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Talent shortage in China
By Liu Jie (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-19 10:14 Angie Eagan admits she is good at solving problems, and as the general manager with the headhunting firm Hudson Shanghai she is helping multinational companies in China find the talent they need - a task that she also admits isn't always easy. Hudson is a worldwide provider of permanent recruitment, contract professionals and talent management solutions worldwide. With more multinational companies establishing and expanding their presence and more Chinese companies emerging, finding the right people to fill the right positions, especially at the leadership positions, is a challenge for any firm, according to Eagan, who has 20 years of experience in the field and has worked for 12 years in China. Talent shortage
"Multinational companies' (MNCs) expectations for the capability of their local staffers are much higher," says Eagan. "And many of them who have to localize their human resources management find getting the right people is not easy. Getting capable leaders is even more difficult." Her conclusions come from study and research by Hudson, meanwhile, a series of surveys from other firms confirm the findings. A survey by the US-based management consulting firm Hay's found that finding the right people for leadership positions is the No 1 challenge for MNCs headquartered in Shanghai. It also conducted a survey on the Fortune Top 500 Companies, and 35 percent of the respondents said they believed recruiting and retaining capable senior executives with a global view and local knowledge is the toughest challenge. Eagan cites an example. A senior executive whose company was a newcomer to China told her that his company's job description is one level, but he has to hire people one level down and pay them two levels up. That is because he cannot find people meeting his demands but must also have somebody to support the group's establishment and expansion here. "This is the talent shortage in China. It's truly a candidates' market right now," says Eagan. Faced with the challenge, companies have shifted from being willing to continually hire to caring more about how retaining and training their employees. Eagan specifically mentions the talent shortage in the middle and senior levels. She says there is a lot of stress on executives for several reasons. One is that many managers are filling positions for which they are not trained, experienced or capable. Second, companies are often growing quickly in China and even if some leaders are capable, their duties expand with the growth. If the company has trouble finding filling new positions, the managers end up doing two, or even three, jobs. According to Eagan, people that MNCs need most are those who can meet with their levels and who will be leading their local companies within five to 10 years. When a MNC wants to build its business in China, what it is really looking for are potential leaders, who learn the company's business, and culture and are able to teach other people. "Those are the most difficult people to find right now, what we called like the second-line managers," Eagan says. (For more biz stories, please visit Industries)
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