China still wants you

Vacancies exist
But despite this tighter, tougher jobs market, Hays and other recruitment agencies have standing vacancies for a range of jobs.
So, what sorts of skills and professions are actually in demand?
"I think if you went back five years, the traditional manufacturing and engineering disciplines were the biggest areas of demand for foreign talent in China," he says. "I think that's shifting more to the service industries, like banking or finance. The demand will definitely grow in the next five years. The pharmaceutical industry is booming at the moment, and I think that will continue. Some of the really technical disciplines, like IT, I see a lot of growth in.
"There are lots of vacancies and not enough candidates to fill them."
He urges job seekers to do their research before coming to China and find out whether their skills and experience are actually in demand.
Russian-born Alex Farfurnik, chief technical officer for Xiabo Network Technology, says his company has plenty of jobs going.
Down at the Beijing jobs fair, he speaks with plenty of job seekers. It's not finding people that presents a challenge, he says, it's finding the right people.
"It's hard to get good technology people anywhere in the world," he says. "I want as many as I can get."
In Shanghai, Yang Xiong, director of the Youth Research Center at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, says there is currently a massive skills shortage in the finance sector.
"We have done a survey on the current number of qualified people in finance, and we found the reserve (surplus to requirements) in this field is less than 1 percent, which is really a problem for us," Yang says.
Lance at Hays puts the talent shortage down to China facing stiff competition with other Asian financial and innovation hubs such as Singapore.
That current talent tussle has perks for the job seeker.
"If you find a senior biologist with pharmaceutical experience, there are probably five or six companies that would immediately be interested in interviewing or hiring that person," Lance says. "If you were looking at an industry that is growing or expanding and the competition at the top is really tough, then you do have the flexibility to sort of name your price.
"If you're looking at general manager or vice-president or even up to CEO, packages of 3 million, 4 million, 5 million yuan and above (per annum) are possible. If you're looking at the middle ranks where you maybe have a technical background and management function, anywhere from 1 million yuan to 2.5 million yuan a year is pretty achievable."
Jeff Jolly, an academic, says it is possible for foreigners to arrive in China and gradually work their way into lucrative positions. Provided to China Daily |
Former California-based professor Jeff Jolly, 42, says it is possible for foreigners to arrive in China and gradually work their way into lucrative positions.
In 2010, his first year as a professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, Jolly says he was paid about 72,000 yuan a year.
He now has a second job as a consultant for a company that helps Chinese students prepare applications for American universities, and he earns up to 1 million yuan a year.
"If someone comes here and they can bear with the first year of having a small salary, I think it pays off," he says. "I make somewhere between 600,000 and 1 million yuan a year. That's not uncommon. Some of the younger teachers at the other universities have snagged similar (consultancy) gigs as well. They are on about 400,000 to 800,000 yuan per year. It really takes staying here for a year, getting to know people, making connections. The Chinese call it guanxi. It's not who you are, it's who you know."
At the jobs fair, Caesar agrees. Despite having a well-paid job in Guangzhou - and two possible offers on the table in Beijing - he says it took time to establish himself in China professionally.
"It's not easy to get a job here at first," he says. "When I came to Beijing three years ago, I didn't find a job in the beginning. But there are opportunities here."
Lulu Zhou, associate director for the Beijing branch of recruitment company Robert Walters, says there's no simple way to quantify whether the opportunities for foreigners are up or down.
"It all depends on the industry and role," she says. While Chinese returnees and locals now fill most positions, she says there is still opportunity in roles that require very specific skill sets - particularly in architecture and design - and in senior management type roles, although even here demand for foreigners is in decline because of the extra cost factor and the closing gap between local and foreign skill sets.
"When we talk about senior roles, executive positions, about 40 percent (of candidates placed) are foreigners and about 60 percent Chinese," she says.
Zhou says senior hires require an open mindset and a willingness to learn about Chinese business culture, but she doesn't believe Mandarin is a prerequisite for top positions.
"Language would be a plus, but for senior positions, it's not compulsory," she says.
The makeup of biotechnology firm Novozymes' workforce in China speaks of the tough competition for foreigners in a relatively small number of positions.
Michael Christiansen, Asia-Pacific regional president for the Danish company, says they predominately hire Chinese staff for their local operations.
