Grooming includes overseas postings, executive mentors
Having sent its first Thai employee to an overseas job posting last year, AIA Thailand, the country's largest life insurer, is getting bolder and more regionally focused in its recruitment and talent-development efforts.
The vice president and chief human-resources officer of the Thailand unit of American International Assurance, Kanitha Hongsaprabhas, said the company had joined the AIA Group's Management Associate (MA) Programme last year, when it selected a member of its staff, an actuary, to take part in the talent-grooming project. The person has now assumed a regional responsibility at AIA's headquarters in Hong Kong.
"This is the first time for us to have a Thai take on a regional role - other than our regular exchange programme, in which we have dispatched staff for short-term overseas assignments lasting up to one year," she said.
However, from only one staff member last year, AIA Thailand is now planning to have 10 of its staff join the regional MA this year, Kanitha said. One or two of them will be chosen from its existing staff, while another 8 or 9 will be newly-recruited.
At the same time, in a bid to groom its own talent to become candidates for the AIA Group's MA programme in the future, AIA Thailand plans to begin a local MA programme this year. It is currently selecting five candidates, each with two to five years' work experience - compared to five to 10 years' experience in the case of the AIA Group's programme.
Qualifications for both the local and regional programmes are the same: candidates should have a master's degree in business administration or a related field from a leading university in Thailand or overseas, have exceptional analytical skills, excellent command of spoken and written English and be able to adapt to a fast-paced environment and be highly mobile, or able to accept an overseas posting.
Applications for both local and regional programmes closed last week.
Kanitha said the five people recruited to join AIA Thailand's 24-month MA programme would have three rotations of eight months each. These will include an overseas assignment, a special assignment involving transformation or a change, and a third posting of the candidates' own choice. Upon completion of AIA Thailand's MA programme, the candidates will be selected to take part in AIA Group's MA programme, involving 3 or 4 rotations during an 18-month course.
These talented individuals will be given fast-track career development, local and overseas assignments and exposure to senior executives, who will become their mentors.
"How fast they grow will depend on each person," Kanitha said. "[Generally,] for those who pass the regional programme, after 10 years they can potentially become an assistant vice president," she said.
Kanitha said AIA had been thinking of a timescale of about 10 years when initiating the talent scouting and grooming projects, rather than addressing any immediate need. The company has a low staff turnover rate of only 3 per cent, compared to 14 or 15 per cent in the local market. A recent survey by recruitment firm Quality Profiles had also seen AIA declared an "employer of choice", she said.
Kanitha said the wish for AIA Thailand to have a Thai chief executive for the first time in its 70-year history had been bolstered by the local and regional MA programmes. However, the objective of the programmes is to develop a new generation of leaders for AIA who can work in any country, and are not limited to Thailand alone.