(Minghui.org) Before I retired as an HR manager in a private enterprise, I gave a presentation to peers in other companies. By focusing on implementing corporate culture in my job, I summarized my career. Although it was a routine review for me, the HR management in other companies said they liked it.
The HR manager at an overseas firm called me and said, “The level of professionalism you reached in HR management is better than what we’ve achieved. What made you so excellent?”
I said, “Thank you for the feedback.” I thought for a while and said. “If you feel that way, I would attribute it to my spiritual belief—I tend to look at things differently.”
Over 20 years ago, I was terminated from an important position at a state-owned enterprise because I practiced Falun Dafa. One supervisor said he felt bad seeing me leave and he was worried that I might lose a lot because of my faith.
I worked for several private enterprises and there were all kinds of challenges. As long as I walk on the cultivation path, Master Li (Falun Dafa’s founder) will take care of me and there will be no difficulties that I can’t overcome. Since my family was broken in the persecution, I needed to raise my child and give her a good education. I needed an appropriate title and benefits that matched my qualifications.
There was a turning point in 2010. I applied for a job at a private enterprise, a well-known company in my area. The owner had a good reputation and the corporate culture was decent. It was a good opportunity for me in terms of salary, benefits, and career development. During the interview, I presented my experience with confidence and professionalism. The manager liked me very much and hired me, even though I exceeded the age limit and my salary request was relatively high.
I’d like to tell you how I used Falun Dafa’s principles to handle challenges I encountered on the job.
Falun Dafa Gave Me Wisdom
Shortly after I was hired, I was placed in charge of recruiting, which was urgent and important for our company. The salaries of junior employees were relatively low, but the expectations were high. That was why it was difficult to recruit young talent. I first prepared myself, in order to present a professional image. After giving an honest introduction of our company including the pros and cons, I asked them to evaluate the situation and make the right decision. It turned out this was very important.
Having practiced Falun Dafa for many years, plus my experience with talent identification and acquisition, I was able to quickly hire many good candidates. Managers from the various departments said the new employees were better after I was placed in charge of recruiting. For example, one candidate just had an interview with the general manager of a listed company before he talked with us. Impressed by my professional image, professional skills, and confidence, he dropped the other company despite its good reputation and even better benefits to join us as a department manager.
Because everything went so smoothly, my supervisor and peers agreed it was not a result of pure luck. Rather, my overall capabilities played a critical role. I knew this was not accidental and these new employees came because I’m a Falun Dafa practitioner and their knowing side wanted me to clarify the facts about the persecution.
Training is another important component of the company, and we needed to improve the employees’ quality and skills to have an outstanding workforce. Not long after I joined the company, there was an internal recruitment for someone to lead the training team. Although I had no prior training experience, I prepared well, repeatedly rehearsed, and excelled in the interviews.
Together with additional professional training and working experience, my technical skills improved over time. I developed many materials for internal employee training. By incorporating traditional Chinese culture in the training materials, I was able to help people in this society of moral decline.
Looking Within During Conflicts
As a Falun Dafa practitioner, I know our everyday jobs not only provide us with an income, but also many cultivation opportunities. Every morning as soon as I step into the office, I have to deal with all kinds of issues and some of them are challenging. But I know this happens because of my human notions, so I need to handle them as a practitioner and continually eliminate attachments.
Because the headquarters oversees the HR departments at each branch, I often interact with different branches. Once I asked Sun, head of one branch, about the annual bonus for his department. “Let’s do it the same way as last year,” he replied. I felt the situation this year was somewhat different from last year, so the previous plan may not work well. But Sun was very influential in the company, so I didn’t feel comfortable questioning him and decided to do as he asked.
After some time, Sun called me and criticized me badly over the phone. He said the bonus distribution was unfair and some employees complained to him.
“But I followed your recommendation,” I explained.
“Do you think that was appropriate?” he yelled.
I didn’t dare argue with him over the phone, but I felt he was being unfair. I thought, “How come you made a mistake, shirked your responsibility and treated me as a scapegoat?” Tears rolled down my face.
Where did I go wrong? When everyone went out to lunch, I sat in the office and thought about it. I realized I was selfish. Throughout the bonus distribution process, I just wanted to shirk responsibility and did not plan things well to benefit the company and employees. This was inappropriate and I did many things in the process to avoid this. So there was nothing wrong with Sun criticizing me.
I no longer felt angry or resentful, just guilty. In an email to Sun that afternoon, I sincerely apologized for my mistake and suggested that he deduct my bonus. He didn’t expect me to react this way. When we met in person, I again explained sincerely with a smile, and he was convinced that I really meant it. Although he only gave me lukewarm support in the past, Sun always warmly greeted me after that. I also responded warmly. It was interesting that a conflict made things more harmonious and I think it happened because I’m a Falun Dafa practitioner.
There were also other opportunities that involved xinxing improvement. I noticed an anonymous email in the recruiting email box. After opening it, I found it was filled with criticism and defamed me. I guessed it was from a former employee, and she must have some misunderstandings about me. But since this happened, it meant I had areas for improvement.
Looking back at my mentality in the past few weeks, I noticed the attachment of zealotry with so many positive words from my supervisor and other employees. How could I do well, if I had so so many human notions?
I wrote her a sincere email, “I have been thinking about this after receiving your email. If you hadn’t sent this, I wouldn’t have realized what I did wrong. Thank you and I want to apologize to you. Best wishes to you and your future career,” I wrote. I knew she would feel better, instead of harming herself due to resentment.
