Marco Hoekstra currently is Vice President for Talent&Pro in Shanghai. He previously worked in the banking and insurance industry and for Talent&Pro in the Netherlands. He is specialized in international business development and networking. He has given seminars on expanding your network and also writes a blog.

1. How do online networks like Linkedin work for you?
For now I use them as an interactive relationship database, if one of my contacts who I am connected with changes his/her job I can immediately see so we do not lose sight from each other. At the same time if something is changing in my situation, I can inform everybody just by changing my own profile. By working with these tools I can manage my contacts more effective.

2. You are currenly located in Shanghai and have spent much time in countries like England, Germany and Denmark for business development. How do you deal with different cultures in networking? Do you adapt your style for instance?
Since our business model is a modern one I can usually use the same networking approach everywhere and try to build up trust by being personal and open. Although there are small differences of course; in the UK everybody instantly starts calling each others first name, this gives the impression that they are best friends with you, but in reality it will take time for you to built up a good relationship. In Germany the discussions usually start over business issues, ones you have showed there is enough business connection, they are more open to discuss private matters. The Danish are even more direct than the Dutch and that makes the early stage of networking quite easily, it does take time though for a foreigner to convince the Danish that they have a good idea. In China… bring a lot of business cards, give them with 2 hands and examine the one you received carefully. Make sure your title is from the same level as that of the people you want to build up a relationship with.

3. Having spent quite some time in Asia, in what way do you feel the West can complement Asia and the other way around?
We cannot generalize Asia, it is even very difficult to generalize “the Chinese”, I even wonder if “the Chinese” exists. You see that the West have already been involved in infrastructure, transport, trade, service industry and high tech, they will be able to add value on these fields for the years to come. Looking at China, things like safety, energy and environment will stay/be hot issues. But the energy, the drive and adaptability of many people in China is much higher than in the West, so this is something the West can take as example. Sometimes I feel that many people in the West have it too well, this makes them inflexible and scared. On top of this, many Chinese have settled themselves outside of China in the past. With all the developments, you see many returnees that bring in their own experiences from all over the globe.

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