How CCTV Became a Talent Hub

Dictated by Yang Weiguang, former CCTV president

Collated by Liu Shiying

From the 1950s to 1980s,large numbers of Chinese journalists were mainly concentrated in the Xinhua News Agency and the People’s Daily,and famous broadcasters in China National Radio, while CCTV was faced with a talent shortage.

Short on Talent, Rich in Resourcefulness

The serious talent shortage CCTV was staring in the face in the 1990s is unimaginable to most.When a new program named Oriental Horizon was launched in 1993, only seven or eight crew members were transferred to the new team. Generally, a one-hour program requires more than 100 workers. Plus, Oriental Horizon was still an avant-garde program broadcast in the wee morning hours whose fate was hanging in the balance, which was not so attractive to established talent,so no one was willing to leave the security their department offered for the bold adventure into the unknown. The top priority was to find suitable talent.

Nowadays recruitment is a cinch, but it was certainly tough back then. CCTV personnel recruited primarily through three channels, which were: enlisting university graduates to fill quotas,transferring a few individuals from other units, and accepting veteran soldiers to the team. Even so, talent was still very small in number. There were hundreds of vacant positions waiting to be filled. Depending solely on this recruitment method to save our skin was like rubbing the magic lamp from the story of The Arabian Nights and wishing for a miraculous rescue from the genie.We had to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and find another way out of this mess.

First of all, we conjured up a new way of recruitment that worked like a charm,namely, soliciting referrals from classmates or friends. For example, Shi Jian (the executive producer of Oriental Horizon)and Cui Yongyuan were college classmates, so he invited Cui Yongyuan to help; Bai Yansong was Cui Yongyuan’s fellow alumnus of the same school, so Cui Yongyuan recommended Bai Yansong to Shi Jian.

中央電視臺總部大樓CCTV Headquarters

央視:從人才荒到人才灣

口述/楊偉光
整理/劉世英

20世紀50年代到80年代，中國新聞界的名記者主要集中在新華社、人民日報社，名播音員、播音主持主要在中央人民廣播電臺。中央電視臺一直面臨人才困局。

人才饑荒

你怎么也想象不出，20世紀90年代，央視曾面臨過怎樣的人才困境。

1993年，我們創辦《東方時空》時，臺里抽調到欄目組的人只有七八個。當時，一個欄目，尤其是一個時長達一小時的欄目，需要100多人。而且，當時《東方時空》還是一檔生死未卜的早間欄目，對人才并沒有多少吸引力，沒人愿意離開原來穩定的部門，來這個欄目。當務之急是尋找人才。

現在招人很簡單，當時卻很難。中央電視臺人員補充，只有上級下達大學畢業生指標和個別外單位外調、復員軍人的接納等渠道，人數很少。欄目組面臨上百人空缺，想通過電視臺招聘方式招進來，近似于天方夜譚。我們不得不另尋出路。

首先，我們想到人招人的方式，即依靠同學或朋友介紹吸納新成員。如時間（《東方時空》總制片人）與崔永元是大學同學，時間就把崔永元拉過來幫忙；白巖松是崔永元師弟，崔永元又把白巖松介紹給時間。

Equal Opportunity Employment

The open recruitment policy in 1993 was: no work permit,professional evaluation or medical insurance provided; 280 yuan total salary each month; no help with party membership and no housing subsidies.

The minimum academic certificate required was a college degree, but you can bet that we fought tooth and nail to recruit master’s or doctoral degree holders to the crew.

The recruitment policy was so unattractive that it was almost like we were not recruiting journalists and editors but maids and janitors. Now that we were looking for talent,we should provide them with the treatment they deserved.Recruited employees should enjoy the same welfare as the longstanding employees did in other departments.

We kept striving for a better recruitment policy. Upon the first batch of recruitees passing the probationary period, CCTV issued a document, making it clear that the employees had the same rights and benefits as the regular employees in terms of study,work, benefits and vacation time.It also stipulated that they could be appointed to any post below middle management.

This not only offered immediate job opportunities for recruitees, but also ensured that they had the same development possibilities as regular employees.A few years later, many of these young journalists were promoted to managerial positions. Ni Ping,Wang Wenhua and Chen Duo obtained their professional titles by virtue of the special talent standard policy in the station.Zhao An, Zhang Ziyang, Yang Lan,and Ju Ping were all promoted accordingly.

Bringing Out the Best in the Best

Besides giving them fair and equitable treatment, it was necessary to avoid misusing their talents and to put them in the best possible position to succeed.

One of such examples is that Jing Yidan did not become a department head, but later became a famous host via Focus Interview and Oriental Horizon.It’s probably easier to find a department director than a popular host.

After joining in Oriental Horizon, Bai Yansong was enthusiastic about his work and tried his hand at being an editor and an anchorman, which actually not only made great contributions to Oriental Horizon , but also led to his quick growth into a famous host.

Before joining the CCTV team,Shui Junyi was an editor of the International Department of the Xinhua News Agency. Because of his experience as a foreign correspondent and excellent spoken English, along with his positive image, he was allowed to host foreign reports in CCTV,and has since become a host of considerable influence worldwide.

Generally, a man’s success depends largely on his footing. A good leader should not only have the sensitivity to discover talent,but also create an environment for them to bring out their intellect,which is the best treatment for talent and the greatest support that could be given.

Today, CCTV has gone from talent crunch to talent boom.

(From My CCTV Days:Interview with CCTV President Yang Weiguang, New Star Publishing House. Translation:Qing Run)

平等用人

1993年公開招聘的政策是：不發工作證、不能評職稱、沒有醫療保險；月薪280元；不能入黨，不能享受福利分房。

我們需要的最低學歷是本科，盡可能招碩士生和博士生。這個方案哪是招聘記者、編輯，是在找清潔工嘛。既然招的是人才，那就應該給人才應有的待遇，招聘的職工和正式職工都是本臺職工，只是用工制度不同，他們的待遇不應低于本臺原正式職工。

我們一直在爭取更好的招聘政策。第一批招聘人員試用期滿的那天，臺里下發了一個文件，明確了聘用人員具有與正式職工一樣的學習、工作、福利、休假等權益。其中還規定，聘用人員可以被聘擔任中層以下職務。

這不僅對招聘員工提供了眼前的工作機會，還保障了他們和正式員工一樣的發展空間。幾年后，這些年輕人中，有不少走上了管理崗位。倪萍、汪文華、陳鐸的高級職稱，都是臺里按照特殊人才標準評定的。趙安、張子揚、楊瀾、鞠萍等，也都得到了相應的提拔。

因材用人

對待人才，除了要給予他們應有的待遇，還要避免大材小用，把人才放在最合適的崗位上。

敬一丹沒當部門主任，后來成了名主持，就是其中一例。我覺得找一個部門主任容易，找一個名主持人難。

白巖松到《東方時空》后，從編輯走向主持，對工作充滿熱情，不僅為《東方時空》等節目的成功立下汗馬功勞，還迅速成長為知名主持人。

水均益來中央電視臺前是新華社國際部的編輯，但他英語口語好，當過駐外記者，加之良好的氣質，適合當涉外報道的主持，到中央電視臺后沒多久就火了。

一個人能取得什么成績，往往取決于他站在什么位置。一個領導者，除了要有發掘人才的敏銳性，還要根據人才的優勢，為他打造一個能讓他充分發揮聰明才智的舞臺。這才是給予人才的最好待遇和對人才最大的提攜。

如今，央視已經從當初的人才荒發展成人才輩出的人才灣了。