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Reflecting on AAPI Heritage Month

Written by HRCap, Inc.

Wednesday, June 1, 2022



Need for Greater AAPI Representation


According to the 2018 Ascend study of 12,275,798 professionals, people of Asian descent represent 13% of the U.S. professional workforce. However, of 904,220 executive roles, Asian professionals represented only 6%, contrasted with an overwhelming 85% of White professionals.


This is mainly because many of these AAPI professionals are not promoted to executive roles because of a combination of cultural stigma and bias. Despite the cultural challenges, few AAPI leaders have broken the cultural stigma by becoming CEOs and have paved the way for the next generation.


Therefore, HRCap believes it is important to acknowledge and recognize notable AAPI leaders and organizations that have made a positive impact in their respective communities. And by doing so, we hope to encourage the future generation of AAPI leaders about what their predecessors have done in their respective fields and show them what they can possibly achieve in the future.


Over the course of the month of May, we have celebrated the following influential AAPI leaders:



Highlighting HRCap's Iconic CEO


We would also like to proudly announce that our HRCap Founder, CEO and President, Andrew Sungsoo Kim, has been recognized as one of the 2022 NJBIZ ICON Honorary Award winners. He has received this recognition due to his legendary HR expertise, continued success within the global business, and contribution to our Asian American community. With over 40 years of HR expertise, Andrew has already been an iconic business leader, paving the way for Asian-Americans in their journey toward localization and globalization. Andrew has been instrumental in driving up the economy with business prosperity, developing multicultural leaders, and allowing diverse Asian-American representation.


Andrew is a legendary recruiting veteran in the Korean-American community. Before coming to America, Andrew worked at LG Electronics back in South Korea, specializing in recruiting and organizational development. Selected for fast-track leadership, he was promoted in 1995 to lead the recruiting and localization efforts at the LG Electronics North America office in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. He excelled in identifying strengths in people and building sustainable talent strategies. Instead of taking the stable promotion by returning to South Korea, he resigned and pioneered the premium headhunting service for the niche Korean-American community -- HRCap.


Andrew founded HRCap in N.J. in 2000 and has since been connecting talented candidates with successful organizations ever since. Under his leadership, HRCap has created and placed 5,000+ unique jobs in the state of N.J. alone and even raised the quality of skilled talent in N.J. by relocating top leaders from out-of-state to serve at our 200+ client institutions in N.J. alone. Andrew provided executive coaching to C-Suite networks and advised his global clientele base on workforce challenges and business strategies. Through HRCap, he allowed for livelihoods and greater purpose to those urgently looking for a job or displaced by their long-term employers and partnered with Korean organizations to break through and scale their operations in highly unfamiliar territory here in America. Andrew served as the instrumental bridge, focused on making meaningful connections.


Andrew's continued leadership philosophy is to continuously learn, manage change, and lead as a thought partner. He continues to deepen his expertise and stay relevant by speaking as a keynote speaker and business lecturer at renowned conferences on global employment challenges, leadership talent assessment, and dynamic labor market trends. He sits on executive boards at Asian American associations and business coalitions, serves as a strategic advisor to the Korean Government, and bridges like-minded leaders together while mentoring next-generation executive leaders.



HRCap’s Ongoing Commitment to Cultural Diversity and Inclusivity


We are humbled that a pioneering Asian-American leader has officially been recognized by the mainstream N.J. market. Moving forward, HRCap hopes to continue to be an instrumental bridge and be a voice for the AAPI minority by promoting racial diversity in all facets of our business. We hope to provide more career opportunities to qualified AAPI professionals so that they can add greater value to corporations with their multicultural perspectives. We also plan to give back to our communities by volunteering and providing our services to local Asian American organizations. Not only that but we have launched our first-ever scholarship to identify and financially support AAPI student leaders.


We hope that our leadership will inspire others to take action and create more organic opportunities for greater cultural diversity and inclusivity. We believe this will encourage and empower future Asian-American leaders across the country to step in and step up to serve and lead as well.



Source: HRCap, Inc., Ascend Study, SHRM


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