I had another setback when the company wanted to expand into a new district in late 2018. Although my past recruiting always went well, it was difficult this time. There were two reasons on the surface. One was that people in that area were not familiar with our company; another was that during the slow recruiting season at year’s end, many people want their annual bonuses and refuse to move to another department. But the new branch was ready and we needed people. So the general manager of the company criticized us in a management meeting, which had never happened before.
This feedback awakened me and made me realize that I had become arrogant and superficial because of my previous successes. Sometimes I just wanted to get the boxes checked. This is a serious issue. So I calmed down and took each step of the recruitment process seriously. A miracle happened and good candidates were lined up, ready to join our company. All of the positions were filled before the branch opening and once again I witnessed the power of looking within as a Dafa practitioner.
The general manager of the company praised us and the team is still running well. The company leadership also praised the quality of the workforce at that branch.
A Practitioner’s Kindness
Employee relations are an important part of HR’s responsibility, and they reflects the company’s corporate culture. This is also an area where I do well because my peace and kindness from practicing Falun Dafa encourages employees to trust me. They often privately tell me about their challenges at work and at home. A few words can help solve their problems. I never thought about this before. When they thank me I tell people, “This is because Falun Dafa gave me wisdom.”
Quan was a new employee who was open-minded and friendly. She told me some of her problems: Her husband was extreme and narrow-minded, and her daughter was willful. Her mother-in-law was selfish, and her cousin was narcissistic and eccentric. She felt as if she was living in hell. After listening to her complaints, I said gently, “Have you thought about where you could do things differently?”
She looked at me in surprise and her eyes were wide open. I explained to her in detail how such relationships were handled in traditional Chinese culture, ranging from being a wife, a mother, and a daughter-in-law. I suggested that she start by improving herself, and the situation would change and become positive.
After several conversations, she understood, stopped complaining, and began to change herself. Gradually the situation improved and the relationships became harmonious. Everyone in the family liked her: her husband loved her very much, her daughter listened to what she said, and her mother-in-law also cared about her. Her husband joked that he needed to invite me for a meal since I had changed his once stubborn wife into a different person. Quan liked the USB drive I gave her with information about Falun Dafa and said she would share it with family members.
An employee in the investment department recently decided to resign. It would be the second time she’d left the company. Many people knew her abilities and she left the first time when she was offered a better opportunity. When the department expanded later, I talked to the department director and recommended her, and she also wanted to come back. But after working here for a while, her manager found that her personality did not fit the position well and was disappointed. Because of these conflicts, she said she would resign again.
The last step of resignation was a review with the HR manager. When she sat in front of me with the expression of indifference and helplessness, I said to her gently, “Fang, I have to apologize to you. If I didn’t bring you in the second time, you wouldn’t have to go through this.” She was surprised. She did not show her emotions, but her eyes were wet and she said, “I did not know you would say this. Thank you.” We then chatted about karmic relationships, her future career planning, and her children’s education.
I also talked about Falun Dafa. In the end, she left with a Falun Dafa amulet. I knew she worked for this company so that she could hear the facts about Falun Dafa.
Discussions With the Company Owner
The company owner liked me and promoted me several times, but I knew that I also needed to tell him the facts about Dafa.
So I set up a meeting with him and frankly said, “I was fired by my previous employer because I practice Falun Dafa. I’m not sure if you know this. If this causes a problem for the company, I can resign.”
He smiled and said, “I know that you are a Falun Dafa practitioner (I told the hiring manager about Falun Dafa during my interview). That’s your personal choice and it has nothing to do with work.”
He told me that he had bought banned books when he traveled in Hong Kong. The police followed him and he was repeatedly summoned to the police station for interrogation. He had to use his connections to get them to stop. He disliked the corrupt CCP officials. He accepted the Falun Dafa materials I brought and said he would read them. The conversation went well and lasted nearly two hours.
One day in 2020, I heard that he was hoping his daughter could learn some art skills. My daughter happened to be in that major and she studied at a renowned college. So during the semester break, I asked my daughter to evaluate the child and give her some tips. When he met my daughter for the first time, the owner was surprised because he said he couldn’t imagine that in this morally degenerate world, a single mother could raise such a child who was so pure and had such good manners. “Even for someone who does not know Falun Dafa, just looking at your daughter, one would know that Falun Dafa is righteous,” he said.
When I bid farewell upon my retirement, the company owner said earnestly, “Please keep in touch. When your daughter comes back to visit you (my daughter was studying overseas at the time), please do let me know. We can meet so that the children can know each other,” he said. “Even if our generation is gone, the future generation can still be good friends.”
The owner usually treats everyone with an attitude of superiority. He said I am the only person he wants to interact with in the future and extend the friendship to the next generation. I know this is because he accepts Falun Dafa and Dafa practitioners.
Epilogue
After I retired, I met a colleague who used to work for my previous employer, the state-owned enterprise. He said a coworker who was at a lower level than me also retired recently. That person’s pension was several times higher than mine because private enterprises are known for their low pensions.
I was not disturbed by this. I suffered a lot in the past 20 plus years, but I have no regrets. What Falun Dafa has given me is not something money can buy. My career just ended, but it just means that a new chapter of my life has started as a Falun Dafa practitioner. I will do better on the remaining path.
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