Recruitment Blues & $50 Million Story

Hiring ppl in Cambodia is really frustrating...

This whole week, I've been interviewing ppl for this new business we're starting in Cambodia. It's Friday & I've not shortlisted any potential ones yet....jialat... It's hard to find good ppl becos of

1) Lack of talent & experience - wiki lists Cambodia's literacy rate at a lowly 69.4% i.e out of 1000 persons, only 694 persons can read & write.

2) Unability to sell themselves - Job interviews are basically your sales call; to sell yourself to your potential employer. If you can't sell yourself then chances of employment is slim..... If I see no passion in his answers, I rather not hire him & fire him later...

3) Priced out - When I do find some really good candidates, I can't match their existing salary...big MNCs pay their staff well and I don't really have any budget to poach ppl....

Anyways, there's this guy with a highly impressive CV - he studied in Spore, did bizad NUS, had some relevant experiences & achieved $50 million sales in his previous job...

During the interview, this dude was confident, his English was pretty fluent and his personality was quite pleasant. But his answers were too generic and vague. When probed further, this dude couldn't explain in detail his achievements... I wasn't too impressed and was having doubts about his ability....but then he did do $50 million sales.....

As the interview went on & on, his scripted & well-rehearsed answers were making me sleepy.....yada yada yada....50 million...50 million...50 million...

Then, suddenly it dawned on me....

I interrupted him and asked, "Wait, your $50 MILLION is in RIELS or US DOLLARS?"

"err.....riels....", he replied.

"Ok", I replied & smiled as I wrote a big NO on the application form.

(fyi, main currency in Cambodia is US Dollars, not the local currency, riel. The riel is only used for small purchases or small change. And the latest currency exchange rate is quoted at 1 US DOLLAR = 4,100 riels)