu Bin sighed silently, looking at Hao Qiong: "Brother, if you really want to take care of my feelings, tell me the truth, how much is your bonus?"

Hao Qiong: "Over ten thousand, maybe."

Wu Bin: "...Brother, can you be more accurate, so I can give up. Over ten thousand how much?"

Hao Qiong: "Over ten thousand...double?"

Wu Bin's face darkened, feeling that his intelligence had been insulted: "...Brother, do you think I'm stupid?"

"Your game only has a net monthly income of four or five million, right? If you take a bonus of 20,000 yuan, then this project would have to issue at least one million in bonuses a month?"

Hao Qiong nodded: "Yes."

Wu Bin felt even more outrageous: "One-fifth of the monthly income is used to issue bonuses???"

Hao Qiong shook his head: "It's not calculated that way."

"Our bonuses are not based on profit, they are based on reputation."

"Our game's reputation is currently A, and we will issue bonuses every month according to one-tenth of the total investment in the game, continuously for six months."

"Our game cost a total of ten million including R&D and promotion, so we issue bonuses every month according to one-tenth of that amount."

Wu Bin wondered if he had heard wrong: "What if the game doesn't make money?"

Hao Qiong wondered: "Why are you more honest than me? I said it's based on reputation, whether you make money or not, it's issued according to this."

Wu Bin was silent for a long time, and said with emotion: "Hey, you people in the game department really earn a lot, I really envy you."

Hao Qiong shook his head: "No, our company's personnel, administration, finance...they all earn a lot. My salary in our company...is just a normal level."

Wu Bin: "..."

"Brother, is your company still hiring?"

"If I submit a resume, where should I submit it?"

Hao Qiong spread his hands: "I'm not too sure about that. It is said that employees will be recruited through exams in the future. I don't know what the exam is about. Internal recommendations are no longer useful now."

"Hey, that's not right, aren't you going to poach me?"

Hao Qiong suddenly realized that the roles of the two people seemed to have been reversed.

Wu Bin clasped his fist: "Farewell!"

He turned and left.

Hao Qiong looked at Wu Bin's departing figure, silently took a sip of coffee, and wondered in his heart.

Are today's HR people so unprofessional?