Recruiting in China

HONG KONG: Hiring by multinationals in major Asian markets is likely to accelerate in the fourth quarter, notably in Japan, a survey by executive recruitment firm Hudson shows.

Sixty-five per cent of managers at multinationals in Japan said they expected to increase recruitment in the fourth quarter, according to the survey released on Thursday, up from 60 per cent in a survey taken three months earlier.

In China, 64 per cent of respondents plan to increase headcount this quarter, up from 60 per cent in the previous quarter; in Hong Kong 54 per cent of managers expect to add staff, compared with 49 per cent in the last survey.

The survey by Chicago-based Hudson Highland Group Inc covered responses from 2,500 managers at multinational companies across industry sectors in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.

Expectations in Singapore remained unchanged from the previous survey, with 54 percent of managers seeing a need to hire more staff.

Fast economic growth has led to a shortage of executive talent in Asia. More than a third of employees in Hong Kong and Singapore leave a company within two years, according to the Hudson report.

In China, 52 per cent of staff leaves within two years, and 30 per cent of job candidates there are demanding salaries of more than 20 per cent above what employers are willing to pay, the survey shows.