"Out of 1,100 to 1,200 employees, we have maybe 10 to 15 who are not Chinese," he says.
Christiansen says this has less to do with any trend away from hiring foreign talent for the company's Chinese operations, and more to do with the growing pool of qualified local talent available due to greater mobility in the workforce.
However, Christiansen concedes foreigners are often desired candidates for senior roles that require a "global outlook", and for a few of the specialist scientific positions.
Even here though, the competition is fierce.
"There is also a lot of availability of non-Chinese who have been in the market (in China) for some time," he says.
He cautioned job seekers coming straight from Europe to make sure they tick certain boxes first.
"They should be able to speak Mandarin and have very good cultural skills," he says. "Today, if they haven't been here before and they expect to start the job and learn the language, I think it will be really difficult."
Despite the increasing emphasis being placed on language skills, Mundula from JAC Recruitment warns foreign job seekers should not make the mistake of thinking that Mandarin is all they need to get ahead in China. In a big shift from a decade ago job-specific qualifications and experience are now equally a must.
"Ten years ago, just the Chinese language was a requirement (to get a job)," she says. "Now, companies don't just require the language skills. They want technical skills, too. If it's a marketing position, they want you to have a marketing background."
While state-owned Chinese companies are often keen to employ foreign talent, the number of positions is again often limited.
Wang Gang, deputy director of human resources for car producer BAIC International Development, says his company urgently needs the right people to help boost overseas sales.
"As two of our main focuses now are selling cars in overseas markets and building factories in foreign countries, we need overseas talents who are familiar with the local market," Wang says.
By the end of the year, the company hopes to have hired an additional five "foreign talents" to work in a range of roles including human resources, marketing and after-sales services.
For management-level positions, Wang says BAIC will consider offering packages that include health coverage for dependents, a car and accommodation, and help covering children's education.
Zhou of Robert Walters says in recent years the obscenely generous expatriate packages that used to be par for the course are fast disappearing, with foreigners now signing contracts much more in line with local pay and conditions. Interestingly, this hasn't necessarily decreased China's desirability.
Alistair Michie, who sits on the Foreign Experts Advisory Committee for the government's State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, agrees the expatriate package bubble has burst.
But he says China's developing and changing economy presents a new set of "phenomenal" opportunities for foreigners - particularly in the services sector - even as the once booming demand for engineering and scientific backgrounds levels out.
An old China hand, Michie was recently the recipient of the prestigious China Friendship Award. He, like many other experts, believes there is an impending jobs boom for foreigners in Chinese companies as they increasingly go global and look to bring aboard more local expertise for their new markets.
"What is needed now, critically, is foreign expertise to advance the service sector," he says. "If you look at the US or most of the European countries, the service sector accounts for around the high 70s (as a percentage) of the economy. If you look at China, it's at 43 percent. It's an area where I think there is a fantastic opportunity for foreign people to come in."
The State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs has run 24 job fairs for foreigners since 2005.
A spokeswoman for the organization concedes it is currently harder for foreigners to secure work in China. But just because getting a job is tougher, doesn't mean it is impossible, or that the jobs aren't there.
"Currently we (China) need experts in areas like steel making and biochemistry, area managers, sales people, teachers, designers, IT engineers, professional managers, consultants, translators and electrical engineers," she says.
Of the 3,000 or so foreigners who have attended one of the organization's job fairs this year, she says anecdotally, 85 percent will end up with some form of employment in China.
A week after the jobs fair in Beijing, Garcia says he thinks he might be one of them.
"I've almost got a job with a company I met there," he says. "They got in touch two days after the fair. I went for some interviews, and I think it's going to be OK."
"I think it's a long process getting a job here now. It's not as easy as before and you really have to look at every opportunity to make connections and meet people, but you can make it."
Contact the writers through josephcatanzaro@chinadaily.com.cn.
(China Daily European Weekly 12/13/2013 page8)
Today's Top News
- Unified national market a new growth launchpad
- US deal a structural challenge for Japan
- Industrial prowess of China a subject of serious study
- US new tariffs 'unfair': Experts
- NDRC recalibrating steps to drive growth, boost demand
- Wartime hero's legacy fortifies Sino-UK bond