China’s skills crisis

April 29, 2008 at 2:36 pm · Filed under overseas, talent, expats, graduates, china, recruitment

American-born Thomas Kwan’s career has taken off since he moved to China to work as the country manager for a U.S. health products company.

“If I’d stayed in the U.S. I wouldn’t have had the same opportunity for advancement,” said trilingual Kwan, 46, who was brought up in a Cantonese-speaking household in Virginia and also speaks fluent Mandarin and of course English.

“The U.S. is still a Caucasian-dominated society,” added Kwan, who now lives in Shanghai.

China’s rapidly expanding economy has created a seemingly insatiable appetite for Chinese-speaking managers. Read the rest of this entry »

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Firms cautious about taking on new staff

April 25, 2008 at 12:33 am · Filed under china, recruitment

The hiring intentions of multinational corporations is at a four-year low due to employers’ cautious attitude toward the macro-economic environment, according to a new human resources report.

The report, released by Hudson Recruitment, surveyed 718 multinational company executives on the Chinese mainland, most of them based in Shanghai, about their hiring intentions in the next quarter and their outlook on Chinese economy.

Employers’ hiring expectations maintained a downward trend with only 52 percent of companies saying they planned to increase their personnel head count over the next three months, compared with 61 percent for the same period last year. Read the rest of this entry »

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Confronting the Talent Crunch 2008

April 24, 2008 at 6:18 pm · Filed under talent, hong kong, recruitment

61% of Employers in Hong Kong Struggling to Find Qualified Job Candidates

Manpower Hong Kong released today the results of its third annual talent shortage survey, revealing that 61 percent of employers in Hong Kong are finding it more difficult to fill jobs. The top three candidates most in demand are: Sales Representatives, Management/Executives and Accounting and Finance Staff. As a follow-up to its 2007 and 2006 surveys, Manpower Inc. surveyed nearly

43,000 employers across 32 countries and territories including 625 employers as part of the third survey in Hong Kong, to determine which positions employers are having difficulty filling this year due to lack of available talent. Globally, the survey found that 31 percent of employers worldwide are finding it more difficult to fill jobs. Read the rest of this entry »

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Bid to attract foreign students gears up

April 24, 2008 at 4:28 pm · Filed under tianjin, xi'an, scholarship, wuhan, study, students, expats, china

The country is pushing ahead in its efforts to become a leading destination for international students, riding on the wave of a growing number of foreigners coming to study in recent years.

This year alone, the authorities will increase the amount of scholarships for foreign students - a group that grows by 3,000 people every year - to attract more of those coming for advanced degrees and study, China Daily learned from the Ministry of Education in a recent interview.

The government has earmarked 500 million yuan ($71 million) for the scholarships this year, up 40 percent from that of last year. Read the rest of this entry »

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Graduates prefer hukou over high salary

April 24, 2008 at 3:47 pm · Filed under graduates, beijing, china

In a survey by China Youth Daily last week, 67.8 percent believe a Beijing hukou or registered permanent residence is worth at least 100,000 yuan. Some 14.6 percent thought it should be worth 200,000 yuan.

A questionnaire asked 3,000 fresh graduates if they were given the choice of an annual salary of 100,000 yuan or Beijing Hukou, most chose the latter.

The hukou system is the central government’s method of managing urban population. Registered permanent residence allows people to live, work and study in a specific city, but makes living in another city difficult. Read the rest of this entry »

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